this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2024
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[discussion] This is what walkability means for me (lemmy.world)
submitted 5 months ago by Gradually_Adjusting to c/fuckcars
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 5 months ago (2 children)

One of the best things about living in a walkable place is that the concept of a weekly shop is basically dead - access to grocery shopping is available enough that I can go as many or as few times to shop as is warranted.

Granted, this usually adds up to once a week or less, but yeah. Big benefit.

This is an important concept to be imparted on those who do not understand the benefits of walkable places - a frequent question is how they can manage to complete their weekly shop without a car, since the car is in their mind needed to transport enough groceries to last the entire week. This is of course necessitated by the fact that their ideal location to shop for groceries is a significant distance away that can only be completed in a practical manner by car.

With where I live, this is unwarranted because I have access to convenient grocery shopping about 200 meters away by foot, and for ideal pricing I go 1 km away on a bike with storage on the rack. I do not want for variety either, I've got multiple speciality shops and 5 different grocery chains within a 1 km radius.

[–] perviouslyiner 34 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Notjustbikes had a whole episode on how nice it is to decide each day what you want to eat, and just buy it on the way home.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago (4 children)

It's nice to be able to, done get me wrong, but if I could stock up for 6 months I would. Who wants to waste time getting groceries every day?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

it's not a waste of time lol, are you stuck in car-centric thinking where getting groceries is an hour long affair? for me it takes like 20 minutes to buy stuff of which most of it is just getting to the store, and i don't even live that close to the store!

[–] AA5B 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

For me it’s a short drive to the store - would be bikable except for the hill. However grocery shopping is still a chore, and it still takes over an hour out of my life. Yes, I’d try to minimize that, regardless of what transportation I used.

Over COViD I invested in a chest freezer, and I already had significant storage, so now i can bulk buy more things. Already the only reason I go so often is fresh vegetables: if I could get them to last more than a week, you bet I’d make fewer shopping trips

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You don’t have to make a Costco run every day. You can spend 5 minutes at the grocery store grabbing 3 items.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

@usualsuspect191 @perviouslyiner Uh… people who eat fruit or vegetables or fresh baked goods?

It’s not that you get them every day, but that you have the ability to get them whenever you want them instead of having to plan an excursion.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 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.

[–] grue 4 points 5 months ago

You need to watch the video because he specifically addresses your misconception.

[–] Gradually_Adjusting 7 points 5 months ago

I'd love to break up the shop into more frequent, smaller trips and I could, but for my work and parenting duties during the week it's just easier to do it all in one go.

[–] nifty 34 points 5 months ago (5 children)

is a few hours of walking

Hmmm, I dont think people want to walk for hours to complete a grocery shopping trip? Walkable means you’re done in 20mins max, that’s a reasonable standard given what some urban areas already have.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Fucking hell… I’ll walk all day for fun but I HATE grocery shopping, I’m not walking an hour each way and carrying shit… I’m so lucky to have a little bodega about three minutes away from me, where I can pick up a bunch of dope stuff. But actual grocery shopping? I noticed the community I’m commenting it (I only browse /all/) but I’m driving a few minutes, not hauling all that back over a 30+ minute walk.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

I can walk endlessly in dirt trails, even mid to advanced hiking trails while hauling shit in a huge backpack, but the moment I touch pavement I can only manage a couple minutes.

[–] Gradually_Adjusting 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

I double checked the stats. It was more like 1.5 hours total walking over 2 miles, though I was out and about four 3 hours. I wanted to go to a bigger shop outside the city centre and the farmer's market in town, had to stop at home to empty the cart. If I was less choosy I could do it in 20, but the shop near me is a little depressing.

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[–] NounsAndWords 29 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I'm most interested in the Dinosaur Quiz.

[–] Gradually_Adjusting 30 points 5 months ago (3 children)

I got you fam

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

Damn I got like maybe 1 or 2 :(

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

Glad you post here using ASCII and not handwriting - but keep up the practice!! 🦖✍️

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago (5 children)

why are cucumbers wrapped in plastic? WHY ARE THEY WRAPPED IN PLASTIC?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Cucumbers stay much longer fresh when tightly wrapped in plastics.

