A Need to Walk (2014)
craigmod.com
craigmod.com
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.
“There is this perception… that if we have sidewalks, we’re going to bring people who do not belong to our neighborhoods,” she says. In the post-World War II era, many Americans left the cities to live in suburbs with big garages and, just as important, people who weren’t white and middle class like them.
The zoning didn’t seem to go to shit until much later than the “post-WW2” generalization.
Here's an example about post-war suburbs from near Minneapolis, where I grew up: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/fight-over-suburba...
You should look up the history of Edina. It was established well before the war and had laws until shortly after the war that land had to be owned by Caucasians. They had no interest in sidewalks when they were built even when they had laws explicitly keeping minorities out.
(don't even ask about their anecdote about after-dark US walking etiquette)
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.
https://tageswoche.ch/allgemein/das-land-der-grossen-freihei... (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/...
(Hobo? A gentleman of the rails might appreciate the rather friendly bull depicted in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8YX4MYOppo . And then there's the classic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrhAC0dFis0 .)
Perhaps lack of planning is what initially enabled artery-like evolution of streets?
A Berliner arrives at the Bern train station, and wants to get a haircut and shave. "Make it snappy, I have a transfer to catch," he tells the local barber. "All right sir, of course we can do that, but may I please ask the gnädige Herr ... what is your blood type?"
The Berner would agree with the Geordies that "a gentleman will walk but never run."
AFAIK it's common with students coming to Europe from more car-centric areas, and the reason why Europeans used to be skinny even when relying on fat diets (this is rapidly changing thanks to the standardization of city planning and diets, from what I can guess from obesity graphs)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-08-29/the-commu...
"From ancient Rome to modern Atlanta, the shape of cities has been defined by the technologies that allow commuters to get to work in about 30 minutes."
Around here (in the Ohio River Valley), the temperature in the summertime routinely gets to at least 90° and the humidity never really drops below 70%, just standing around outside is enough to leave you sweaty and needing time to recover. Walking around for an hour or more is a challenge, and I usually need a shower and a change of clothes afterward.
I've only really made a few changes so far (breathable/better ventilated shirts and shoes, and not wearing socks when I can do without). It's still hot and I still sweat, but much less and when I do sweat it evaporates more easily and I feel cooler. I also now try to bring a sweater if I'm going to be inside for hours, just in case they have the AC really cranked (occasionally I'll find it's needed at work or in movie theaters).
I guess it's not really a great solution if you are restricted in what you can wear to work though. There are supposed to be breathable suit fabrics (like linen) that are good for hot + humid weather, but I have tried them. I wonder if we'll see increasing acceptance of "professional summer workwear" in the US as the sunbelt continues to boom. Maybe that's part of the reason athleisure has become so popular?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
:D
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 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)