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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)

#61

Post by RobertoG »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #49
RobertoG wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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…

Sometimes police will stop people who look the complete opposite of suspicious just to make sure they don't need help.

Yeah... but because they are walking..

I think that say something about how the city is designed.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#62

Post by partisan »

brador wrote: post #12
jflatow wrote: post #2

I tend to bite my nails, especially when I'm programming or deep in thought. Last year I decided to start walking whenever I reach that point where I am fidgeting and can't sit still. It's totally changed the way I work for the better. I walk between 10-20 miles per day, and can get a lot of work done on those walks. Highly recommended, especially for people living in places with good weather and beautiful scenery.

I can see walking 10-20 miles a day being detrimental to your health long term. Knees, feet, hips, somethings gonna give. Good cushioned footwear and insoles is a must to limit the damage at that range.

There are ways in which walking for long distances can affect you negatively. Consider bursitis for instance. I was walking 5 miles a day, on average according to my iPhone, last year. I suddenly noticed this dull aching pain in my hip/buttock sometime in December. Over the course of several weeks, it got increasingly worse until the point where I was bedridden for 4 days. I've started my routine up again, but I walk about 3 miles a day now, and not every day, until I can be confident that the pain will not return.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#63

Post by timwaagh »

these bloggers can make everything look like spirituality these days to promote the latest book of Hipster. I walked yesterday. aimlessly. not because of my desire to be mindful or some kind of creativity boost or because i had aloe vera growing on top of my head. i did it because it was a national holiday and i was bored. of course, i came back enlightened like the buddha. i saw an elephant on somebody's home decoration. and i had this funny idea for an association to promote the raping of elephants (sorry if you find this offensive). so yeah i guess it does make you more creative for some definition of 'creative'. but please dear bloggers, dont go promote walking as some kind of mindfulness. please. or i might just translate my hard-gained 'creativity' into action. Elephants across the world will thank you.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#64

Post by GrinningFool »

lmm wrote: post #8

So is there any evidence for any of these supposed advantages of aimless walking? Or is this just a "people should do things the way I did them"?

The cool thing about it is that it's an easy thing to try for yourself [assuming you're not physically unable] and gather your own evidence.

I can't believe these words are about to come off of my fingers, but -- if it works for you, then does it matter what a body of scientific research has to say about it? Because the benefits are at least in part subjective, this is a case where a sample size of one is sufficient.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#65

Post by wil421 »

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…

Really depends where you are walking in Atlanta and if you look out of place. Where they walking in the road or look confused?

Certain areas can be no loitering zones. Other areas are known drug zones and you can be arrested for going there without a clear purpose.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#66

Post by mapleoin »

mseebach wrote: post #9

> But are people losing their love of the purposeless walk? BBC Magazine strikes again. No, they're not losing it, it's not "slowly dying". Did "people" at large ever have that? Having the time and energy to go aimlessly wandering was a luxurious privilege until very recently. If anything, the existence of "[a] number of recent books [that] have lauded the connection between walking - just for its own sake - and thin…

> Dickensque

The word you're looking for is https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Dickensian

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#67

Post by jcadam »

Two years ago, I moved from Northern VA to the Florida coast. My house is about 4 blocks from the beach. The wife and I have taken to going on longish walks along the beach after dinner (or even just around the neighborhood on occasion). I'm usually lost in thought, so not much conversation happens, but I enjoy the walks.

In NOVA, we lived in a fairly dense townhouse development with significant vehicle traffic and going for walks was just not very pleasant (and the weather certainly wasn't as nice - especially in the winter). We've both lost a decent amount of weight since we moved here :)

I absolutely loathe big cities, which I know is a severe handicap for a software developer, especially since I've found remote work isn't actually a real thing. I do have a rather mundane job here (fairly low stress, 40 hrs/week CRUD stuff), but I'm not moving (besides, I have my side projects to keep me challenged) :)

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#68

Post by awesomerobot »

iopq wrote: post #48
mseebach wrote: post #9

> But are people losing their love of the purposeless walk? BBC Magazine strikes again. No, they're not losing it, it's not "slowly dying". Did "people" at large ever have that? Having the time and energy to go aimlessly wandering was a luxurious privilege until very recently. If anything, the existence of "[a] number of recent books [that] have lauded the connection between walking - just for its own sake - and thin…

I walk aimlessly from time to time, but I don't see that many people do it. There are far more people that do it in other countries, and I assume that was the case in the United States earlier.

The aimless walk seems alive and well in most of the major cities I've been to. Get up before noon and talk a walk and the streets are filled with people strolling along with babies, walking dogs, or just hanging out with someone.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#69

Post by trgn »

vidarh wrote: post #43
jokoon wrote: post #19

Wasn't this already posted on hackernews? I've already read it, and I was a little curious because that's a little what I started to do last year (my apartment and school started to feel like a prison cell). I just walk in my city to explore, preferably greener, quiet areas without car traffic, but I always plan a zone I'll go to. I use offline openstreetmap (OSMAND) on my smartphone. I try to go to different places…

Once of the reasons I want massively more dense residential areas in cities is because I want city living but shorter distances to large parkland. I live in a relatively green area, but still my street alone (~660 houses)"wastes" around 40,000 m^2 of space compared to new high rises on the way near our local station. I'd love to see far more of the residential areas compressed like that, if only it meant a reasonable…

Many metros could benefit from your vision.

You're describing the late 19th century ideal of Garden Cities. Clusters of towns, divided by green belts, and connected by railways and highways.

I'll speak for the US right now, there is so much country side, but it is completely inaccessible for pretty much anybody living in a city. What country-side there is near a metro, it's curated: park here, walk there, take a panoramic picture here, ... I worked in Belgium for a while, which is incredibly densely populated, and the country-side was so much more accessible. Walk out the door of your city house, and you'd be in a rural environment in 10 minutes, and you could go long distances never leaving those small roads. The USA has so much wilderness and country side, yet, it feels so much more remote, just because the cities are a sprawling mess and roads in the country-side only accommodate cars.

Re: The slow death of purposeless walking (2014)

#70

Post by marcusgarvey »

wil421 wrote: post #65
RobertoG wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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…

Really depends where you are walking in Atlanta and if you look out of place. Where they walking in the road or look confused? Certain areas can be no loitering zones. Other areas are known drug zones and you can be arrested for going there without a clear purpose.

>Other areas are known drug zones and you can be arrested for going there without a clear purpose.

How could this be a lawful arrest?

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