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Personal Investigations into Flâneurie as practice

“Get out now. Not just outside, but beyond the trap of the programmed electronic age so gently closing around so many people… Do not jog. Do not run. Forget about blood pressure and arthritis, cardiovascular rejuvenation and weight reduction. Instead pay attention to everything that abuts the rural road, the city street, the suburban boulevard. Walk. Stroll. Saunter. Ride a bike and coast along a lot. Explore...

- From ‘Outside Lies magic’ by John Stilgoe

'Outside Lies Magic' explores the art of exploration at Harvard University, a course run by the author, and focused upon the ideals of Flâneurie to reprogram awareness of history and delight in everyday places. It calls upon students to explore the street experimentally, without agendas or preconceived notions of what they may learn from it. It emphasises exploration of the street from the point of view of foot, or riding a bike to allow explorers an intimate experience with a place, much like the notions of  Flâneurie.

Read the text here

'The walks met a need: they were a release from the tightly regulated mental environment of work, and once I discovered them as therapy, they became the normal thing, and I forgot what life had been like before I started walking. Work was a regimen of perfection and competence and it neither allowed improvisation nor tolerated mistakes ... The streets served as a welcome opposite to all that. Every decision- where to turn left, how long to remain lost in thought in front of an abandoned building, whether to watch the sun set over New Jersey, or to lope in the shadows on the East Side looking across to Queens- was inconsequential, and was for that reason a reminder of freedom.'

- From Open City by Teju Cole

I have been reading this novel as research alongside Wanderings as inspiration to my process and research into the idea of walking as a human practice. This story follows the life of a young Doctor living and working in New York, who uses walking as a therapeutic tool and a reprise to his days working with patients in hospital. He wanders at night around the city through all different kinds of neighbourhoods and describes his experiences with people and places. 

Also...

Interesting article exploring Flâneurie in the internet age. 

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