Exploring what’s Interesting
Reading journal Response
Malchik and Loerzel would say that where you live has a big impact on your life. Living in a place that is interesting is more enjoyable to walk. In society today, people in cities walk, “as a matter of habit and lifestyle” as Malchik says in his article. Others, Americans especially, are too lazy to walk. We take advantage of cars as our way of transportation. It is important to remember that walking is important for human nature, it is a way for us to move and even decrease our risk of health problems in the future. Loerzel dives deeper into new construction of buildings and roads. These objects are built for a reason, for the people, the community. The world is meant to stay in movement and that means improving cities by making them look better and feel safer. This idea also goes back to gentrification and moving people from one city to the next and newer one. To keep culture alive we need to continue moving the whole group all together. At the end of the day, there is always room for improvement and when one project finishes, we begin to work on the next. We can reclaim streets, blocks, and cities for walking by making them look more attractive, there are certain traits to the human senses that make us want to walk certain areas. For myself, walking on a “walkable” block means being around people, walking on a clean built sidewalk, and seeing businesses alongside me. On both sides of me are clean windows containing pretty art work or articles of clothing for sale. If I smell a coffee shop past me or a restaurant with outdoor seating, I feel like I am in an attractive city. (291).
Through reading the last of the article’s provided by Jason, I know what I want to be the theme of my final project: Exploring our attractions. In class, we discussed why there is so much more in the north of Chicago and why the South side is ignored. I realized that the south side, even though it is the larger part of Chicago, it has no order. There is nothing exciting to see, so we continue exploring what’s interesting. The attractions in towns like Lincoln Park, the Loop, Gold Coast, and River North are the crowded areas with beautiful things to see and do.
Quotes:
“Cities have always offered anonymity, variety, and conjunction, qualities best basked in by walking” (Solnit)
This quote is significant to my project because it discusses how cities offer a lot when we walk. Cities have more going on, so there is always something or someone too look at. There are also ways we can hear, smell, and touch what’s around us and it is best experiences when we walk. The anonymity and variety is exciting because humans are attracted to something that is pleasing.
“One of the things we really love in cities is order. Order means balance, symmetry, and repetition” It continues to say, When it’s a mess, it seems like no one is in charge, and that’s worrying” (The).
This quote resonates with why there are so many more people in the north side of Chicago than in the south. Even maps created by the city are emphasized to show the north rather than the south because it is busier. The meaning of this quotation is explaining why we walk the streets we walk on. We don’t want to explore the ugly unsafe streets because there is nothing to be interested by.
“But to lose oneself in a city — as one loses oneself in a forest — that calls for a quite a different schooling” (Solnit).
What Solnit means in this quote is that losing yourself in the city is important to notice. Getting lost in a forest is easy because everything looks the same, and in a way, the city also looks the same. Instead of being surrounded by trees, you are surrounded by buildings and people. Losing yourself in the city is a good and special thing to do because it means you have excluded yourself from the rest of society of knowing where you are going, you are just exploring and going where your feet take you.
