The importance of walking in the city
In one afternoon of May, I used to plan to visit Stratford (again) but I changed my mind to explore Wanstead instead, after browsing my Google Maps. Following the two pieces of urban sketching done there, I decided to walk to Stratford for 5.27km, through Leytonstone where I had a dinner in McDonald’s, before going back home.
This was not the first time I walked for kilometres in the city. As an artist like me, walking is essential, and I like walking not only because of better health, but also a kind of experience that you can receive information in different forms, and find something interesting. Through walking and even sketching on the street, you will understand the communities rather than just “know”, like you will have an idea like how safe the streets are.
With more and more information available online, as well as the emergence of AI, self observation and exploration is being replaced by asking Google, YouTuber and AI before doing everything, in order to make sure that our expectation is met.
Besides undermining some skills like observation, creativity and analysing, information online can be outdated in a more rapid rate because of the faster social changes after much more people are informed. Some of the examples include
A quiet, peaceful, beautiful village which turns to a busy market like Mongkok in Hong Kong or Camden Town in London when many tourists flock to there at the same time.
A place with many jobs available without any competition which makes job seeking much more difficult as many people know the opportunities now!
That's why you need to look for primary information that no one knows, or others overlook. The good news is you don't have to work hard on it, but just staying curious and doing some walking to relax yourself is a good beginning!
