About experiencing new feelings, looking into private gardens and talking to strangers
Thinking of Emmen, in my head were always just military aircrafts, industrial buildings and a lot of traffic. Normally I just knew the main street close to our school in the Viscosistadt. Studying in this industrial zone surrounded by grey buildings I always had a feeling of being in a robotic-like town.
By walking through the streets and seeing people bringing their groceries back home while pushing the stroller in front of them or having a quick chat in front of the Volg supermarket showed me that this town has more heart than I thought. Walking through the smaller neighbourhoods reminded me of my own hometown, where everyone tries to have a nice garden and children are playing outside with their scooters. I can see that the municipality of Emmen is interested in offering every age category enough options to satisfy their needs and wishes. Even though that this means to have several hairdressers, but whatever…
I think Emmen is doing a good job by trying to improve their energy issues for the future. Unfortunately, I got the impression that some residents living there are not really commited to this topic or don’t get informed well enough of what is going on in their hometown. Talking to two woman on the street, I got the feeling that they are more interested about the location itself and the opportunities they got of the municipality, such as nice walks, close shopping possibilities or an indoor-playground for their children.
Through spending some time in Emmen, walking around and talking to people I’ve got some deeper insights about this town and the project for social design became more tangible and real for me.
Written by Katja Dietschi