Back in November 22, 2021, I had a great chat with Michael McGinn of America Walks. There were many quotable moments but here I want to share what he wisely and humorously noted while talking about the car as such a deeply ingrained part of the ‘American experience’:
“I’ve taken some great road trips, I love a great road trip. But getting to the corner store shouldn’t require a road trip.”-Michael McGinn
I look back on my life, so many chapters of which I did use the car to get to the corner store- sometimes even when a perfectly good sidewalk was available.
I was not part of a culture of walking, culturally or spatially, although years later (as my activities at Pedestrian Space document), I did discover walkability as a central, indispensable value in my life and walking as a daily means of mobility and commuting a practical and appealing lifestyle.
In ‘Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take it Back’, Jane Holtz Kay writes in Chapter ‘Bumper to Bumper’:
“With almost two motor vehicles for every household, the car has become the ship of the highway desert. A multipurpose vessel, the automobile is outfitted to ally our hours sequestered there, a home away from home.”
I remember that life.
-Annika
