Last week I was in New York to attend the opening of the ETH Alumni NY Chapter at the Swiss Consul General’s [Ambassador Francois Barras] residence and to prepare for an exciting event next year, in which ETH Zurich is heavily involved – but more on that later.

The obvious first: the American infrastructure is in a pitiful, even shocking state. The world has long known from the media that the whole of America is falling apart and is facing the Herculean task of renewing almost its entire infrastructure. But you only really become aware of this – sometimes in an almost painful way thanks to the potholes – when you take a cab ride through Manhattan. After all, it is one of the most expensive areas in the world with an extreme density of wealth.

The image of decaying American cities stands in stark contrast to Singapore, where our ETH architects and engineers are thinking about the “future cities” of this world and helping to plan and build them. Nevertheless, as attractive as some of the cities emerging from the drawing board may be, a city like New York is and remains much more exciting.

The event I mentioned earlier is taking place in New York in May 2014: the Zurich meets New Yorkfestival. For a week, the city of Zurich will present itself to the city of New York. Specifically, Zurich will have the opportunity to show the New York public how ideas that originated in Zurich [at ETH Zurich] have influenced the America of today. Did you know, for example, that the world’s first vegetarian restaurant, Hiltl, opened its doors in Zurich in 1898? Othmar Ammann, who studied civil engineering at the Polytechnic in Zurich at the time and moved to New York City in 1904 is probably better known. The honorary doctor from ETH Zurich designed the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge which connects the New York boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn [Gateways to New York: Othmar H. Ammann and his Bridges]. As you would expect from a Swiss engineer, the George-Washington Bridge was completed six months ahead of schedule in 1931 and the budget was not exhausted.

When you present yourself in New York, you present yourself to the world. ETH Zurich wants to show New York, America, and the world what exciting and globally influential research has been done at our university. ETH Zurich will develop and build a temporary pavilion made of recycled materials especially for Zurich meets New York, thus giving the festival a face [this eventually did not happen in 2014 but was realized during the IDEAS CITY Festival a year later: ETH Zurich designers create arched pavilion out of upcycled beverage cartons]. Many events on topics from culture, science and society will take place in the pavilion and in locations across Manhattan. Among other things, Dieter Meier will perform with the band “Out of Chaos”, the Freitag brothers will present the history of their bags “made in Zurich“, and Zurich residents and New Yorkers will celebrate the 98th anniversary of the birth of the Dada movement in Zurich at a Dada Ball.

Of course, New York did not wait for Zurich and there is still a lot to do before the event opens its doors next year. New York City is successful, attractive, but also arrogant. The population of the five boroughs exceeds that of the whole of Switzerland. Attractive and important cultural and scientific events take place in dozens of locations every day. What was yesterday is forgotten today. But it is precisely these attributes and many more that make Zurich meets New York so interesting for ETH Zurich. Or as Liza Minelli and later Frank Sinatra aptly said and sang: “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere”. To be heard and seen in New York, you must be loud, confident and, above all, good. ETH Zurich is undoubtedly excellent. We can prove that we are also loud and self-confident next year.

Who knows, perhaps the ideas presented in New York next May will help America to tackle the challenges posed by the country’s crumbling infrastructure intelligently and innovatively. And that “ideas born in Zurich” can still have a major influence on the Big Apple today.

Find out more about Zürich Meets New York 2014:

SRF Tagesschau report “Zürich zu Gast in New York” (German only)