This week, Tom Vanderbilt, author of the book Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), is writing a four-part series on walking in Slate.
He highlights his message today on his blog, critiquing how as engineers we’ve had to deconstruct the walking mode and teach America to take it up again.
“the idea that that we, this species that first hoisted itself into the world of bipedalism nearly 4 million years ago—for reasons that are still debated—should now need “walking tips,” have to make “walking plans” or use a “mobile app” to “discover” walking trails near us or build our “walking histories,” strikes me as a world-historical tragedy.”