What a great piece! I enjoyed reading about your own evolving relationship with commuting.
In my book ("A Walking Life") I went into a lot of the subjects you mention here. One of the most under appreciated is how walking itself builds community. When you're taking that long walk home, you're helping to build social capital, strengthening the fabric of the community you live in, along with feeding your creativity and mental and physical health. (I had a section, too, on the mental-emotional isolation of commuting by car, how it might be exacerbating social divides through lack of interaction, and how physical exhausting it is -- when I had a long car commute, I was much more inclined to sit down and watch TV at the end of the day than to go for a walk or be social or even eat good food!)
Also, I can't remember if I mentioned this in that comment thread, but I think Putnam's statistic in Bowling Alone was specifically about car commuting. I'd have to look it up.
I am SO looking forward to reading your book! And now I wonder if I subconsciously titled this post as an homage to your book's title :)
I love thinking about walking as a means of strengthening social fabric and building social capital, that's such a great way to frame it. It took me awhile to realize how even a very short driving commute can feel isolating and exhausting, and now that I'm walking and biking more I also experience how driving can make so many people more reckless (and rude, etc) behind the wheel than they probably are otherwise.
I’m sure some version of that title has been used many times!
I agree about people being more reckless and rude. This has become even more apparent as cars and trucks suddenly became ginormous over the last few years. Those huge lifted trucks are all over where I live, and it’s clear many of the drivers don’t really care about safe or even courteous driving. Really disheartening.
I’m glad to have connected with your work here! Walkability and housing overlap hugely, as you know! I did a piece for Rail~Volution a few years ago one places dealing proactively with gentrification that came along with public transit. Haven’t stopped thinking about it since …
What a great piece! I enjoyed reading about your own evolving relationship with commuting.
In my book ("A Walking Life") I went into a lot of the subjects you mention here. One of the most under appreciated is how walking itself builds community. When you're taking that long walk home, you're helping to build social capital, strengthening the fabric of the community you live in, along with feeding your creativity and mental and physical health. (I had a section, too, on the mental-emotional isolation of commuting by car, how it might be exacerbating social divides through lack of interaction, and how physical exhausting it is -- when I had a long car commute, I was much more inclined to sit down and watch TV at the end of the day than to go for a walk or be social or even eat good food!)
Also, I can't remember if I mentioned this in that comment thread, but I think Putnam's statistic in Bowling Alone was specifically about car commuting. I'd have to look it up.
I am SO looking forward to reading your book! And now I wonder if I subconsciously titled this post as an homage to your book's title :)
I love thinking about walking as a means of strengthening social fabric and building social capital, that's such a great way to frame it. It took me awhile to realize how even a very short driving commute can feel isolating and exhausting, and now that I'm walking and biking more I also experience how driving can make so many people more reckless (and rude, etc) behind the wheel than they probably are otherwise.
For anyone else who wants to read the book, here is a link to buy A Walking Life: https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-walking-life-reclaiming-our-health-and-our-freedom-one-step-at-a-time-antonia-malchik/6464959
I’m sure some version of that title has been used many times!
I agree about people being more reckless and rude. This has become even more apparent as cars and trucks suddenly became ginormous over the last few years. Those huge lifted trucks are all over where I live, and it’s clear many of the drivers don’t really care about safe or even courteous driving. Really disheartening.
I’m glad to have connected with your work here! Walkability and housing overlap hugely, as you know! I did a piece for Rail~Volution a few years ago one places dealing proactively with gentrification that came along with public transit. Haven’t stopped thinking about it since …
On point once again.