A Conversation with the Curaçaoan Urbanist

“It is our suffering that brings us together. It is not love.” – Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

This sheds light on how passion, kin of love, “willingness to suffer for what you love”, is such an undeniable force that gifts us with the ability to transcend the boundaries beyond our own imagination. Architects and designers, generally speaking, can’t help but bleed passion in their operation system which turns into a lifelong profession; and therefore prefer to speak of it as a calling.

Rashid and I go back a long way. It is architecture and urbanism that brought us together, and together we have questioned the world through this very lens. Spatial design is about framing perspectives. Today, the spacing between him and I has changed radically, when we ended up on the opposite sides of the globe. This creates a new perspective. It is interesting to reconnect with Rashid, this time the both of us reflecting upon ourselves through a different, evolved lens.

Lens of Passion: Thanks for saying yes to be interviewed by me, Rashid! Let’s kick it off!
Rashid Ayoubi: Thank you for having me. I’ve never been interviewed before!

It’s hard to imagine the last time we met was autumn 2019, which is almost two years ago. At that time you had done a ton of research about Curaçao and you were trying to organize and pull all that information into a thesis. I also remember you were in a really interesting phase where you found a bunch of like-minded people that shared your concerns for the island, while developing a healthy lifestyle, pulling fewer all-nighters in the studio! What’s the update?

I would make a split between my personal life and the more professional things like the thesis research. On a personal level a lot of developments happened, I guess I’m a very different person now. I took a lot of time to work on myself on the inside, find my weaknesses and open up about it to myself. Some of the things you mentioned have stayed the same although a lot more work has been done. For the thesis for example, I have done even more research, I’ve come to conclusions that I didn’t have two years before, but I’m still in a place where I’m questioning, “What is really the point of all of this?”. Why am I actually doing this, and what can it actually be used for? The deeper I got into the issue, the more difficult questions began to answer themselves. Through researching, I continuously find out even more and realize how big the problem is. Sometimes it can feel a bit lonely.

Could you answer intuitively: Who are you? What is your story?

I was born on an island in the Caribbean, Curaçao. I think I was in a bit of an interesting position there because it’s an island that on the one hand has a lot of wealth being developed on it, with a relatively good economy. At the same time, it has a lot of people in difficult social conditions and there’s also poverty and violence. I grew up in the middle of that because it’s such a small island. I think, in bigger countries, things are so divided, like if you’re rich you go to the school with all the rich kids, if you’re poor you go to school with all the poor kids. In Curaçao, it’s so small, there are only a few schools, so you all get thrown together. I constantly interacted with the underprivileged people on the one side and the rich people on the other side which put me in a bit of a confusing situation. I developed sympathy for both sides, which could be painful at the same time as I have felt so much. The positive side of this is I am able to analyze and think clearly about most conflicts, which leads to me wanting to do something to help and fix problems for the locals.

Understanding that the island has its limitations, I decided to pursue higher education to experience the world and ended up in the Netherlands. It was a bit of a last-minute decision to do architecture, but once I was doing it I began to realize that through this way of seeing the built environment in a more social and sustainable way, I learned to create better conditions for people in cities through planning and design. That was when I started to see a vehicle in which I could convert my concerns for Curaçao into potential solutions.

I saw that the island struggles socio-economically. I have learned that there’s a connection between the built environment of the city and its economy. As I went on I understood how connected the local economy is to the identity of the people and how their culture shaped the city of Willemstad through time. I found out that the social segregation I’ve felt growing up is reflected in the way the city is organized. The overarching problem is that currently there’s little attention being put on changing the city for the sake of people, neither in planning practice or academic research. So in my research I am using design to explore future scenarios where the city’s built environment is transformed for the sake of supporting sustainable social, cultural, economic and environmental conditions for the local population. The exciting thing about that is that I get to figure this out and fill the blank. It took me a while to localize my learning to the Curaçao context but I think I’m getting there.

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What is your passion?
There are two things that bring me a lot of joy in this world. The first one has everything to do with being creative and making something new. Making beautiful things is a very fulfilling process to me that I learned from doing architecture, but that I can also enjoy in music making and graphic design for example.  Now that’s something I’ve been aware of my whole life, but there’s also something else that I’ve denied about myself for a really long time. I really love getting to know people and understanding them on a deeper level. I get a lot of inspiration out of thoughtful conversations.

