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The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

bbc.co.uk

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Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#141

Post by TulliusCicero »

alphapapa wrote: post #123
RobertoG wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah... but because they are walking.. I think that say something about how the city is designed.

The only parts of cities like that that are actually "designed" are the downtown and a few special developments. The rest just grows as people move and buy land and open businesses. Most people drive cars, and most people prefer having some room to breathe, and there's no shortage of space, so lots are made big enough to have parking and empty space, etc. There's not some kind of anti-walking design conspiracy here.

This is incorrect. American cities are usually designed around car dominance, at the expense of walking. Examples include:

- Primary metric for road design and evaluation being "level of service", which means "how many cars can move through here in a given period of time". Pedestrians are second-class citizens.

- Minimum parking requirements subsidize car use and make urban environments pedestrian-unfriendly by spreading out points of interest.

- Zoning regulations mandating that most of a city's residential area consist of detached single-family homes on large lots, mixed-use generally limited or non-existent.

- Under-investment in transit (transit use is generally paired with walking at the start and end).

- Freeways running all the way into and through cities split urban areas into sections that are difficult to navigate between by walking.

I could go on and on about how American cities are hostile to walking, but that covers some of the big ones. It's true that these decisions have or had popular support, so it's not a conspiracy, but it was certainly designed.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#142

Post by SilasX »

oh_sigh wrote: post #138
SilasX wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure it was even popular for the American well-off (upper middle-class). In Mad Men , I remember them making a point of the characters ridiculing a woman who said she liked to take walks (though she was abnormal in other ways, like being divorced). (I know it's not top-grade historic research, but they tried to highlight what was known about the 60s, and this matches the environment that inspired Bradbury's s…

They made fun of her because they were all hyper focused on business. To do anything aimlessly, including walking, was basically burning money.

It was the stay-at-home housewives criticizing her though, who did a ton of aimless stuff themselves.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#143

Post by tomkat0789 »

Back during my PhD quals, I used to just walk in a circle around my smallish apartment complex to blow off stress. Once I even met my roommate doing them same thing on one of my laps!

More often I'd walk around some trees around the university campus. When out for a stroll, I can take a different perspective on things and let my mind wander without being tempted to open a new tab and browse HackerNews or something. I think I've planned a lot of research just by walking around. Sitting in front of my computer, my mind is stuck in the mode of "Do something. Do something."

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#145

Post by swah »

MicroBerto wrote: post #109

My version of "taking a walk" is swimming laps. My finest work is accomplished in the pool, going back and forth. Been a swimmer all my life, and if I don't get at least a swim or two in each week, things start to turn to shit. It's my meditation, and despite being the most boring thing on earth for some people, it's one of my favorite things to do. Many introverted mathematical minds would love it, but you gotta lea…

I agree. I'd love to swim in the ocean, if I lived near it. (Of course, devising a way to safely swim alone)

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#146

Post by YZF »

RobertoG wrote: post #41
kleiba wrote: post #11

There were times in my life (thesis writing) where I'd go and sit in the library all day to work and come home in the early evening. The psychological stress on me during that time was tremendous. Every evening, after coming home, I'd have a small dinner and then go for a one-hour walk, always the same route. At that time, I lived in a small town, and my route would take me down a dead-end street, across another one,…

"but apparently in that area, just being out and about on foot was enough of a reason to be considered suspicious." Maybe, this is an American thing. Some colleagues of me explain how, in a job trip to Atlanta, they decide to go back to the hotel walking. They could see the hotel from where they were, so, why not? Sure enough, the police stopped them and wanted to know what was wrong. They have a lot of fun explainin…

About 10 years ago myself and a few co-workers (from Canada) travelled to Wilmington, Delaware on business. We check in to a hotel in downtown Wilmington and inquired as to the nearest restaurant. We were given some pointers, told it wasn't too far, and decided to walk. It was after business hours and the streets were pretty deserted, no cars or pedestrians. 10 minutes later a police cruiser pulls up besides us and the policemen inside inquire to what we're up to and then inform us this isn't a safe place to be walking around and tell us to head back to our hotel. After that they pulled up in front of some random house and one policeman was taking cover behind the cruiser while another was knocking on the door. Both of them had their hands on their guns as far as I recall.

Anyhow, we ended up eating in the hotel...

Walking in the USA. :)

That said there are cities or at least parts of cities in the US that are no problem. I've walked around San Francisco, New York City, Seattle amongst others and always felt perfectly safe. I think one big factor is public transport. If you have public transport you have people walking; at least to it and back.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#147

Post by cylinder »

ethanbond wrote: post #79
RobertoG wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah... but because they are walking.. I think that say something about how the city is designed.

Younger US cities aren't designed for walking so yes it looks weird when you're walking around. I don't know anything about Atlanta but in Arizona, per parent comment's story, for example, it's strange to see people walking around because it's way too hot in 80% of the state to walk around for leisure. On top of that, the towns are so spread out that it makes no sense to walk from point A to point B. So if people are…

The whole point is that walking is seen as highly unusual. We understand that the reason is poor city planning. We don't need to empathize with the cop. It's just ridiculous it's gotten to this point.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#148

Post by tluyben2 »

yumaikas wrote: post #137
tluyben2 wrote: post #13

I walk insane lengths as it clears the mind and fosters creativity. I talk into my phone during that; either to colleagues or to a recorder and then type it in at home (no, speech to text does not work; if someone wants to work with me to get that working, that would be great but for now, it does not even work a bit; only gibberish comes out; it seems to have something to do with my way of talking which I am trying t…

Sounds like learning VI or ed might be helpful for that, since they are designed to be mouse free. It may not be the exact thing you need, but they offer a lot from the keyboard.

Yes, vi(m) seems one of the few editors that would work for mobile (touch) devices. It was already my favorite and only editor before my quest...

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#149

Post by tluyben2 »

igivanov wrote: post #140
tluyben2 wrote: post #13

I walk insane lengths as it clears the mind and fosters creativity. I talk into my phone during that; either to colleagues or to a recorder and then type it in at home (no, speech to text does not work; if someone wants to work with me to get that working, that would be great but for now, it does not even work a bit; only gibberish comes out; it seems to have something to do with my way of talking which I am trying t…

Almost exactly my experience, and with programming as well. I solved a bunch of problems while hiking in the mountains. Except that I don't miss coding because they are more architectural problems than pure coding.

That's what I usually have; I think up high level solutions or, in rare cases, low level solutions for hard problems and I blurt out them into a recording. That works fine. The problem is; I really want to keep walking and not go home and spend hours behind a computer entering and debugging these issues.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#150

Post by sliverstorm »

fuzzywalrus wrote: post #130
aninhumer wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone gets out of their car in the middle of nowhere and starts walking, it's fairly possible that they've broken down or run out of fuel, in which case the police could help them out. I don't know how the interaction in question went, but it's possible they were just interpreting an earnestly concerned police officer as suspicious because of a (justifiable) distrust of police.

Maybe this is my Northwestern showing but as a (nearly)lifer of the Pacific Northwest, I can honestly say that if I see someone walking, I assume they're out for a walk even when I lived in a town of 2500. I imagine this is the privilege of living somewhere known for natural beauty because I think "Why wouldn't you want to be outside?" It's fascinating to read about inherent fear of being questioned. I don't think it…

HN is full of people who are paranoid about the NSA, CIA, FBI, and local police department. Right or wrong, I don't think it's representative of the attitude general population.
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