András Farkas, Co-founder and strategic director at PONT Group, an organization focused on social innovation through participation, culture, and entrepreneurship, with a special emphasis on youth. Founded in 2009, PONT Group works in urban development, social innovation systems, participatory processes, and time and consciousness. He is also an executive in the European Culture Next network. An eternal thinker and strategist. A runner. He considers himself a man who seeks to do good, has found certain themes and fields where he believes he can do better. Or as he likes to say: “I am what those who have observed what I do say I am.”
C&B: How would you summarize your professional activity?
András Farkas: Primarily, I help cities change through young people. I have coined terms like the youth urban ecosystem. In short: within a 20-year horizon, the future of any city depends decisively on what it does today for youth, with youth, and allows youth to do (English has better terms: for youth, with youth, by youth). The third one is my favorite; it has disruptive potential. History shows us that disruptive moments cause the fastest evolution.
I have other interests too, like how I distort time (startup), how I contribute to forming networks (executive work in networks), and how I better understand the formation of communities and micro-communities of interest (for example, the Com’ON projects, but also Kreatív Kolozsvár, an entrepreneurship program for young Hungarians). And in general, cities and public transportation networks fascinate me from all perspectives.
I also have a theory in development. Life is about what you learn, what you do, what you experience, what you give, and what you perceive. And all your available time is invested in an activity linked to one of these five elements.
C&B: What has been the secret, the success, and the turning points in your career? How much luck is involved in this story?
András Farkas: I don’t believe there are secrets. Every moment depends on the moments that preceded it. You make your own luck in the sense that, from my perspective, luck is simply a combination of favorable conditions that interconnect. I don’t know, like Venus and the Moon when they are next to each other in the sky.
C&B: As a child, what did you want to be? And if you thought about several professions, do they have common denominators? Or with what you’ve become?
András Farkas: A traffic police officer (during communism, they wore white hats with a red stripe), a bus driver, a locomotive mechanic. So, I guess mobility and transportation were the common themes.
C&B: What fields and activities are parallel or collateral to your profession but are an integral part of who you are?
András Farkas: Aviation. I’m totally inexperienced in it, but if you ask me which plane just landed above you at Otopeni or Heathrow on Myrtle Avenue, I’ll give you the answer in 30 seconds max. Including the model, route, delay, and any unusual aspect—like if it’s an emergency landing due to a medical issue or something.
C&B: Your biggest failure?
András Farkas: There are so many that I can’t prioritize them. That’s exactly where you learn the most. Let’s try: a failed startup, the inability to understand a specific context during the preparation for Cluj 2015 European Youth Capital, which led to my resignation, and the inability to keep a European network of cities functional.
C&B: What advice would you give to beginners and young people?
András Farkas: Ask. Try. Be curious. Ask. Try. Don’t stay still (neither physically nor mentally). Opportunities, answers, and learning will come naturally.
C&B: Where would you like to go – countries, cities, places (again, or for the first time) and why?
András Farkas: I have a list. Vancouver, Seattle, Toronto, Cape Town, Melbourne, New Zealand (exception being a country), Singapore, Tokyo, Tromsø. And I’d love to return to some places I’ve already visited. But these are dreams; if they don’t happen, it’s not the end of the world (though some are literally at the end of the world). I also really love secondary and tertiary cities that I can’t even think of—I’ve had many pleasant surprises like Oulu, Leeuwarden, Thessaloniki, Maribor, Braga, Palanga, Plungė, Novi Sad, and I could go on. Here’s a stroke of luck: I’m fortunate enough that work takes me to these kinds of cities.
Just the other day, I traveled between Miercurea Nirajului and Sovata; the road crosses over a ridge. It’s basically New Zealand, if you get what I mean, so why search for something that’s already around me? I love Transylvania.
C&B: What are your favorite websites, apps, platforms, songs, and music?
András Farkas: The Guardian, Wired (US edition), The New Yorker, Associated Press, The New York Times. But I also read Breitbart and Mandiner from Hungary because I want to follow what the forces I fundamentally disagree with are thematizing. In the Romanian news landscape, Hotnews has been my go-to since 2005, with a certain critical thinking approach to filter because no one is 100% impartial. Music: anything Spotify gives me in Discovery Weekly. That mix of 30 new songs aligned with your preferences but not yet heard. And I’m a radio fan. The English set the standard, in my opinion. I listen to BBC Radio 2, 3, 4, 6; it’s available to everyone, along with so much other high-quality content on the BBC Sounds app. It’s free because it’s public service, truly. No ads.
C&B: Please ask yourself one last question and give an answer.
András Farkas: Who is Keyser Söze? Ah, I’m not.