Cities are living organisms. Like all organisms they are indivisible and mutate over time. Some cities are more alive than others. You can only “feel” a city by flaneuring, walking slowly (very slowly) without any predetermined goal.
Category: Flaneuring
2) Cities great for flaneuring: NYC, Athens,Belgrade, Moscow, Milan, Rome, Beirut, Istanbul, Bogota, Montreal,Buenos Aires, Rio (not SP), Paris, Budapest, Warsaw … OK: London, Mexico C., Oslo, Stockholm, Copenh Sometimes: Venice, Rome, Prague (too many tourists). Nono: Dubai. 3) Also great: Tokyo, Palermo, Damascus, Tripoli (Leb). Some parts: Delhi, Mumbai. 4) Basically, you need to avoid large avenues, areas with tourists, etc. Paris is only flaneurable in parts ignored by Haussman 5) Bologna is too small. To enjoy flaneuring in the city, it must have mysteries, you must feel a little lost. You are not looking for a place to live. Cities must be dense and large. Hong Kong is great.
Philadelphia
Munich
Madrid
I lived there. It is hood but has too many large avenues and too many tourists. North London/Hampstead are great
But with French wine.
Flaneuring cities in non-fancy, non-touristic streets, getting the neighborhood spirit Σ’ αυτή τη γειτονιά: Naples (#1 by far) Beirut Athens Istanbul Palermo Belgrade Bucharest Non Med, non-post-Ottoman cities (“North Atlantic”) are too self-conscious abt hanging laundry…
2) Perhaps my best flaneuring was with @sez_dss in Tripoli when #ISIS was still present in some neighborhoods where stores sold #ISIS flags. 3) ODORS In Patrick Süskind’s Perfume, the wet nurse returns an orphan, repulsed at his lack of smell. You get the same w/cities of the North, or those with large avenues, as if there was a truncation into lower dimensions. Did Jane Jacobs discuss the odor of neighborhoods? 4) Flaneuring is an all day thingy, not just a 4PM aerobic walk for an hour while listening to a science podcast. The route MUST be unpredicted. I once dragged the unsuspecting @stevenstrogatz on an 9 hour flaneuring episode in Manhattan. He has refused to talk to me since.
Too small, no? I flaneured with @spyrosmakrid in Athens in 2008 but never got the “feel” in Nicosia, otherwise extremely pleasant.
