What Walking Does for Architecture

 Humans, over time, have evolved from our first ancestors to a creature fit for survival in the wild. The human form morphed into a walking animal that spent the day foraging and gathering food for survival. We were built to walk. So what happens now that our species hardly has to walk for anything? 

As humanity continued to evolve, the architecture that was built by humans also changed. As the city grew in appearance, amenities were located close to one another for an accessible and walkable community. Streets were narrow and the architecture was to the scale of the human. People were healthy and forced to move outside of the home and engage in the community around them. Today, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Today, humans are far removed from their community both figuratively and literally. 

So what changed? Why are we no longer walking to work in America? 

The answer to this vague question lies within the automobile. Ancient cities didn’t have the automobile to help scale the buildings and streets. They didn’t have the ability for stores, homes, and workplaces to be so spread out from one another. 

America became the perfect experiment to see how a city would develop under the new technological conditions. Yes, there were older cities in the US that weren’t initially built for cars like Charleston and Saint Augustine. Those cities exude a sense of history and connection to the architecture and community because the scale is more fitted for the human on foot. Unfortunately, the places in this country that are like Charleston or Saint Augustine are very few or have been redone to fit the needs of the commuter. 

Old cities in Europe are the perfect example of what America is lacking. Take, Florence, my favorite city for example. Florence is a hodgepodge of streets, buildings, bridges, and open space. Cars can get down the streets, but cars are just less abundant. Priority is given to the walking user and often taken by the chaotic biker. People are slowed down. They enjoy the views of the Duomo as they pass by. They sit outside of the coffee shop and chat and read. They walk through the gardens at Pitti Palace which offers extensive green space for fresh air just across the Pointe Vecchio. To the left are two images from my time in Florence where my appreciation for walking and being connected to the architecture was truly sparked.

How does one feel close to the architecture and community in a car speeding through it? 

They don’t. They speed through it only noticing the newest billboard. The cityscape is now a temporary place much like that of an airport that nobody ever stays in too long. The average person goes from their car to the office building and back to their car and home. There is little to no connection with the rest of the city unless they pick up a Starbucks on the way which I hardly consider valid.

How do we bring back the ever-so-important relationship between the human and the place where they live?

We walk. We sit. We slow down long enough to enjoy the simplest and purest things a community has to offer.