4 ms·
I really enjoys the mindless strolling the article talks about. Assuming most people work 9-5, you can only take such walks in the morning or at night. Unfortun
by harmonicon 12y ago
I really enjoys the mindless strolling the article talks about. Assuming most people work 9-5, you can only take such walks in the morning or at night. Unfortunately, taking a solitary walk in my (US) city at those times is simply not safe and goes against a multitude of general safety tips.
The biggest problem is the dearth of other strollers. In addition to the lack of a pedestrian culture, US does not much of a concept of "communal life". When I travelled abroad (Asia and Africa, not sure about Europe), I noticed that there are much more people of all ages just lingering around the street/public spaces during the day and at night. They are just hanging out. In contrast American social scene centers around private spaces and networks. Lingering in public space seems out of place and such "idleness" is generally associated with unemployment and other undesirable qualities.
- dodders 12y agoWhere do you live in the US that is unsafe for walking?
- kencausey 12y agoI don't know harmonicon's situation but in my case the problem is a small town (metropolitan area now) that was built up without consistently installing sidewalks. It's difficult to walk more than a mile without having to compete with traffic. That is changing though, I believe all new development has to include a sidewalk and there is a slowly developing 'greenways' project that is building sidewalks of twice the normal width with some paths that are not next to streets.