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Yule Heibel's Library tagged flaneur   View Popular, Search in Google

May
6
2008

Last (so far) in what almost amounts to a series of articles on the importance to a true urban fabric of sidewalks and pedestrians. Hume adds some interesting speculation around Modernism's aversion to mingling/ chance encounters.

thestar christopher_hume pedestrians flaneur toronto

  • It was the French who first grasped the cultural significance of walking.
  • The French even devised new words to describe these denizens of the expanding city. They were boulevardiers and flaneurs. The former were sophisticated and worldly, urban and urbane. The flâneur, on the other hand, was the man-about-town, idle but intellectually curious and aware.
  • 12 more annotation(s)...

Together with 2 other articles (Apr.26 and May 3), a nice trilogy in praise of walking and pedestrian rights.

thestar flaneur pedestrians infrastructure christopher_hume toronto

  • If only people were cars, maybe then we could get the city to take our sidewalks seriously.
  • In addition to the decayed state of city sidewalks, many are too narrow to begin with. And given the city's love of widening roads whenever possible, that makes for a dangerous combination.
  • 6 more annotation(s)...
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