Edit: No need to downvote. I don't like that either.

[–] Gradually_Adjusting 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I dunno man, they literally aren't sold any other way in this whole country AFAIK. It was the same in the states, the only ones they sell out of plastic are the gross ones with thick skin

[–] AdamEatsAss 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Can confirm all the "good" cucumbers in the USA are shrink wrapped, unless you buy at a farmers market. I think it's a distribution and storage issue and the plastic keeps it fresh longer. My wife and I both hate it, it so hard to get the plastic off, and its no good for the planet.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

The cukes in Canada are individually shrink wrapped like this and then 3 off them are bundled together in even more plastic to be sold as a set for $5+

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Not that you posted to be judged on your weekly shop, but given you're on this sub and interested in social issues, thought you might want to know that brewdog are kinda arseholes to their staff:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/10/brewdog-staff-craft-beer-firm-letter

[–] Dkiscoo 5 points 5 months ago

Immediately the first thing I noticed too. I also work at a brewery and the fallout from brew dog sent shockwaves through many breweries.

[–] jve 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Also, their beer is terrible.

[–] Gradually_Adjusting 6 points 5 months ago

I'm discovering this. And yeah, I was out of the loop. I think I'd better just go back to making my own. At least then when I drink bad beer I'm technically learning something.

[–] RageAgainstTheRich 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

A few hours!? I live in a walkable city and the nearest store is 3-4 minutes and 3 others within 20 minutes.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (3 children)

A few… hours?

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[–] bluemite 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Did you drink half of the hot sauce on the way home?

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[–] PumaStoleMyBluff 9 points 5 months ago

Got thirsty on the trip home and drank a third of the Sriracha and most of the soy sauce? We've all been there

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (3 children)

I live in NYC. It's pretty great.

I can walk a couple minutes to some bodegas. A couple more minutes to some small groceries. Looking at the map, there's a couple supermarkets I forgot existed within 15 minutes of walking, in addition to the two I usually go to. There's also other useful stuff like pharmacies, hardware stores, libraries, and so on. This isn't a fancy or especially expensive neighborhood.

I have a hand cart for when I want to buy something heavy.

I haven't had a car for like 15 years. I have no regrets. None of the "But what if it rains??" fears have ever been a problem. I can only remember twice in 15 years I needed to borrow someone's car to move stuff.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

I can’t even imagine. Where I grew up, the closest gas station was a 10 minute drive. No way were you walking anywhere to buy some thing.

[–] norimee 7 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Ever since I first lived in the city center during nursing school I always make it a priority to live somewhere walkable with public transport. But I do sacrifice apartment space for it.

Right now I have several supermarkets (including Aldi) and a tram stop in my immediate walking distance. I do all my shopping by foot and I guess I would have to go twice for that amount OP carried home on their bike.

But I have to say, that I mostly drink tap water (+Tea/Koffee) which is very good quality at my location. If I had to carry crates of water and other beverages it would be much harder. Not everyone has that choice unfortunately.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

@norimee @Gradually_Adjusting Another problem of the politics of austerity and obsession with low taxes at any cost. We’ve defunded water infrastructure almost as much as we’ve defunded public transit. There’s no excuse for a wealthy society to create an environment where many of its residents don’t feel safe drinking tap water and access to any tap water in major cities is periodically cut off by 100 year old pipes predictably breaking.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Look at Richie Rich over here, able to afford groceries and a city apartment.

[–] Gradually_Adjusting 8 points 5 months ago (3 children)

And fully WFH. I am practically a 1%er

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (3 children)

Groceries are very affordable in the UK if you're buying simple ingredients like this. Those Italian hard cheeses and the 2 kg of chicken are the most expensive things, probably 3£ and change each, the rest of those items are like 1-2£ each. This is most of a week's food for like 40£.

[–] Gradually_Adjusting 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

My total shop today was about £120, but would have been closer to 70 if not for the wine, beer, and a few other things. It feeds 3.

[–] Twofacetony 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

… that, and the good ol’ bundy ginger beer

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[–] King3d 5 points 5 months ago

Your grocery store sells just loose Pokémon cards? The ones around here have people fist fighting for them.

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