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The slow death of purposeless walking

bbc.co.uk

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Re: The slow death of purposeless walking

#161

Post by hibbelig »

jrockway wrote: post #145
mattjaynes wrote: post #135

Was living in NYC and absolutely loved being able to walk everywhere and not own a car. The last few months I've been in US suburbia though (Texas/Utah) and it seems actively hostile towards walkers in many places. Sometimes there's sidewalks, but often they're not continuous and just end for no apparent reason. You then have to walk in the road next to the cars for a ways and hope the sidewalk starts up again. Even…

This is exactly how I feel when I visit Mountain View for work. Why are the parking lots in front of the store and not in the back? Why do I have to walk through a sea of parked cars to get to my building? It's all very strange to me. I also noticed the suspicious looks for my terrible crime of not owning a car after dark. My conclusion: not the place for me.

You own a day-only car?

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking

#162

Post by hyp0 »

17% is hardly dying.

I walk 2 hours almost every day. The trick to avoiding suspicious looks is to do it around 3am (programmer sleep pattern). Then, it's even more suspicious, but no one sees you to form that opinion...

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking

#164

Post by brightsize »

mattjaynes wrote: post #138
sentenza wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck with your move to Berlin! It might interest you that there are many car-sharing schemes operational in Berlin, so that you can go completely car-less, even if you have to cover a large distance or transport something every now and then.

Thanks! That's great to know :) I've been told Berlin is pretty spread-out, so it'll be good to have access to a vehicle for longer distances.

It's spread out, but the S- and U-Bahns will take you quite far, out past the edges of the city. It's hard for me to imagine needing a car (OK multi-crate Bier runs maybe an exception, as another has written, or moving apartments). For real long-distance stuff there's the Regional Express and normal long-haul train service. As to walkability, I'm a dedicated walker and the city's fantastic for it. Sidewalks are quite wide (by US standards) and there are usually plenty of safe places to cross streets, legally and otherwise. Mind the Ampelmännchen and you probably won't even get hit by a trolley.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking

#165

Post by brightsize »

gaisturiz wrote: post #63

A fun exercise: Walk down a street you drive on a regular basis; the things you'll notice will make it seem like you're in a different place altogether.

Another fun exercise if you already have a well-worn walking route: walk it in the opposite direction. It's striking how doing so makes it seem like you're traversing an entirely different place, even though obviously you're not.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking

#166

Post by coldpie »

mattjaynes wrote: post #135

Was living in NYC and absolutely loved being able to walk everywhere and not own a car. The last few months I've been in US suburbia though (Texas/Utah) and it seems actively hostile towards walkers in many places. Sometimes there's sidewalks, but often they're not continuous and just end for no apparent reason. You then have to walk in the road next to the cars for a ways and hope the sidewalk starts up again. Even…

> Even if there are sidewalks, there seems to be a unspoken "don't walk at night" rule even in safe neighborhoods. If I do walk at night, I get suspicious looks.

I've encountered this, too. My solution is to use a flashlight. I don't even aim it where I'm looking as I want to keep my night vision, I just aim it at my feet as I walk. This announces my presence to anyone nearby, so I don't suddenly surprise them or make them think I'm trying to hide.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking

#168

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

charlesthomas wrote: post #48
Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you be bad at walking without a destination in mind? You just put one foot in front of another and every time you have to choose a new direction, pick whichever way looks more interesting (by whatever measure you classify interesting at that moment). Not meant to be hostile, genuinely curious.

Part of it is motivation. Why bother leaving, if I don't have a particular destination in mind? There are other things I could be doing that seem more important. The other part is that I fall into patterns really easily. If I don't have a set destination in mind when I leave my apartment, I often just end up at the subway stop I take to get to work.

Why not set yourself generic goals rather than a destination?

For instance to find a nice cafe you've never been to before, or a nice bookshop.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking

#169

Post by claudius »

brightsize wrote: post #164
mattjaynes wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! That's great to know :) I've been told Berlin is pretty spread-out, so it'll be good to have access to a vehicle for longer distances.

It's spread out, but the S- and U-Bahns will take you quite far, out past the edges of the city. It's hard for me to imagine needing a car (OK multi-crate Bier runs maybe an exception, as another has written, or moving apartments). For real long-distance stuff there's the Regional Express and normal long-haul train service. As to walkability, I'm a dedicated walker and the city's fantastic for it. Sidewalks are quite…

> OK multi-crate Bier runs maybe an exception, as another has written

You can generally have drinks delivered for little to no surcharge and probably cheaper than specifically renting a car. Plus you don’t have to carry them upstairs :)

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking

#170

Post by throw7 »

Ughh. A corner strip mall opened recently in my area and plopped down a parking lot with no sidewalks abutting the side streets (there are planters directly between the lot and street).

There is no safe walkable way to get to/through this area. It's really depressing.

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