Can you tell us a little bit about Curaçao, your hometown?
It is a pleasure and social life-driven type of place. You know that classic image of a beach with palm trees. We are that, and we really focus on enjoying life – good music, dancing, family time, quality time with friends and people you love. A lot of Dutch people who are tired of their globalized, high-pressured lifestyle move to our island to relax. There are also a lot of monuments, nature, chill vibes. But, that is half the story. Since we are still part of a global economy and work needs to be done, we face economic challenges, social problems, and sometimes, violence, as a result of the dissonance we live in.

What kind of violence?
There are two things. First of all, its position, geographically, makes it ideal for drug trafficking (hub between the Americas and Europe). There’s a lot of drug-related gang activities and murders happening. There isn’t extreme poverty, people aren’t dying of hunger, but robberies happen. My house and cars have been broken into multiple times and I’ve seen my mom getting robbed in front of me last year. Life on Curaçao is a mix of these two extremes, between the fun, life-loving parties and the threat causing you to walk on your toes a little bit.

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What do you love the most and least about the island?
That’s a difficult question…I love the freedom and spontaneity we have there. People rarely ever make plans to meet each other. There are social events, parties, cultural activities all the time and people just show up with the hype to meet. You just walk around thinking: “Who will I encounter this time?” Socializing is informal and different from what I’ve experienced outside of the island and I really like that.

As for the part I like the least, from a design perspective, there has been a lack of development “for the people”. There aren’t formal public spaces (city squares, public parks) so the conditions are a bit messy. So these parties I mentioned might happen in some parking lot, or festival happening on the street or under a tree. The government did not provide the structure for us so even now they try to create designated spaces for gatherings, people don’t use them.

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And how does that compare to the Netherlands as your second home?
Netherlands is a bit of an antithesis to what we’re like on Curaçao. What I like about the Netherlands is that there is structure. Everything is planned. So things actually do happen. People decide what they want in the future and they make a plan for how to get there. And then they’re actually able to follow through with that plan and achieve the goal. That’s very difficult back home. The ‘where do we want to get’ doesn’t exist because people are preoccupied getting by the best way possible in the present moment. So I really appreciate that structured way of doing things in the Netherlands.

I imagine it must get on your nerves sometimes too?
Yeah it definitely does sometimes. It’s like a sort of imposter syndrome, it’s very uncomfortable for me to be in a very structured environment all the time. Here in the Netherlands it’s a bit too much sometimes, these two extremes need to be in balance, but I think we can really learn from it though.

What is your plan to make positive changes in Curaçao?
The short term goal would be the step of “conscientization”, making people aware that there’s a problem to begin with. Of course there is also the longer term goal of actually coming up with development plans that are feasible, that can actually be implemented in real life and make a change. Personally speaking I’m sort of on a road split right now, where I’m questioning whether urbanism is the panacea. It’s a little bit egoistic to assume that I can come and say: “I’m the genius that’s finally going to solve all the problems here”. That would be totally disregarding years and years of people working their asses off to try and change the situation and failing. But still I treasure the hope that I will find something that will help the situation.

Let’s talk a bit about your profession. I’ve looked up the definition of urbanism:

“Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, which is the profession focusing on the physical design and management of urban structures and urban sociology which is the academic field of the study of urban life and culture.”

What is urbanism all about in your personal understanding and experience? 
I think the best way to define it for me as the relationship between the city as an ensemble of physical man made structures, the socio-economic conditions representing the people and the natural environment. You learn how to shape the built environment in order to achieve goals in social, economic and environmental realms. This also implies strategizing how to organize the people and bring all the stakeholders together in order to transform the city for the common good.

The city is a place where a lot of different things like politics, economy, culture, technology are constantly interacting and affecting each other. It’s like an organism with a life of its own. In order to understand how to shape it you need to break free from the rigid disciplinary boxes and develop a holistic way of thinking.

So what do urbanists do?
Urbanists deal with many different actors and I think a lot of people don’t realize that all these “experts” are also just trying to figure it out along the way. That’s why we are also hyper aware of the amount of work it took for the surroundings to come to exist to begin with, and how many interconnected factors shaped the cities through time. That’s what I like about it, I know that I’m seeing the world different from the rest of the people walking around. While someone is photographing beautiful trees blooming along the canal I might be thinking “this is a water defense system preventing this road from flooding”.

