A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to walk in and around downtown Albuquerque with Stephen Ausherman, the author of 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Albuquerque. He is currently working on a new book that will feature hikes within the city limits of Albuquerque.
The timing of the walk with Stephen was perfect as I was thinking about taking a walk around my own city of Albuquerque after reading the just published Finding Los Angeles by Foot: Stairstreet, Bridge, Pathway and Lane by Bob Inman. Bob is one of the foremost experts on stairways in Los Angeles and often leads urban walks in Los Angeles. I have had the privilege to walk with him and have written about those walks in this blog. If you are a wanderer in Los Angeles, you should have his book.
The Los Angeles book and the upcoming Albuquerque book may represent the future of hiking. With the cost and time required to drive out of town, many people may find it more practical to walk closer to home. And in the right setting, a walk in a town or a city can be just as wonderful as a hike in the wilderness. I believe that the mix of posts in this blog attests to this.
Ironically, the qualities of a good walk in a town are the same qualities that Jane Jacobs identified in her 1961 book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, on what makes a livable city. In her book, it starts with the sidewalk. This is where people go about on foot to conduct their business and to run errands. Where you find an active sidewalk, you’ll find a safe sidewalk and vibrant community.
After years of living in communities that catered to the needs of drivers by providing wider streets with more lanes and higher speed limits, many people are now demanding walkability where they live. They are turning to the principles that Jane Jacobs identified over fifty years ago. In many places a walkable neighborhood is now way more desirable than a non-walkable neighborhood. A house’s “walk score” has become a major factor when buying or selling real estate. (To find out your walk score, you can visit walkscore.com.)
Today over 100 communities around the world conduct a “Jane’s Walk” every May. The Jane’s Walk website clearly states, “Jane’s Walk celebrate the ideas and legacy of urbanist Jane Jacobs by getting people out exploring their neighborhoods through walking tours led by locals”. Also in many communities across the country neighborhood groups, such as “SW Trails – PDX” in Portland, have developed trails and walkways to provide safe routes to school and short-cuts to make their area more walkable.
