At Heart…
Depending on your beliefs, humans evolved from monkeys or were created by God in His image (and maybe the image from a few monkeys). Either way, we were left with some deep impulses that can not be ignored. At least, not without consequences to our bliss.
Just like eating food brings you bliss from hunger, exercising gives you bliss from feeling antsy, and a hug gives you bliss from loneliness — there are other emotions yet unfulfilled. Emotions that depend on other people, instead of yourself. This is the heart of walkability. The true core of it. While many politicians focus on the “what“, this is the true “why“. We are doing our best to inspire others to live in a more human world, as it’s the only way to return to the bliss we’re all bound to feel.
One example I can offer you is a reformed supermarket. Consider my remark about being made from monkeys, or more accurately: cavemen. An impulse that we all feel is a bliss derived from foraging for food. Imagine walking through a blueberry patch, for no reason other than the pleasure of it. Doing this with someone you love.
What does it look like?
- It looks like a random walk
- It requires generally looking down, ahead, and around
- It requires keeping your loved person in mind, so you don’t stray too far apart
- It evokes patience and a little focus
- The wind blows
- The sun shines
- Insects, birds, and shrubbery make gentle sound
- You’re watching your feet, watching where you step
- The colour is green, the sky is blue, the clouds white
These qualities, and many others we often overlook, all contribute to the bliss we feel during a forage. Only when you put it all together can we feel this particular, ingrained bliss.
Our species is no longer dependent on foraging for food. Instead, we’ve grown and built massive supermarkets. With that brilliant invention, came a cost. The emotion of bliss, here, in this example, will never be felt in routine, daily life of most Americans. And worse yet — most people don’t even know it’s lost. Because it’s so subtle.
One idea I can present is a reformed supermarket, where it’s built in a way that touches these qualities of nature — qualities we are born attuned for — born attuned because our emotions are still that of monkeys and cavemen.
Imagine a supermarket where all the aisles and floors are green. All the aisles are not straight, and they interconnect like the roads of Paris. Plants, either real or artificial, dot the atmosphere, as the entire building smells like a forest. All of the shelves are shoulder-height or lower, resembling bushes. The ceiling may be covered in lights, but still resembles the sky. It may be painted blue.
In this reformed supermarket, you will find it “just feels good”, it’s better. Maybe you can’t say why, or maybe you can. The feeling is emotional. We lack words to convey all these different feelings, hence why I’ve stuck to ‘bliss’. This supermarket is more… human. It respects the impulses inside of us and, thanks to the work of others, caused you to feel a bliss that you otherwise wouldn’t.
This is the goal of walkability; to be more human, and to evoke this forgotten bliss.
This is just one example, and yes, it may be a bit extreme or even silly, but it paints the image of why, instead of what, we are trying to achieve.
By making streets more walkable, by changing how buildings are built, how homes are entered and exited, how commutes are made, how errands are run, and how people have fun, we can finally reach these lost impulses. That is what we want, and we want this for everyone. All included. That means you.
I hope you will join us and I hope I explained it well.
Keep it in mind as you listen to commentators on youtube and X. They tend to hone in the “what” and overlook the “why“.
To see how we plan to accomplish this, what our ideas for improvement are, then I invite you to browse this website. I will cover as many topics as I can.