Pedestrian Prisons

The difference between freedom and captivity is related to the ability to move, to interact with others, to speak in effective, meaningful spaces. The right to health is tied to the ability to access services, real food and environments conducive to basic needs of human beings as social animals. To remove these outlets of behavioral expression is to simulate captivity, to create spaces at odds with necessary conditions for a dignified life.

Returning briefly to the American suburb has reminded me of this. All around, I see intensive grass cultivation at the hands of immigrant laborers while homeowners, inside, tend to their Second Lives and FarmVilles. Zynga, the company that produces FarmVille, was recently valued at around $20 Billion, nearly twice the agricultural GDP of Afghanistan. Naturally, this puts my own and others' grueling and often dangerous work in that country into sobering perspective.  

A digital space that augments our social realities is one thing, but when these imitative environments begin replacing our physical lives, they truncate and impoverish our experiences. Undeniably, many people find answers to unmet needs in these digital spaces. My goal is not to indict our online experiences, but simply to wonder aloud; are the mechanics of spacial organization (eg: low walkability and high autodependency) factors in generating these unmet social needs?

I recently found an innovative group in Hyderabad fighting for the “Right to Walk”, the right to live in a walkable city. In Bogota, too, the colorful tenures of Mockus and Peñalosa consistently saw walkability couched in the language of human rights. An exciting new US based website now helps generate a "Walk Score", assessing pedestrian access in neighborhoods there. 

The fight to help shape the spaces we inhabit is one that can bring people in diverse geographies closer together. Let's start thinking seriously about pedestrian rights in America, about genuine walkability, and let's start learning from examples overseas to help guide our discussions.