Name: Annika Lundkvist
Lives in: Warsaw, Poland (originally from West Coast, USA)
From: I was born in New Jersey and grew up mainly in California
Occupation: I’m the founder of pedestrianspace.org, a media advocacy platform devoted to issues of walkability, sustainable urbanism and spatial equity. This past summer, I also established it as a NGO, Fundacja Pedestrian Space.
I’m also a PhD student here in Warsaw where I’m researching issues of sustainable mobility. Last year I founded the Global Walkability Correspondents Network, an international, professional but also grassroots collective of people championing the importance of walkable communities. Today we are at over 260 members globally across the Americas, Africa, Middle East, Europe, Asia and Oceania. You can learn more at pedestrianspace.org.
Tell us your first three jobs (ever!): My first was working in a youth home (one home for young mothers and another for marginalised youth who couldn’t live with their families any more). My second was working in a studio voice recording books on CD for the National Library of the Blind in Sweden. My third was as a media instructor at an after-school program for youth in the United States.
Zodiac sign: Virgo Sun, Aries Moon, Pisces Rising
Enneagram type: Type 8, Leader
What do you love about Greece? I have never been there but would love to walk in Athens
Tell us something most people don’t know about you: I can be a real softie. I cry a lot watching movies even movies that are not really tearjerkers. I knew it was getting ridiculous when I found myself crying at the end of a Jason Bourne movie.
Where we are most likely to find you in Lynn’s community?
On the Type 8 Enneagram panel sharing my experience as a Type 8. 🙂
Tell us your top tip to combat climate change: I love promoting a whole foods plant based (WFPB) diet. The current model of animal agriculture is both deeply unethical and also a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. I really love sharing how creative and delicious WFPB cooking can be.
My diverse work with issues of walkability (which includes promoting quality public transit in communities) is in part about de-centering car-centric planning and culture which is vital to reducing emissions.
Anything else you’d like us to know? I only began learning about the Enneagram this year and it’s been a deep, incredibly insightful ride including with a lot of humour along the way (surprisingly to me). I continue to deep dive on my ‘8-ness’ but also am excited to learn about other types. I think it is an extraordinary tool to gain more insight on peers, colleagues and loved ones.