Nature, Hidden in Plain Sight

I was intrigued by a headline that came out of the “Walking and the Life of the City” Symposium held last week at NYU: “Walking: It’s What You Do Once You’ve Parked Your Car…”

According to presenters at the conference, research has found that we process more information about our surroundings when we walk to reach a destination than when we use other forms of transportation. This makes sense, because pedestrians move at a much slower speed than even cyclists.

However, another discovery I have made since I started this blog is that we discover different surroundings when we walk, particularly in comparison with driving or taking the bus.

A Case in Point

Before moving to Cambridge, MA in 2010, I lived in Central Austin for five years, frequenting the same grocery store that I have returned to now that we have moved back to town. From the street, the shopping center where the grocery store is located looks like a heavily built-up mega-block development, including a hospital, a medical office building, and a number of retail stores in addition to the grocery store.

View of One Entrance to the Development

While the development’s parking lot has more trees than most suburban strip shopping centers, there is no safe way for pedestrians to cross it without walking in the path of cars.

Typical Scene of a Pedestrian Crossing the Parking Lot

A safer design would have designated pedestrian-only pathways, so that shoppers could travel between their cars and the store without worrying about being run over.

Example of a Pedestrian Pathway Crossing a Different Parking Lot in Austin

Before I started walking to the grocery store, I had always reached it from the parking lot. So, I naturally assumed that the entire development was similarly un-pedestrian-friendly.

Imagine my surprise when I accessed it for the first time by walking in from the back and discovered a park hidden in the middle of the mega-block,

 complete with a series of wetlands to capture and clean storm water

and a group of athletes stretching under a massive oak tree.

Closeup of Athletes Stretching in the Shade

Since I discovered the park, my trips to the grocery store have taken on an added dimension. And, in spite of the heat, I prefer to walk there; because, by entering from the parking lot, I now know that I am missing out on an opportunity to spend a few minutes surrounded by nature, a rare occurrence in the middle of the city.

Change of Scene

My journey begins at home. The location of one’s residence is arguably the most significant factor in how easy or difficult it will be to travel around on a day-to-day basis in something other than a car.

When we moved back to Austin, we chose to live in the center of town in large part because the block size and streets were designed at the human scale (as opposed to the car scale). We also looked for a location that was surrounded by amenities within a walkable or bikable distance.

Experts say that most people will walk or bike 10-15 minutes to reach an amenity such as a coffee shop, restaurant, grocery store, etc. Of course, those experts don’t necessarily live in Austin, where the temperature can exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit at 6pm on a summer evening. I will address that particular challenge in a future post.

For now, it is enough to compare my old street in Cambridge (left photo below) with my new street in Austin (right).

For a few months while we are settling back in, we are the beneficiaries of a movement in Austin to increase density by allowing garage apartments to be constructed along back streets and alleyways.

From the photo of the alley behind our furnished apartment, you would never know that we live right in the thick of things. And, to add to the feeling of living in the country…

Our landlords keep a chicken coop below our apartment.


















Our apartment is perched among birds and squirrels running through the oak tree canopy.

And, we have traded the noise of the city for birdsong in the mornings and evenings.

 

Our new home is definitely a change from the hustle and bustle of Harvard Square. It remains to be seen whether I will be able to keep the number of car trips I take to a minimum in my new surroundings.