As a warm-up exercise for the last day of the excursion, the participants were asked to reflect upon their experience of the city and compare this with the way the city presents itself. Certain iconic elements, such as the Old Bridge, the castle, and the Old City, prominently feature as representative symbols of Heidelberg. These visual symbols are readily observable and are frequently depicted in postcards available for purchase in souvenir shops situated along the main thoroughfare and even within the central train station. In contemplating the nature of postcards, we draw a parallel to Professor Sölch’s conceptual framework in as found in Heidelberg. As we began to delve into the question of how “the sensory perceptions of the material and physical aspects of a city relate to the aesthetic and social dimensions of everyday life,” we initiated an exploration of the defining characteristics of this urban landscape. We recognized that even seemingly mundane objects such as postcards can be considered instruments for projecting the desired image of the city. Postcards possess a unique quality in that they are specific to a particular location and are intended to be sent to recipients located beyond the city’s boundaries, serving as a bridge between the inner and outer realms of the place.
In further examination, we pondered the intended audience for these postcards. It became evident that the local, regional, or even national aesthetic attributes of the old city are also profoundly influenced and shaped by the perspectives and expectations of global tourists regarding what constitutes a romantic medieval German city.
During the postcard workshop organized by Crossmopollinate on the final day of our excursion, participants were tasked with creating postcards that subverted the conventional, romanticized representations of Heidelberg. This initiative encouraged us to actively contribute to the construction of diverse narratives about how a city is perceived and defined, and how previously overlooked aspects can be incorporated. Through the personalization of our postcards, we initiated this process by tapping into our individual perceptions of the city. Each participant articulated their unique responses to how they physically and emotionally experienced Heidelberg. For instance, Deepali, a student from SPA who accompanied us on the excursion, conveyed her sense of longing for chili and the diversity of vegetarian cuisine that was absent in Germany, as well as the challenge of packing both sweaters and t-shirts due to the unpredictable weather. Kattya, a resident of Heidelberg for approximately two years, incorporated a sign from a cafeteria into her postcard and added a small figure with the message “Go eat food at Kattya’s or Inah’s instead!” This reflected memories of cooking and enjoying better-tasting food together.
Throughout these deliberations and conversations among the participants, our journey through Heidelberg took on a more introspective character. It unveiled the city’s multifaceted layers, both those readily apparent and those concealed, thereby offering a comprehensive, multi-dimensional perspective on urban experience and representation.
To bring the sessions to a close, we discussed how the compiled glossary and discussions that arose in the process may be brought back into our respective urban spaces and what kind of projects could be envisioned through this. We explored questions such as: What do we know, and is our expertise sufficient? How can this knowledge be translated into action, activism, policy-making, and more context-specific practices? We also discussed how the compiled glossary and our discussions could be brought back to our individual urban environments, envisioning potential projects that could arise from this endeavor. A culmination of these questions lies in the Crossmopollinate Handbook of Urban Transformation.
