Thomas Hug: "To me, curiosity, not being scared of new things and perseverance are important in life."

When you were a kid, what did you want to be?

I loved diving into unfamiliar worlds so when I was younger I wanted to be an actor. My hair style, glasses and eye colour meant that I was sometimes referred to as Harry Potter. But I did not have an idol, who inspired me. I acted for a long time and still have lots of friends from those days. I went to a grammar school specialising music and wanted to pursue this.

But I also enjoyed technical subjects. I noticed that I tended towards both the creative and technical. I also dive into living spaces in my current job. I try to imagine how to make towns better places to live in the future. So I feel like I have found a good mix.

From wanting to be an actor to studying at ETH, that is some shift! So you have a Bachelor’s in Geomatic Engineering and Planning and a Master's in Spatial Development and Infrastructure Systems from ETH. What led you to ETH?

While I was at school, I was particularly interested in geography and journalism. But I wanted to do something really special. It needed to be linked to the planet and include technical aspects. I also wanted to plan and create various future scenarios.

I never planned to study at ETH, I would not even have dreamt of doing so. But the Bachelor’s course at ETH fitted perfectly with what I had in mind. So I had nothing to lose from giving it a shot. There are worse things that can happen than losing a year. To my great surprise, I managed to survive the first year relatively well and then obtained my Bachelor's. So I continued with the Master’s.

In January 2020, you co-founded urbanista.ch. And since April 2021, you have also been working for the city of Zurich. What exactly does this work entail?

During my time at university and also between the two courses, I worked in a transport planning office. I was constantly thinking about where I might be heading, especially once I had graduated of course. I never felt that I would feel at home in a traditional planning office where transport and spatial planning are usually very separate entities. I think this is a shame because I see a direct link between the two.

I have broad span of interests and did not want to have to commit to one or the other. A colleague and I developed the idea behind urbanista.ch. We wanted to move away from this silo mentality and allow our employees to keep their perspectives open. We firmly believe that we will need more generalists and fewer specialists in the future. More focus will have to be placed on the big picture.

When we founded external page urbanista.ch, I was still working at PubliBike. For a long while, I had to two jobs in parallel, which was great. I was able to pursue my idea but still had a secure income. urbanista.ch is now going really well and we are having a lot of fun. I absolutely love the freedoms it gives me. I can decide how I want to work. We may still be small but we decide which philosophy we pursue and what work ethics we follow.

In the spring of 2021 I was asked to apply for a one-year position with the city of Zurich. The subject matter and time scale were really exciting. I am immersing myself in a new area and can fully concentrate on the business again next year. I am helping the city of Zurich discover where they collect mobility data and what they can use this for. For example, they use numerous parking apps to allow people to reserve parking spaces. So how well are parking spaces used? E-scooters are very popular at the moment. Where are they being used? Taking these examples, such data can be evaluated and used to help plan parking spaces and cycle routes. This data allows us to see how people behave and where the infrastructure needs changing.

This takes precedence over the opinions of planners. But there are limitations: you do not get to see the people who do not travel. Why do people who live and work in Zurich not travel longer distances by bike? Such matters are almost just as relevant to planning. So the role of planners needs to shift from "expert knowledge" to "understanding people".

You are also still the President of the REIS Alumni group. What motivates you?

I think that it is important to keep in touch with people from university; both people that you knew and people you didn't. When I graduated in 2017, there was small alumni group for spatial development and infrastructure systems. We founded the ETH REIS Alumni because we wanted to stay in touch. I am delighted to report that we now have 250 members. This produces a situation where everyone stands to gain: we continually get to know new people and get to meet alumni friends who we would perhaps have otherwise lost touch with. I find that hugely motivating.

The REIS Alumni board is currently made up of four men and we would very much welcome more diversity. We are all ears when it comes to new ideas too. We would love to hear from anyone who wants to get involved. Once a year we try to organise an excursion and a weekend or day of skiing. We are pretty straightforward and also welcome people from other areas.

The pandemic has made organising events rather complicated. People are telling us that they are already very busy online. We now want to breathe new life into our meetings. There are also positive things we have learnt from the pandemic. We have planned a meeting with drinks for the autumn and will be addressing the question of what we can take from the pandemic to ensure that we don't fall back into our old habits? We want to record people’s thoughts so we do not forget them. I am excited to see what happens.

Do you have any tips for today’s students?

I would recommend that everyone takes on a part-time job while at university. What you do, is actually irrelevant. Brainstorming from different angles and sharing viewpoints can be very life-enhancing. I found it very useful in my chosen career.

Get as much as you can from your course. Go to as many lectures as possible, including those in other disciplines. Make the most of this vast wealth of ideas and theories. I sometimes get the feeling that at ETH students run the risk of developing tunnel vision. It is important to purposefully break out of your comfort zone because there are many factors that you want to consider. So while at university, take the opportunity to consider different perspectives.

To me, curiosity, not being scared of new things and perseverance are important in life. I have never been told that my curiosity is a bad thing. On the contrary, you gain most from being curious and trying things. I also follow my values compass and find that very useful. I try to align myself to it, which helps me a lot in my work. There are some goals which you cannot achieve overnight; they take time. But it is good to pursue these goals; they show you the way forward – especially in the fast-paced world we live in.