The art of wandering is not dependent on wealth, status, or being well-traveled but is a philosophy of life that can be applied to most settings. However, it requires having places to wander freely.
Justin, this is one of your best posts. We enjoy living near a city park in which we can take the same walk on a regular basis, yet see different things each time. Also, it is possible to view a walk score or walkability index for almost any US address. In your opinion, do these scores adequately measure the relative ability to wander?
Thanks, Steve! Oh, the walkability index sounds interesting. I'll have to look into it more but that's a great question. By definition, I'd guess something like that has to be tailored to official criteria, e.g., whether there are established and state-authorized sidewalks, greenways, trails, etc. Thus, I'd assume the index would be a fairly conservative gauge for walkability or wandering by nature and therefore wouldn't fully measure the ability to wander necessarily. That said, it is still probably somewhat accurate to most peoples' needs and abilities to wander.
Some examples where the walkability index might fall short:
So much of my time during my teens and early 20s was spent skateboarding, biking, and walking, which allowed me to intimately explore many of the towns I grew up around. Many times I was walking down railroad tracks, checking out abandoned buildings, or cutting through private property and technically trespassing to get to where I wanted to go. Sometimes I would just follow a creek through an agricultural field to get to the White River and walk along the shore or venture into Bradford Woods and many places that didn't have official trails. So much of this activity you can't officially advise people to do because it's obviously trespassing and cause for liability, but it's incredibly thrilling when you are younger. One finds that there are indeed many networks of unofficial paths in so many towns and cities that people use that connect to most places. I've found a few of these paths while on my runs near our house.
The same goes for national and state parks. There are tons of unofficial "user-made" trails that obviously cause ecological problems and one doesn't want to encourage more of that traffic, but in terms of individual exploration, one can't deny there is a lot of thrill to doing stuff like that and charting one's own path.
One last example, when we lived in Knoxville, we lived on a dead-end street with limited sidewalks so it likely wouldn't score high on a walkability index. However, part of the property at the end of the street cut through a portion of both county-owned property and private property. The owners were friendly and didn't mind us cutting through to explore the neighborhood and we took many walks through that neighborhood while there.
“Susan Sontag in her 1977 collection of essays, On Photography, describes how, since the development of hand-held cameras in the early 20th century, the camera has become the tool of the flâneur.”
I like that a lot! I still need to read her essays. I read some of her work in college but they’ve been on my list for a while. Thanks for the reminder!
Great post! I'm happy to learn the term flaneur. I frequently engage in urban walks and nature hikes and enjoy the mindset of a flaneur in both types of settings.
Justin, this is one of your best posts. We enjoy living near a city park in which we can take the same walk on a regular basis, yet see different things each time. Also, it is possible to view a walk score or walkability index for almost any US address. In your opinion, do these scores adequately measure the relative ability to wander?
Thanks, Steve! Oh, the walkability index sounds interesting. I'll have to look into it more but that's a great question. By definition, I'd guess something like that has to be tailored to official criteria, e.g., whether there are established and state-authorized sidewalks, greenways, trails, etc. Thus, I'd assume the index would be a fairly conservative gauge for walkability or wandering by nature and therefore wouldn't fully measure the ability to wander necessarily. That said, it is still probably somewhat accurate to most peoples' needs and abilities to wander.
Some examples where the walkability index might fall short:
So much of my time during my teens and early 20s was spent skateboarding, biking, and walking, which allowed me to intimately explore many of the towns I grew up around. Many times I was walking down railroad tracks, checking out abandoned buildings, or cutting through private property and technically trespassing to get to where I wanted to go. Sometimes I would just follow a creek through an agricultural field to get to the White River and walk along the shore or venture into Bradford Woods and many places that didn't have official trails. So much of this activity you can't officially advise people to do because it's obviously trespassing and cause for liability, but it's incredibly thrilling when you are younger. One finds that there are indeed many networks of unofficial paths in so many towns and cities that people use that connect to most places. I've found a few of these paths while on my runs near our house.
The same goes for national and state parks. There are tons of unofficial "user-made" trails that obviously cause ecological problems and one doesn't want to encourage more of that traffic, but in terms of individual exploration, one can't deny there is a lot of thrill to doing stuff like that and charting one's own path.
One last example, when we lived in Knoxville, we lived on a dead-end street with limited sidewalks so it likely wouldn't score high on a walkability index. However, part of the property at the end of the street cut through a portion of both county-owned property and private property. The owners were friendly and didn't mind us cutting through to explore the neighborhood and we took many walks through that neighborhood while there.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” <- Love this, an eloquent reminder!
Was the first 'flaneur' like Baudelaire? Pretty darn cool.
Willie said it best -
Still is still moving to me
I swim like a fish in the sea all the time
But if that's what it takes to be free, I don't mind
Still is still moving to me
Still is still moving to me
And it's hard to explain how I feel
It won't go in words, but I know that it's real
I can be moving or I can be still
But still is still moving to me
Still is still moving to me
PS - this is a terrific & thought provoking newsletter. Thanks!
Thanks Brett. Happy to hear that. And I really like that. Thanks for sharing.
“Susan Sontag in her 1977 collection of essays, On Photography, describes how, since the development of hand-held cameras in the early 20th century, the camera has become the tool of the flâneur.”
I like that a lot! I still need to read her essays. I read some of her work in college but they’ve been on my list for a while. Thanks for the reminder!
May I call myself a “flaneur?” It seems so elitist! But I love the idea! Great post!
Thanks, David! I say go for it. I'm considering putting it in my LinkedIn bio now. Lol.
Love it~!
A huge hug, for writing this.
Awww thanks! That means a lot. 😊
Great post! I'm happy to learn the term flaneur. I frequently engage in urban walks and nature hikes and enjoy the mindset of a flaneur in both types of settings.
At this time of year, I think about the Carol often sung at Christmas, "And wonders of His love." I often contemplate that-- while wandering!