Opinion – É Logo Ali: Discover the city on foot; she is all yours

In his delightful short story “Instructions for climbing a ladder”, Argentine writer Júlio Cortázar explains in detail how to undertake the adventure that consists of lifting foot after foot to reach the last step. Something like this could be said about walking. After all, it’s just putting one foot in front of the other, right?

Yeah, more or less. This seemingly simple action, which takes us as far as the eye and breath can reach, has some rules. But not many. And the best: they are accessible to most people from the first stumbles, around 10, 11 months of life.

It can be said that, for most of humanity, walking is something innate, born of the irresistible desire to reach those objects that our parents don’t want us to reach and that awaken our willpower – beyond the first scolding.

But the conscious practice of walking doesn’t need any greater challenges than the will to take the first step and dribble the ubiquitous potholes on urban roads. And, in times of social isolation and distrust of closed places, walking through the streets and parks was the solution found by many people to dribble the doldrums of the four walls.

Research released by the application that records sports activities Strava, used by 73 million people worldwide and 9 million in Brazil, revealed that the total number of outdoor walks grew three times between April and June 2020 worldwide, at its peak. of the pandemic, when compared to the same period in 2019.

The urbanist and columnist for this Folha Mauro Calliari, for example, says that he started walking around São Paulo after his twin children were born. With little time for more absorbent activities, he thought it would be a good idea to stretch his legs around, keeping himself on hand for any urgent diaper changes.

“Over time, the walks became longer, I would leave Pinheiros and walk to Tatuapé, Horto Florestal, Freguesia do Ó. Afterwards, I would return using some form of transport”, says Calliari.

From walking around the neighborhood to lectures and in-depth studies, there were a few more steps, with the right to a master’s and doctorate in urbanism, and the book “Public spaces and urbanity in São Paulo”. Today, Calliari is a member of the São Paulo Transport Council.

“Walking around the city improves the relationship we have with public spaces,” he explains. “In a group, with friends, conversation is better, but it’s also a powerful individual experience to walk until you get tired, see people, shops, bars, squares, opening yourself up to surprises”, he adds.

The person who made walking a successful job option was Olavo Medeiros, 51, an administrator specializing in Behavioral Trends who one day left the corporate life to dedicate himself to exploring urban roads as a job. He is the creator of the project “The best of Sampa”, which takes people to walk through itineraries that vary from 3 to 9 kilometers each, always mixing the cultural focus with the gastronomic.

“I had first thought of writing a book with tips on how to eat with up to R$20 in São Paulo”, says Medeiros, who discarded the idea when he realized that prices would hardly be maintained until the publication of the text (and this is what inflation still was not in the stratosphere where it settled this year). The proposal migrated to Instagram in 2014 and, the following year, reached the streets in the current model, which takes from 9 to 30 people in each version, depending on the capacity of the cafes and restaurants that will be included in the itinerary, which is intended to be cultural. and gastronomic. “In these times of resumption, we are taking smaller groups and avoiding lunchtime, so that people don’t have to stay long without a mask talking”, he says.

Demand is high and advertising is mainly word of mouth, through social networks. “I think we’ve taken about 12,000 people in these six years,” he estimates. Not even the pandemic, which closed the paulistanos at home, ended the search for the project. “For 50 weeks, we made virtual itineraries, for which people paid half the normal value, which is R$59, and there was no lack of interest, I had the full support of those who follow the project”, he explains.

The habit of taking groups of tourists or locals to get to know the city is something that most large centers are already used to seeing. Here, evaluates Medeiros, the main obstacle is still the feeling of insecurity that people have when walking through the streets. “I recommend taking old cell phones if you want to take pictures, or I even offer to take them myself and send them later, but there are always people who want to use their newest one and we had two attempts, fortunately unsuccessful, to steal devices. thefts are carried out with bicycles, but in regions like Pinheiros and Vila Madalena they even happen at gunpoint”, he explains.

Also for publicists Wans Spiess, 49, and Tony Nyenhuis, 50, creators of the CalçadaSP project, the streets are the favorite territory, in an endeavor that began in 2014, when Nyenhuis saw a paper in the shape of a dinosaur thrown on a sidewalk, stopped to photograph it up close —and began to develop the project that, in seven years, has already recorded tens of kilometers of the ground through which millions of citizens circulate daily and unnoticed.

“When we become interested in the street, understanding that it is not just a place for moving, but also for staying and living together, we start to take better care of the city, to participate and demand improvements”, explains Spiess, who has already lost count of how many people took him to the tours he organizes to places that many never imagined stepping on – or that have already been, but ignored.

“Starting walking can be an adventure”, adds the publicist, who recommends starting with shopping at the local commerce, discovering what is on your block, writing down the good discoveries daily, before expanding your horizons. From then on, the world is all yours.

THE BE-A-BÁ OF THE URBAN WALKER

For those who want to start taking their first steps in a complex city like São Paulo, here are some tips that are useful for most urban centers:

1. Avoid places that seem dangerous or poorly lit, and that do not offer an escape route for possible unwanted encounters. If you want to venture into unfamiliar places that you are afraid of, consider taking a company that is up for the task. And, remember, avoid waving your cell phone in front of other people’s friends. This applies to São Paulo as well as to New York, Madrid or Pirapora do Bom Jesus. The crisis and greed are global.

2. Set some kind of goal that motivates your walk, whether it is doing a minimum of blocks or kilometers at a time, increasing a little each day, or even meeting that new bar and, when you get there, reward yourself with a good beer, why not ? Here we are talking about walks, not penances or diets. Smile!

3. Choose the shoes you are going to wear well and make them your inseparable friend. The more comfortable and adapted to your foot, the easier and more pleasant it will be to go further. And until you find out if he’s really everything he appeared to be when the salesman shoved him at you in the store, don’t forget to pack some bandage strips. No matter how experienced and seasoned you are, they will be your best allies on routes across the planet, from Praça da Sé to Mount Everest.

4. Hats, sunscreen, sunglasses and a bottle of water should always be on hand. If it’s likely that walking around the city, any city, you’ll always find a bar and a shade, it doesn’t hurt to get used to prevention.

4. If you, like me, like to challenge yourself and go after goals, adopt an app that measures the distance or steps taken, preferably one that shows a little map at the end of the stretch. There are many alternatives available for all types of cell phones and operating systems, most with the option of free use, and it will be a delight to see how much your motivation increases with this follow-up. In addition, a heart rate monitor that measures your heart rate can indicate that you are exercising safely for your health — and even, why not, count the calories burned on your walk.