At the same time I’d say anyone that thinks about the city and wants to do something about it is an urbanist. I think we really need to break it open and not make it look like such an exclusive group of people. Eventually everybody needs to become an urbanist if we really want to make our cities a better place.

Why so?
Urbanists can’t do it alone. The city is such a complex system, everything that humans do happens in cities. If you really want to change a city it requires everybody to be actively doing something to make it a better place. You can’t expect the government or a corporation to change things for the best. It doesn’t work like that.

What’s your idea of perfect happiness?
This might sound a bit dark, but it’s the realization that actual perfection and happiness don’t exist. A lot of people think their goal in this life is to find happiness that you didn’t have at birth. I gained a lot of peace of mind from giving up on that idea. I myself simply cannot make the world a perfect place. What I can do is become content with the fact that I exist here right now and support the people around me. That’s why I’m also not a very materialistic type of person. Of course I’m not a complete monk, I love giving other people things, and there are activities I enjoy, such as making music, which cost money.

Let’s go to the other end of that spectrum: What frustrates you the most?
Selfish people and small talks.

A small thought experiment, let’s say if right now you’d pick a completely different reality for yourself, a parallel universe, where you could be anything, what would be going on? 
I know that answer very, very well. I literally see it in front of me. There’s a beach. Then there’s a kind of shabby, looking like it’s been built by hands building. It’s a hostel. There’s a big common area in the middle. People can come and chill. There’s a kitchen there, where I’m cooking for people. There is a bar to make cocktails. Behind, there’s a garden for growing food. You can go surf or sit on the beach next to that palm tree. People can play cards, come together, eat. There’s also a studio to make music in there for sure.

What prevented you from going that route?
I used to think that such a dream is too selfish, because it has no impactful contribution to society. Although it may appear otherwise, Curaçao society is very feminine, emphasizing the idea of “helping other people”, which is fine, but it is also important to recognize the counterbalance of “putting yourself first”. This altruistic upbringing cultivated a strong sense of responsibility in me, reinforced by the fact I was privileged to grow up in prosperity and comfort I saw some others were lacking. Now I’m realizing that people are inherently selfish creatures. You need to take care of yourself first before you can actually take care of other people.

You mentioned music quite a few times. Is that your passion too? 
Definitely! Curaçao is a very multicultural place so I grew up around music from all over the world. As teenagers, my friends and I started playing guitar or piano and making beats and now I make hip hop beats, that’s my main thing.

Speaking of dreams and reality, where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years from now?
By then I hope to have started building that alternate universe I described. It doesn’t have to be on the beach, those are the details. Past 10 years I have spent so much time thinking, going forward I want to be making things in real life regardless of what shape they may take. My goal is to be living my best life and have people benefit from that.

What does ‘passion’ mean to you?
Where I come from passion is a privilege. In places with limited opportunities like Curaçao only a few people can afford to imagine their passion as a way to make a living, but I think passion is undeniable for anybody in this world. Therefore it will express itself based on the opportunities that you have. On Curaçao, professional opportunities are very limited, therefore passion finds its outlet in vibrant social life and also in politics.

I think for myself, passion is a defining characteristic, I will be passionate about anything I decide to take on until my energy runs out. Architecture and urbanism is a very challenging profession and the monetary reward isn’t as high as other fields of similar workload and complexity. Now that I’m getting involved with real-life projects I understand like never before that in this industry there’s nothing that’s going to keep you there but passion. I’m asking myself now: “What is the thing that can keep me going for a lifetime?” It’s about finding a healthy place, to suffer but not to die for what I love.

How can the lens of passion readers support your dream and passion? 
Feel the freedom to transform the city around you, even if it’s fixing the tiles in front of your door or decorating the street that you live in. It depends where you are, how much you can do about it, but experiment, put something in space that wasn’t there before and see what happens. Immense urban transformations happen when citizens take responsibility for their living hoods and have fun in the process. If you are already a professional in the built environment and you’re curious, come to Curaçao, it’s an interesting place. We welcome help and fresh ideas!

That’s a very inspirational ending note, thank you for this wonderful conversation, Rashid!
Thank you! It’s been interesting and helped me think about a lot of things I don’t usually think about.

You can reach out to Rashid through this email:
rashid.ayoubi@gmail.com

He is also in the Lens of Passion chatroom. Scan QR to enter: