While I hope to use this space as a way of documenting my walks - at once erratic and relaxing, spontaneous and planned - I will also be using it as a tribute to those who walked before me, those philosophers, historians, authors and artists who traversed their surroundings on foot, and found their own way of documenting their experiences.
Pedestrian access, as the name implies, speaks to the general concern about the inaccessibility and obsolescence of walking in urban environments. This blog will not merely be a rant about the inadequacies of city planners any more than it will probe into the indolence of my fellow bipeds, but it will inevitably be a platform for social critique. I'm not zealous enough to wish that everyone ditch their cars, take to the streets and start demanding more footpaths, but I am idealistic enough to think that people would be happier, healthier, and cities safer if walking happened more often.
The walking that I do isn't always the most practical; bicycles are typically more efficient. I'm well aware of this, which is why I'll note that I'm alluding to the joint meaning of pedestrian as not just "going on foot", but also pedestrian as "dull" or "mundane". Yes, walking can seem boring and monotonous, but this blog's purpose is to show, through my experience and the testimony of others, how walking can be a means of entry into radical ways of seeing and thinking.
Proposed entries may include the following:
Written and pictorial accounts of my walks
Reflections on why I choose to walk
Plans for future walks (some of which you can join me on)
Passages from and about walkers who have influenced me
Historical explorations of the places I walk
Interviews with other walkers
Lists of things to do while walking
and much more...
No comments:
Post a Comment