Feb. 5th: Defining "Walkable"

Yesterday on my walk to a friends place to hang out I started to think about my life in the city vs. my life in the burbs.  It seems odd to compare the two since the burbs is where I spent my time growing up and learning how to live, while the city is where I spent my time practicing those lessons.  Even so - it was an interesting thought process I went through.

Back in Ancaster it seemed that it just wasn't possible to get anywhere without driving.  This tends to be one of those things that is commonly stated by suburbanites.  That being said, it seems that most suburbanites always have a vehicle made available to them and therefore why not drive everywhere?  But what happens if you don't have a car?

Since getting out of Ancaster and the suburbs to live in both Montreal and Vancouver, I became so used to walking places that a half hour to forty minute walk really didn't seem that bad.  Keep in mind that I was a student and have been working in the arts, so budget restraints might play a factor in this walking thing.  But the fact is that 30 - 40 minute walks to get to a destination were most certainly doable.  Especially if the alternative meant having to wait for two different buses which could end up taking just as long. I remember when I found out that some friends of mine were moving to my area in Vancouver.  I became ecstatic because it meant that I could walk to and from their houses.  It was still almost a 30 minute walk, but in my mind it seemed so close.  Whereas when I was growing up in Ancaster and had to walk 30 minutes to work, it seemed like such a daunting task.  But after a few years in Montreal and coming home for summers when 5 of us needed to share 2 cars, I was often happy to volunteer to take those 30 - 40 minutes walks to work.  I was even happy to take the 15 minute walk to the bus stop just to get downtown.  Soon enough, those long walks seemed like the norm for me.

Funny how a little change in environment and lifestyle can totally change your mindset about some things.  I stil laugh to myself when tourists are trying to figure out how to get somewhere and they ask the question "Is it walkable?"  I've learned from answering this question a number of times that when someone asks if something is walkable what they really mean is "Can I walk there in 15 minutes or less?" Even though I know what they are getting at, I still answer with an enthusiastic "YES! ... but it might take you about 30 minutes."