
A Need to Walk (2014) - betocmn
https://craigmod.com/essays/a_need_to_walk/
======
nmfisher
Walking is one of the most overlooked forms of physical activity. It costs
nothing, burns calories, allows you to multi-task, all the while doubling as a
mode of transportation that doesn't leave you sweaty or needing time to
recover.

I was about to say that not being able to walk to work - either because you
live in a car-centric suburb, or because it's dangerous - is a nigh criminal
failure of city planning.

On second thoughts, though, that's probably unfair. It's probably a case of
demand driving planning, not the other way around. I can't blame city planners
if people mostly prefer a large house in the suburbs, and are willing to pay
for it with a 45-minute commute.

~~~
spaetzleesser
Even in the suburbs they could make neighborhoods more walkable. I never
understand why US neighborhoods don’t have small walkways that connect one
street to the other. I am not sure if it’s just thoughtless or active
opposition against walking.

~~~
082349872349872
What some friends remember most about their grad student days in the States is
having the police called on them because they were walking around their
neighbourhood. "We have a car. It's in our garage." was their defence when
grilled by the responding officer.

(don't even ask about their anecdote about after-dark US walking etiquette)

~~~
tomcooks
Please share if you can, I had no idea there was a night walking etiquette in
the US

~~~
_wldu
It depends on the state. Texas is a good example of a state with property
protection laws that differ at night.

[https://www.dougmurphylaw.com/defense-of-
property](https://www.dougmurphylaw.com/defense-of-property)

If I were walking at night in Texas, I'd be sure to always stay on clearly
marked public sidewalks and paths.

~~~
arethuza
An interesting article on the Scottish "right to roam" written from a US
perspective:

[https://www.backpacker.com/stories/scotland-right-to-
roam](https://www.backpacker.com/stories/scotland-right-to-roam)

~~~
082349872349872
and (for germanophones and machine translation users) an article on US "no
trespassing" written from a german swiss perspective:

[https://tageswoche.ch/allgemein/das-land-der-grossen-
freihei...](https://tageswoche.ch/allgemein/das-land-der-grossen-freiheit/)
(the caption on the "survivors will be shot again" sign is "they're serious":
Die meinen das ernst.)

relevant law clause in english: [https://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classified-
compilation/19070042/...](https://www.admin.ch/opc/en/classified-
compilation/19070042/index.html#a699)

------
cmod
Author here. Shameless (but relevant) plug — I write a weekly newsletter on
walking in Japan called Ridgeline. You can find the archives here:

[https://craigmod.com/ridgeline/](https://craigmod.com/ridgeline/)

~~~
totetsu
I really like your not ＳＭＳ but SMS experiment. This one way flow of messages
into artifact could be a really good model for social network interaction for
community projects.

~~~
cmod
Thanks, agree; looking to expand on it later this year.

------
aaronbrethorst
The thing I miss the most about working in an office is my walking commute.
Walking 1.75 miles each way to and from work was a great way for me to clear
my head and recenter myself on what I need to get done—or set that aside so I
could be present at home.

I look forward to returning to this routine post-COVID. In the mean time, I've
taken up running. It's better in some ways and worse in others. I expect I'll
keep running post-COVID, and just layer the walking on top of that.

~~~
Daub
I also enjoy (require) my morning walk. 4.5 km through the streets of Ho Chi
Minh City. I do my best problem-solving whilst walking, and I know I am not
the only one. Check out this excellent site on the habits of creative people:
[https://dailyroutines.typepad.com](https://dailyroutines.typepad.com) (now a
book at [https://amzn.to/2Pb4bJB](https://amzn.to/2Pb4bJB)).

Waking in HCM can be hardcore. I always travel with a shirt to change into
when I arrive, and go through several pairs of boots per year.

------
LeonM
Walking is part of my daily work routine.

Usually around 2~3pm I go out for a ~45 minute walk. I use this time to think
about work related problems, solving them in my head as I go. Sometimes a walk
can be much longer, if I'm stuck at a particularly difficult problem.

I consider the walk routine as work, so I also charge my customers for this
time. They are OK with that though, since they understand that thinking about
their problems is what they pay me for.

Unfortunately I can't walk from home to my office, it's too far, so I ride my
bicycle. The bike ride (circa 20 minutes) is perfect for clearing my head
after the work day, and switch from work-mode to relax-mode.

------
totetsu
Rambling around Japan can feel a bit like playing an RPG. Some times you
really do come across abandoned shrines, home to wild animals, and with caches
of pole weapons and money inside.

------
cameronperot
After living in Germany (originally from the big city in Texas), I've come to
realize how valuable it is for a city to be walkable.

I really like being able to walk out of my door and reach anywhere I need to
on foot, especially when there's a lot of beautiful nature around. I usually
walk in the evenings for at least an hour (outside of any walking I might do
in the day to go to the store or such) as a way to relax.

------
cousin_it
After a few months of country walking, going back to city walking felt like a
shock. So many people around, forcing me to make myself smaller, more brisk,
more tense.

There are ways to regain relaxed movement even in a city, though. Shooting
hoops / rebounds / jumpshots for half an hour every day is amazing. It changed
my whole way of moving and being in a space.

------
godelmachine
>> _Moses famously parted an entire sea to take a walk with a few friends._

:D

~~~
082349872349872
40 years makes for a long less-than-urban flânerie :)

What are the modern equivalents of the ancient greek philosophers' venues?

The Academy was an olive grove owned by Plato, so it would be an example of an
institution whose endowment was identical with its campus (and the modern
equivalent would be a school in a penthouse, funded by the rents from
apartments below and retail on the ground floor?)

The Lyceum
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripatetic_school#Background](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripatetic_school#Background)
appears to have been a multi-use public park. Did Aristotle adopt the
peripatetic lecture style because he enjoyed it, or did the Lyceum have
intermittently patrolling Athenian rent-a-cops who encouraged his auditors to
"move along now" every so often?

Stoics met in a stoa, so the modern equivalent might be a "strip mall
philosopher."

Diogenes' tub might be a rude structure of cardboard under an overpass, or at
best a cast-off camping tent. (as the SDFs in Paris have)

------
amatecha
Coincidentally just reading this after a 2km walk... free exercise! Good way
to see some new sights too :)

