I thought Pavements and Paths was interesting because we really don’t spend time analyzing how or why we walk and how walking affects society in different ways. Throughout the reading, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like not being able to walk to places, or walking being outlawed in certain places as it was in late eighteenth century. Urry opened my eyes in ways of thinking how women walking were viewed as prostitutes or observing different ‘walking bodies’ or why clubs and opera houses opened originally. Until this reading, I never thought how ‘walking continued to be stimulated by a plethora of desires and goals’ or associate walking with sexual context.
I highly agreed with the difference between walking in countryside versus city: of clutter and complexity when people walk slowly or seeing walkers in the countryside is unlikely. Or even in suburbs, it is rare that you find people walking anywhere since places are designed further away as oppose to in the cities, and reminded of my neighborhood where we don’t have sidewalks so people would have to walk on the streets along with the cars.
Urry’s statement of ‘walking became a way of being and not simply a means of travel’ caught my eyes but I’m not sure what to make out of it. Maybe it is related to how walking can define someone’s characteristics and becomes part of who we are..?

In relation to gender roles and mobility, I drew an immediate connection to Urry’s reference to urban male rambling. Walking along Green Street, especially during the evening or on a weekend, it is common to see groups of males seemingly drifting up and down the sides of the street, in and out of the plethora of bars. The girls walk around in skimpy and flashy outfits and as Urry would put it, they are seemingly “waiting to be ‘consumed”. The issue of safety arises as well, for males it is socially acceptable to walk alone or walk far distances in the evening but it is rather risky or discomforting to see a female walking alone on a dark street. Usually on a well-lit path or busy area it is not too unnerving to walk alone, but to walk on a side street unaccompanied at night is a very risky thing to do. A quote on page 73 really captures that uneasy feeling, “There was nothing but cold, brutal concrete—not a single person in sight. It really touched me being able to walk between these huge buildings and there was no life whatsoever. I imagined that if any life did appear, it would be a violent sort of life”.
This idea of security extends into the dichotomy between rural and urban areas. In a cluttered city area, where you can walk slowly and pause often, it becomes difficult to drive. Also, the urban nightscape, catering to more chaotic and youthful itineraries, presents unpleasant circumstances for a casual nighttime stroll. Yet during the day when you are walking to class by the quad, rather than chaotic, the crosswalks give semblance to orderly and, for the most part, quick movements. In relation to the hustle and bustle of daytime travel, it was interesting to note the use of iPod’s to drown out the noise of the city. It is not unusual to see throngs of people with headphones as they travel from a to b, and it interesting that individuals now have the power to personalize their environment.
The countryside however has shifted the experience of walking. For some, like the agricultural farmer walking was still being done out of necessity, yet for some of the middle class it evolved into “something of an adventure to go pedestrianizing”. Walking turned into a lifestyle or leisure activity that helped one connect to the openness of nature. However, with the increased interest and availability of tours, parks, and pathways walking has become somewhat of an industrialized form of leisure because of the technological supplements like hiking gear, clothing, and retailers. Because of the influence of technology walking for leisure can now become available to those in an urban setting and a country setting. The more natural environment can be a great way to connect to your surroundings, however with iPods and other technologies you can personalize your walking experience even in highly populated areas like downtown Chicago. The campus provides a landscape that is at once urban and rural, being defined most appropriately by the traveler’s individual experience.

Growing up my parents would go on walks after dinner. This was a time for us children to clean up the dishes from dinner and a time for my parents to talk and unwind. I always admired them for this, that they made time to be with each other and get some fresh air. These walks were not about the physical walk, it was about the talking, the looking and the breathing. Most of our careers now force people to sit in a chair all day long, getting close to zero movement. Walking for our generation is a luxury, we choose to do it at our leisure, its an activity to unwind, stretch our legs.
Over the summers I live near a large forest with paths through it. A lot of times I would go off by myself and walk these paths until I got to know the area and then I felt more comfortable with venturing off from the path and exploring the unpaved. It was this idea of walking an unknown path, of being an explorer that made these walks more exciting and pleasurable. I don’t know if I thought I was going to see new things or hear new sounds, but whatever it was, I felt like I was getting more out of my walk if I was making my own path. When walking in the woods or in the country, its not about me, its about my surroundings. I pay more attention to the sounds, the land, my breath. When walking on campus, my walk is more about me, meaning I use that time to figure out thoughts in my head. I don’t pay attention to my surroundings, or the sounds because my walking is usually out of necessity. I’m not walking for the sake of walking, I am walking because I need to get somewhere.
Walking around campus is also very objectifying, especially at night. There is an underlying feeling that I shouldn’t be out walking by myself. Part of it is a sexual objectifying feeling, and another part is a status thing. I still do it because I have the right to, and I need to get to where I need to go, but even centuries later, the idea of urban male rambling still exists very discretely.

Wow what an extensive history of walking...There was a section about walking as resistance which made me think about the "take back the night" where people walk the streets at night to protest sexual violence against women. One thing i wouls critique is that this protest paints a picture that sexual violence happens only on the streets, possibly city streets at night time, by strangers. While this protest still happens today i think it is outdated as the definition of sexual violence has been brodened and we know it does not only occur at night time. Also i was thinking about the Montegomery BUs boycottts of the 50's when African Americans in Montegomery Alabama boycotted riding the bus due to being humiliated and subject to political disenfranchismentn woke up early to prepare for very long walks to work for just over a year. This walking resistance had to be conducted by everyone in the town in order to create a dent in the economic hurt the bus company would encounter. Both of these acts of walking are performed by groups of people in order to recliam a space. This is an interesting way to form a history, through walking, i think my comments are just excitement to add more to this...

sarah here. long-time reader, first time responder. To view paths as the accumulated imprints of journeys and evidence of community activity from past generations has a historical and sentimental quality that I haven't considered before. I've heard that the streets of Boston were based on the path the cows would make through the landscape; These "cowpaths" were eventually paved, giving Boston it's twisted, confusing, street patterns. Besides noticing the poor design of urban landscapes that forces pedestrians to cut through manicured spaces which may or may not eventually be changed by the institution, I hadn't thought much about how walking played a role on a larger scale. I guess I thought that roadways were mainly constructed around environmental impediments (except blasting through mountains for RR, but that's a different discussion in tech/mobility) and necessity, like bloodflow to all the organs. Reading this article flipped the perspective to remind me that some were probably constructed around environmental elements, but they were constructed that way because PEOPLE couldn't navigate through them on foot. seems silly to forget that.

It was interesting to see how the act of walking has changed over time, especially when the author mentions how the "civilizing process" meant a disconnect from experiencing the world through touch by hands and feet. Perhaps my favorite discovery what that of the term "flaneur." I now finally have a name and reason why "people watching" is so popular and deemed an appropriate pastime to admit. If we had a different sense of community organization, we might never have known the joy of sitting on a park bench or outdoor cafe watching life, and people, go by.

The discussion of gender differences on walking is a sad, but real difference that is still present in many ways. Further explanation of the flaneur, and how his increased visibility in cities restricted respectable females to domestic areas and then eventually to department stores, was a fun mirror to hold up to images/memories of high school dynamics. I remember going to the mall with my girl friends, mostly to shop and bond, partly to see/be seen. It was a safe place (strangers, pausibility, etc) where boys could also go, and we could interact with them privately but publically. It also reminded me of a main drag/strip in a spring break town. Guys would just drive up and down, rims spinning, bass blaring, looking to see if the girls were looking at them.

the downside to all that nonsense is the underlying notion that not everyone has good intentions. I don't even enjoy walking from my car to my apartment at night, partly because I live where bums sometimes sleep outside my apt. As for security devices, when I have to walk around campus, I tend to walk near the lights and things-- just in case. They're supposed reinforce the idea of security, but they also say "be careful. some has or could happen here." It changes the pace and distance from these devices that one might normally take in a group or during the day. With that last sentiment I realize that there is something different about a female walking alone and a female walking alone at night. I walk alone all the time during the day. I remember once in undergrad I was out really late studying for a chemistry exam (i swear) and I wanted my friend walk me home, but he wouldn't because it was too cold and too late. His argument to my plea for chivalry and safety was " it's like 2am...even rapists need sleep. besides..it's too cold to hide in the bushes and you're wearing to many layers. " was I being silly or was he being a jerk?

As for campus, this landscape seems to be more destination walking indicative of an urban space, with broad boulevards and attractive views along the way. it has places for gathering and interacting. Southfarms is more like a pseudo-countryside. If you allow yourself to suspend the idea that it is part of campus, the experience might seem rural and leisurely, but I'm not sure there is enough undisturbed "visual real estate" to feel fully pastoral.

I think the relationship of walking to authenticity seems more closely related to back spaces and finding the more "authentic," while less authentic spaces seem more closely related to those places which can be seen using other transportation (bus, car, train, bike), and the speed of this transportation. These modes only give limited time and space access to a place. Walking affords more time to actually examine things and deviate from a course. One must follow the road when in a car, but on foot it is easier to leave the prescribed path and make an alternate route. It also affords greater chance for human interaction with "locals" that might yield a more authentic feeling than if you, per se, just drove by the local. If we drive to a particular location or vista, most of the time when we get out of the car, walk around, feel/smell/listen/see.

I enjoyed reading a fairly comprehensive historical analysis of something that is so integrated into my everyday life. walking. The article starts out explaining a path, which is an accumulation of journeys. It's interesting to think about how journeys taken in the past directly and extensively effect our lives. Most of our journeys have been prescribed for us by our ancestors. I'm a little confused about her statement that there's nothing natural about walking. She continues to explain her reasoning being that walking varies from culture to culture. I'm interested in how throughout time and space, walking takes on many sets of implications about that person and their purpose. It goes from necessity to fun and from privileged to the underprivileged. For instance she mentions the flaneur, who was the mobile man who could stroll the streets without a worry in the world. However for a woman during the same time period of a lower class to be strolling the streets carelessly would imply an availability. This made me appreciate my feeling of freedom to be able to within reason stroll my neighborhood streets as I wish. Then she discussed early forms of hiking and walking to become one with nature becoming popularized. I can empathize with this notion, but also sometimes it feels like the hiker or cliff climber is battling or conquering rather than harmonizing. Perhaps you have to battle it to be able to appreciate it? And then we have our ascending from the ground and onto the rails and eventually into the automobile, which is probably much of what lead to walking for the sake of exercise and the need for exercise. I always have gotten a kick out of people that drive to a gym to walk on a treadmill. That's privilege.

As it pertains to modern times walking is still a gender and class issue. In my own life I experience the effects of both. I don’t feel comfortable walking around alone at night. At school, I worry about the possibility of being attacked, and the notices from the university about women being attacked and the blue phones only add to my worry. However, I’ve seen plenty of men stumbling home drunk, and the possibility of being raped or assaulted does not seem to be a concern of theirs. Also, while the bus system is free the bus near my house only comes once and hour, so I am forced to choose between walking or driving if I want to get somewhere on time. Its way outside my budget to be paying five hours on the meters everyday, so I walk a lot. I think money is a major factor in my mobility.
I don’t really walk as a leisure activity, but more so for transportation purposes. To me, it seems odd that something that was once a part of daily life and survival, is now a way to relax. I think it says a lot about society and culture, and the disconnect between our daily lives and subsistence. I am reminded of something written by Dostoevsky about the divorce of basic survival and the way people earned their living. He hypothesized that the further people’s work moved away from things like farming, the more confused they would become. Walking as a leisure activity can then be seen as a way of connecting with one’s body, in a way that in past times was necessary, in order to remind ourselves were human.

It is known that public space implies gender differences. In Urry's article, in 18th century London, women's freedom of walking was limited by male rambling on the street. Nowadays, women are usually reminded either to walk in the dark lane nor be alone at night in subway station. Once I was in Japan, my mother and I walked in a historical area which is famous for Japanese Geishia culture. Along the road are arrays of bars ( I have to explain that, in Asia, there is a culture that men go to "bar" to talk business or entertain friends. In the "bar", there will be bunches of girls drinking wine, playing games, and talking with the customers, sometimes with regard to prostitution. In Japan, Geishias do the similiar things to men who go to their "bars"). In front of every single bar, we saw icons of Geishias and men who greeted visitors and tried to attract people into their bars. While we were walking, I was very interested in knowing this kind of culture. But I felt like I was forbidden to know this place. I cannot either enter the bar nor stop by in front of the bar. Although we looked like tourists, as females, walking in that area still looked strange. We could only see greeting men and several other men (potential customers?) on the street. Walking on that area made me feel lost, without any sense of Japanese culture. I read tourist guide about that area. It claimed that area is a place full of Japanese culture and worthy to explore. But from my personal experience, it is a place only allowing males to explore the certain aspect of Japnese culture.In Urry's article, he states that the diverse the crowd is, the secure the walkers within the crowd are. My mother and I also felt very insecure in that area, which is only full of males and alien Japanese texts. However, I do not totally agree with his point. The diverse crowd also provides the hidden danger of theft in big tourism cities. The more diverse the crowd is, the easier for the thief to escape or camouflage.