Taking a selection of walks from 30 days in New York City and in Berlin, I mapped out my routes as a starting point in creating this installation of a hybrid city. These walks are the framework of this impossible topographical urban space merging New York’s grid system, coded with black tape, with Berlin’s divergent paths using blue tape.

I’m curious how the way a city is laid out affects the collective consciousness. Does the New York grid, which leaves little room for diversions, wandering, and getting lost, have a parallel in the lives and thoughts of its inhabitants? Directness, efficiency, and the notion that “time is money” are all key attributes often associated with its residents.

Outside the New World, urban planning was built through layers of rebuilding, where streets are an accumulation of past, present, and future possibilities. These indirect paths, which encourage digressive walks, affect the collective consciousness by allowing for detours and wandering thoughts. How would the essence of Berlin be different if it were built on a grid system? And would the consciousness of New Yorkers change by walking in diagonals and strolling along meandering paths?