Roman Bašnák – young urbanist and representative in Ružinov Youth Parliament

Year 8 student Roman Bašnák was recently selected to be a member of Ružinov Youth Parliament. After having several rounds of interviews, and successfully passing all of them Roman has a lot to share with us. Roman Bašnák, Urban Planning enthusiast, has already put forward his ideas to the Ružinov district mayor. Today he will share some parts of this experience with us. 

1. Congratulations on making it through several interview rounds! For readers who might not know, could you explain what the Ružinov District Youth Parliament actually does, and what your main responsibilities will be as a member?

Thank you very much! Ružinov District Youth Parliament is an organization supported by Ružinov District for young people from ages 12 to 13, who gather every Thursday to discuss ideas that could help improve the district with a mayor. One of the ideas would be using abandoned areas to reconstruct them and build bike lanes. Possibly also install water fountains in crowded areas for hot summer days.

3. Looking back at the whole application journey, what has been your absolute favorite highlight or moment so far?

The most favorite part of this was an interview with six people from the commission, to whom I presented my ideas about making this district better for living.

4. How do you think your experience at EISB—both in your lessons and in school life—has helped you prepare for an opportunity like this?

School has influenced me greatly. I previously created a presentation about good urbanism in Bratislava, where I included some ideas for Ružinov District, like “City for Children,” which is a chaos-free and safe zone for kids.

5. Now that you’re officially a member, what is one issue or project in the Ružinov District you are most excited to work on?

A plant called the tree of heaven grows across the district, which is invasive and doesn’t let other plants grow and flourish. As an idea, we could also try to regulate its growth in order to create more space for other plants that would grow tall and make shade during summer.

6. What does a perfect city look like to you?

One of my primary ideas is a 15-minute city. Basically, it is an urban concept where everything, such as shops, post offices, cafes, and restaurants, is 15 minutes away from each other by foot or by bike. I live in a neighborhood which follows this concept: I have school nearby, cafes, groceries, and a playground. Everything is compact and close. Having it planned like this would make the city car-independent and, of course, reduce pollution. One of the cities that inspires me is Copenhagen, where you could freely bike anywhere.

I would also design the neighborhoods to have hexagonal street grids, where streets go outwards and then inwards. This would significantly reduce the traffic. This inspiration comes from Tokyo, which took this approach in building their city in order to create lots of different centers across the city.

Thank you very much Romanko for taking your time and answering the questions. 

As a school we are very proud of you and we wish you more success in your future endeavours.