Many of the recent posts in this blog have pointed out characteristics, for example the “cream colored” brick buildings of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that help give that location a “sense of place.” For Portland, Oregon, that characteristic could be its “foot friendliness.” The city is compact; it has a great light rail, streetcar, and bus network; many of its neighborhoods have very high “walk scores”; and it is always easy to find a great place to walk. You can find several previous posts about walking in Portland by entering “Portland” in the search box.

Earlier this month, I had another opportunity to experience the “foot friendliness” of Portland. In the course of several walks with my grandson, daughter, and son in law, we found many items to add to why Portland is a great place to be on foot.

For starters, there is the newly opened (September 2015) Tilikum Crossing Bridge. It is the largest car-free bridge in the United States. It was built to accommodate a new streetcar and light rail route and has lanes for both pedestrians and bicycles. It is extremely attractive and is a great way to cross the Willamette River, even in the middle of an ice storm, without the noise of cars zooming by you.

As you can see, it was a very snowy and icy day when my grandson and I walked across the bridge.

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If you happen to be driving through Chicago on one of its expressways, you can’t help but to notice the number of church steeples soaring above the surrounding trees and houses. There are so many of them that it seems like there could be a church on every block. The only way for you to find out for sure is to get out of your car and start walking.

When you do this, you’ll not only find an answer to your question; you’ll also have the opportunity to walk through the urban landscape to see what else you might notice. Your walk could give you some idea about the community’s geography, history, or culture. You might even spot something that you wouldn’t readily find anywhere else.

Last month while on a whirlwind trip through the Midwest to take some photographs to complement research that I have been doing on the urban landscape of various cities, my dog Petey and I did get off a Chicago expressway to see how close together those churches actually were. We spent a good part of a Saturday walking around an area not too far from the long-gone stockyards. One hundred years ago Chicago was in deed the “Hog butcher of the world” and meat packing along with the stockyards was one of its defining industries. Continue Reading →