Arguably, the most devastating effect of car reliance is the resulting reduction in children’s liberty and autonomy. Recollecting growing up in Dublin during the 70s, children were found playing in the streets extensively. Most households had a restricted six-channel television usage. Children occupied their time indulging in games like hopscotch or football. Innovative versions of games were created, disputes arose about who would play next or about the rules. They ventured into areas where they weren’t supposed to, learning risk management, often without getting caught or harmed. They pushed the bounds of their familiar surroundings and began to be aware of their environment.
While this might get classed as fond but unrealistic memories, by overlooking what we’ve relinquished, we’ve become accustomed to the catastrophe of excessive vehicle use and bland, monotonous childhoods. From a historical human point of view, the disconnection created by centring everything around cars is profoundly aberrant. Currently, spotting children playing in the streets is an uncommon sight. In place of that, entertainment is incessantly streamed into our field of vision, with TV commercials signifying the passage of time rather than adventures and experiences.
In 2022, just a mere 25% of primary school children used to walk to school, a decline from 45% in 1986. Although this rate is on the rise, research by Sport Ireland suggests that only 15% of children achieve the suggested physical activity benchmark of one hour of moderate-to-vigorous activity daily.
The real disaster isn’t just the absence of physical activity and the burdens it puts on the future health of generations, but the lost chances for spontaneous physical movement. This signifies an immeasurable loss of liberty and independence. Our self-made world is literally suppressing our inherent need for physical movement – the need to breathe fresh air, to walk, to run, and to play.
The illusions of boundless freedom demonstrated in car promotions necessitate children’s frame of reference to diminish proportionately. They commute between locations in metallic containers, and the outdoor world is segmented and unexplored. Nowadays, parks and playgrounds are merely locations to be ‘visited’. We’ve traded something inherently slow and matched to our capacity to grasp and interpret our environment for speed and efficiency. As the author and activist Rebecca Solnit articulated, the most effective thinking is done at a rate of three miles per hour.
The importance of creating pedestrian-friendly communities is undeniably pivotal to enhance our holistic wellbeing, given that we all rely on either walking or wheeling (using aids such as wheelchairs or buggies) to complete our everyday journeys. Surprisingly, in Ireland, only the Dublin City Council has a dedicated plan focusing on promoting walking. The objectives of the plan encompass escalating the current 11 per cent of walkers to 13 per cent by the year 2028, thus requiring specified budgets for walking as well as reallocating road space, propositions attractive enough for any opportunist political candidate to contest.
Moreover, pedestrianisation isn’t confined to urban spaces. In the UK, for instance, the ‘Right to Roam’ campaign champions the idea of public entitlement to rural walking tracks facilitating a reconnection with nature and rural landscapes. Unlike Ireland, numerous European nations enjoy customary rights to access countryside pathways and towpaths. Currently, a pedestrian trail snaking around the 4,345km coastline of England is being constructed.
Contrarily, in Ireland, individuals are virtually devoid of any legal rights to tread onto private property, irrelevant of how remote it might be. Besides urban parks and public roads, Ireland scarcely possesses any public rights of way and according to the pressure group, Keep Ireland Open, ordinary walkers remain restricted to asphalt surfaces or battling through sporadic paths. It’s even worse when a landowner unjustifiably denies access. The dominance of auto-centric tourism has unfortunately deprived people from the pleasure of coastal views via walking. Recently, Fáilte Ireland proudly announced that the Wild Atlantic Way route would encourage tourists to “stay longer and spend more”, however, like the general population, they too will encounter difficulties in exploring the Irish coast on foot.
We need to erase the belief of walking and walkability as substandard forms of transport. Just like breathing, walking and wheeling (especially for those with physical disabilities) are normal and essential expressions of being alive and experiencing the world. Walking must not be seen as an extravagance. People of all ages and abilities should be able to amble through their environment, taking in the fresh air and experiencing the world’s sights, scents, sounds and tactile sensations at a leisurely and relaxed pace.
There exists a profound, philosophical dimension to the act of walking, suggests ecologist Liam Heneghan. Reflecting on the writings of naturalist Robert Lloyld Praeger, author of the book ‘The Way that I Went’, a book admired by both hikers and nature enthusiasts, he highlights that embarking on a journey of 1000 miles by foot encourages a disposition of receptiveness towards the world. According to Praeger, this heightened level of attentiveness can only be nurtured through walking. In our car-dependent and pollution-ridden world, opting to walk just for the sheer joy of it can be a transformative act. Meanwhile, Sadhbh O’Neill engages in research pertaining to both climate and environmental policy.