About

About me

My name is Erika Alatalo and I’m a Finnish architect, engineer and nomad who loves to travel. Travel means different things to different people, but to me traveling is a way to learn about and connect with the rest of the world – a type of field study.

My master’s studies focused on sustainable development, which changed not only how I view the world but how I view traveling. I graduated on June 1st, 2016 and on the same day I became a nomad and left home to go traveling for an unspecified period of time. My goal was to search for inspiring projects and ways to share my skills through volunteering – trying to convince myself there is still some hope left for this messed up world. The first two years I spent on the road and volunteered in nearly 20 projects around the world. Since 2018 I have mostly been working with development and humanitarian aid in Africa while traveling in between projects and following a nomadic lifestyle.

About Field Study of the World

Field Study of the World is a blog I created in order to share and document observations I’ve made about the built environment and issues of sustainability while traveling and working around the world. I started by documenting some of my earlier travels, but since June 2016 the blog has followed my current nomadic life as a traveler, volunteer and humanitarian and development aid worker.

Through this blog I hope to inspire and inform other architects, engineers, travelers and anybody interested in sustainability. Basically, I write about buildings, techniques, projects, people, communities or systems that I feel can inspire a more sustainable and resilient world. The blog is based on my travels and work, written from the perspective of an architect. Some of my main topics are:

You can follow my posts and extra pictures by liking my Facebook page, and for a lighter version of my travels you can follow my Instagram account.

You can read more about me and how this blog came to be in my first post.

All photos and other images on this website are by me unless otherwise stated.