Since childhood I have been interested in the places, cities, countries and geographies of the world.
I enjoyed learning about other countries while in school my friends and I often competed to see who knew could best remember all the world's capital cities and national flags. The discussion went something like this; what is the capital of the Netherlands? Or, what is the largest city in Greenland? ....and so it went on.
Later, when I began to study geography and politics, I realised that geography is a much broader concept than that portrayed in our games and quizzes about maps, flags and the names of capital cities. Behind the apparent unity of form suggested by the existence of flags, states and boundaries there are a lot of real differences, such as political systems, economic structures, cultural differences and historical backgrounds.
In this context I believe that my initial interest in the contrasts between different places and cities enticed me into the field of geography and finally into the field of urban and regional planning. During my studies in urban planning I had the opportunity to travel to the capital of the Netherlands and to the Randstad Region. If you want know more about Nuuk, the largest city in Greenland, Nordregio has produced a number of interesting articles: