Category Archives: walking

Paris, je t’aime: Running with Dignity — and Skill

After raising the question — “how fast can a blind flaneur run and preserve a scrap of dignity?” — I thought of the Faubourg Saint-Denis vignette in Paris, je t’aime. In it a young blind man (Melchior Beslon) swings a … Continue reading

Posted in film, je t’aime, Paris, walking, white cane, Xe | 1 Comment

Foot Rage and the Blind Flaneur

As I have lost eyesight over the past thirty years, walking has been the simplest and most dependable solution to the functional limitations of my disability. When I stopped driving cars at age eighteen, walking was the mode of transportation … Continue reading

Posted in Flaneur, foot rage, Paris, Rue Mouffetard, Ve, walking, Walter Benjamin | 4 Comments

Hear Voices? It Ain’t the Angels Singing

When a blind flaneur walks down the street, he’s likely to be taking care of business, paying close attention to sensory cues and landmarks. The last thing he expects is to hear an advertisement coming from somewhere inside his own … Continue reading

Posted in Flaneur, foot rage, Playing by Ear, walking | Leave a comment

Walkability in Toronto

Mayor Nathan Phillips and wife Esther claim Bay Street in Toronto on February 27, 1960. In his autobiography, Mayor of All the People, he noted that the street was empty on a Sunday morning. Christopher Leinberger’s report on walkable urban … Continue reading

Posted in cities, Flaneur, Ms. Modigliani, Toronto, walking | 3 Comments

What Makes A Walkable Urban Place?

The term flaneur does not appear in the latest report from the Brookings Institution ranking the most walkable U.S. cities. Charles Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin would shudder at the notion that walking and “walkability” could be measured or planned systematically. … Continue reading

Posted in cities, Flaneur, Paris, walking | 4 Comments