Living in a walkable city means my weekly shop is a few hours of walking or biking instead of being stuck in traffic, and I’m only mildly tired afterwards since I use a bike with pretty large pannier bags. Since I have no car related costs I can afford more fresh food, a healthier diet, and I can afford to be more choosy about the ethics of what I buy. There’s a twice weekly farmers market about a ten minute walk away, and quiet walks through parks to get to the shops. Living somewhere with car centric infrastructure, as I used to, this lifestyle was far less feasible.

Have your experiences been different with moving to walkable/bikeable cities? Any questions or points to be made? I’m not very up on the theory side of city planning, but my experiences line up with the whole “fuck cars” thing.

  • v_krishnaEnglish
    61·
    6 months ago

    I’m personally a big fan of finishing up work, looking through the cupboards, polling the kids and wife, and then walking 5 minutes to the grocery store to get a few things for dinner. Gets me out of the house, and since I work from home mostly I find it helps me make a nice mental and physical separation between work and the evening. Fresh baked sourdough from a local baker is an added plus.

    I realize there’s an immense level of privilege I enjoy to be able to do this (namely living in a very metro area, and usually having no commute), but having also lived in Europe and India for periods of my life it’s sad to see there this type of daily shopping is way more normal and commonplace.