September 29, 2026
A friend recently observed that those who live in New York tend to love their city more than those in other places; not in a civic Parochialist way but rather a shared enjoyment of experiencing the city by going through its neighborhoods and streets. A walk for the sake of observation alone is uncommon in other cities. An initial retort may be that as New York is uniquely walkable, its residents have the capability to perform this kind of enjoyment. While the material conditions of movement play a part in this matter, it is not the complete story. As someone notorious for taking long observational walks through every city I’ve spent time in, I would like to offer a missed point regarding urban landscapes and love for them.
Walkability is likely necessary for most, but not all. To walk in the street is all the same. Rather, it is the variety which one encounters while walking which endears the traveler to a place. A walkable city is nothing without this - see the failures of extended built apartment complexes and neighborhoods which repeat the same flat storefronts again and again. Compare this to the Upper West Side which remains a repeating front of stores, but each with unique facades and offerings with a blend of people strolling down the sidewalks. Variety even turns less dense places into those of fascination; a residential neighborhood such as the painted ladies in Baltimore is a joyous experience of color. Similarly this is why large open plazas oftentimes fail versus a park. Without an event, their homogeneity feels stifling.
People tend to seek out stimuli. While technology is the largest provider thereof in the modern day, one’s built environment may act as a supplement. When taking dérives, I find myself rarely checking my phone; the same goes for when I am hiking in the woods. Furthermore this environment indicates life; that we are not the only ones around, which then provides a feeling of safety. Seeing people walk drunkenly home in Madrid at 3am made me more secure in my own walking than any officer ever could.
Part of the use of social media and the like is likely an outgrowth of a suburban, understimulating background. Not everyone can find joy in what seems to be procedurally-generated subdivisions and strip malls. And while a change in scenery may not cure someone, it will make it less likely that a dependence on artificial stimuli continues.
New Yorkers love their city because it provides them with the basic need for experience which most places lack. Other places are capable of doing this, but as long as cost, functionalism, and top-down planning remain tools of the urban planner, other places are left to rot by way of sensory deprivation.