Holidays with the minimum

I’ve been thinking in my next summer holidays for a few months and a long stay in Buenos Aires is one of the most interesting options that I have until now.

There are many reasons for this.

First of all, I am very interested in big cities in general so, between my priorities, I don’t see myself choosing a natural or rural place to visit.

Second, the capital city or, in particular, the most populated city in a country always tells you a lot of their idiosyncrasy, so it will always be a good point to start.

I’ve been thinking in going all over the city, from the downtown and most touristic places, to the city suburbs. I am very interested in everyday  and domestic places, where you can catch the soul of a city.  I am planning to be a common pedestrian inside Buenos Aires’s traditional neighbourhoods, taking pictures of unusual things I see, and maybe write some notes about this kind of stuff.

I am planning to do this alone, because it’s about a personal objective, based on my own interests. I will try to take advantage of the, almost, three months that I have for holidays. I want to learn how to live just with the mínimum, hoping to extend my stay as much as I can. Probably, a cheap guesthouse for the night and just enough food will be ok, I want to live that experience.

In any case, this project is still in the planning stage, so I still have to polish a lot of its details.

How to make more natural cities

Cities are growing more than ever before in history, and they are consuming huge amounts of natural surface in the process. The challenge of making this process sustainable in time and minimizing the impact of human’s constructions is becoming more and more relevant.

There are many solutions to this problem, and here I will try to mention briefly what I think that should be done

 First of all, I think cities are systems that should be managed in an integrative way with their natural surroundings. There are different considerations that can be taken to do this, for example one can plan cities in relation to socio-natural risks, in other words, events that could be potencially dangerous because they expose people’s life or infraestructure to natural disasters. So the urban territory should be thought avoiding risky places or with appropiate mitigation mechanisms.

Other perspective that one can take to integrate cities to nature is by making urban equipment greener in vegetation. By this I mean that streets, parks, squares  and even private property  should count with trees.  Middle size cities and Metropolitan cities, like Santiago, can take this option as an oportunity to regulate temperatures and humidity of their inner environment, at the same time that they assure a livable space to all their inhabitants. Planting native species of trees can make this happen, and they won’t compromise the city budget in maintenance or watering.

Post graduate? Maybe...

It’s difficult to do this for me because I am not very sure of doing post graduate studies, but I will try to think how would that be if it happens.

So, in general, there are many reasons for carrying on with studies after graduate. Maybe the less ideal or romantic reason would be just for money.  It opens the door to new chances of getting a better job with a higher wage.

In proportion to the utility of the new work tools I incorporate, my incomes will increase. Technological or Mathematical/statistical skills are always well demanded by the labor market, so reinforcing my knowledge in Geograpical Information Systems or in Remote Sensing would be a good deal.

On the other hand, I can choose a course related with urbanism, which is something I really like. In that case, I would rather prefer to study abroad in a big city.  Cities that are bigger than Santiago, in territory or in population, are always a good lab for urban studies. That learning can be very usefull for my curriculum here in Santiago and, in the same way, it would be an excelent opportunity for making this city a better and more inclusive one, as a contribution.

 I would like to take a year or two in a part-time course in a good university.