On the way

The experience of movement with one’s body contributes substantially to establishing our relationship with the space in which we live and to building the perception that the European Landscape Convention, going beyond the idea of mere vision, places at the basis of the very definition of landscape and the identification of management, protection and planning policies.

In this sense, walking – from the walk of the wanderer and the flâneur to the tramp, from botanical exploration to urban exploration, from adventurous trekking to protest marches and perception walking (the catalogue is endless…) – is not only a recreational occasion linked to important ecological, health and therapeutic reasons, nor even a purely cultural and aesthetic experience, but constitutes a democratic instrument of active citizenship and participation, within the reach of all.

Moving through the landscape, as well as exploring cities, allows us to renew our relationship with nature and others and to understand our living environments and elaborate our own thoughts on how we would like them to be; and at this time, an active and dynamic experience of places can also mean direct interaction with the major transformations brought about by the current climate crisis and, therefore, an opportunity to orientate, if we wish, our lifestyle and our commitment.

If it is true that our relationship with places becomes more conscious when we are able to read their stories and feel ourselves to be an active part – actors and spectators at the same time – of the unstoppable process that builds them up day by day as they are, the experience of walking really underpins everything and represents a tool with multiple potentialities, also for the purposes of design and care actions.