Why Would Anyone Be Against Fewer Cars And More Space For People?
The main reason why I don't work in urban planning and a big reason why I'm semi-retiring in Spain
For those who don’t know, I have a degree in Urban Studies from San Francisco State University, where I spent 4-1/2 years not only getting the degree, but doing research. This experience prompted me to pursue my PhD in Planning, Policy & Design at the University of California—Irvine. I spent two years before deciding to leave the program, but not after publishing a couple of academic papers from my research.
Do I feel like I wasted time, stopping just short of my PhD? Absolutely not. At the time, people thought I was crazy. I was on a full ride from the university and doing research on a federal government grant.
The more I basically lived the life of a professor as a PhD student and navigated the political aspects of city planning, the more I realized I didn’t want that life—not as a professor of planning (or a related field) or, worse, as an urban planner. Plus, thanks to a professor and my interest in the stock market, I had a direct line into the writing career that—turns out—I’ve been doing now for the better part of 15 years.
I use my knowledge and love for cities literally every single day, multiple times a day. Taken together, these things helped developed my sixth sense for knowing within hours if I’d actually like to live in a city.
I was lucky enough to have my life experience—where I have lived and what I have learned—put the ideal type of environment in front of me on a silver platter come middle age when I was faced with the money meets lifestyle decision that colors this newsletter.
Given what I know about cities and the sense I have for them, I know Spain is the place. If I tried really hard, I could probably secure Italian citizenship through ancestry, but, as much as I love visiting the country, I don’t think I’d like living there as much as Spain. I don’t think I’d be miserable in Rome or Florence, but my partner and I will be better off in many ways in Valencia or Barcelona.
We just know it. In our heads. In our hearts. It’s our superpower.
All of this said, as much as I know I’ll prefer the built environment and subsequent lifestyle in Spain, here’s proof that there’s no way in hell I’d want to be an urban planner there either.
In that context—wherever you go, there you are.