I thought this was a beautiful introduction to a great conference, delivered by Josh Lehman of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation:
"[We all know that] bicycling and walking are healthy,
efficient, cost-effective, environmentally sound, and fun. I’ll add
another adjective: Expansive. To briefly illustrate, allow me to
quote from John Stilgoe, the recognized Harvard landscape history
professor.
Professor Stilgoe wrote, in his 1998 volume,
Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday
Places,
Get out now. Go outside, move deliberately,
then relax, slow down, look around. Pay attention to everything that
abuts the rural road, the city street, the suburban boulevard. Walk.
Stroll. Saunter. Ride a bike and coast along a lot. Explore.”
Go
outside and walk a bit, long enough to forget programming, long
enough to take in and record new surroundings.”
“Flex the
mind, a little at first, then a lot. Savor something special. Enjoy
the best-kept secret around – the ordinary, everyday landscape that
rewards any explorer, that touches any explorer with magic.”
“All
of it is free for the taking, for the taking in. Take it, take it in,
take in more every weekend, every day, and quickly it becomes the
theater that intrigues, relaxes, fascinates, seduces, and above all
expands any mind focused on it. Outside lies utterly ordinary space
open to any casual explorer willing to find the extraordinary.
Outside lies unprogrammed awareness that at times becomes directed
serendipity. Outside lies magic.”
- Green Streets Director, Janie Katz-Christy
