So Iva, what makes your European travel blog different from the thousands of other European travel blogs out there?

Good question! The answer is, I don’t know yet.

This summer I will have a chance to explore Eastern and Central Europe’s major cities from an urban planning lens. I’ll be doing the classic bus tour, beginning in Belgrade, Serbia – my birthplace – and then making my way through Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Paris, Lausanne (Switzerland), Florence, and finally Rome. But I’ll be doing things a little differently.

My trip revolves around a series of questions which primarily have to do with what it is about European cities and city planning that makes them better or worse places to live than North American cities. I’ll be looking at how urban design, transportation planning, food systems, history, and culture operate within these cities, as well as how that reflects on the human experience of the city. For the most part, I’ll be living with locals, interviewing people, visiting urban farms, and hanging out in public squares while I attempt to uncover what “good city planning” means and what elements add up to an overall happy, healthy, and connected city of people.