Mapping city walking to a way of living

I will illustrate my version of walking in a city when I go from point A to point B. I believe that by following this guideline, you can get to places a little quicker than any random method. I believe that this is a good average case model. My outline will presume that the walker will obey the city traffic bi-laws (e.g., no Jaywalking) and general safety.

The concept is pretty straight forward

• Minimise your wait times at intersections
• Keep your options open
• Don't be greedy

              Y
              ^
              ^
    G >> H >> I
    ^    ^    ^
    ^    ^    ^
    D >> E >> F
    ^    ^    ^
    ^    ^    ^
    A >> B >> C
    ^
    ^
    X

Here is the guide

• While keeping the general direction of your destination in mind, always walk in the same direction until there is an obstruction (e.g., traffic light). Only change your direction if you reach an intersection and have to wait for the walk sign to turn. For example, if you are walking on X and want to get to Y, then keep walking straight i.e., A->D->G. If you are at A, and can't go to D yet because of the light, don't wait for it, instead, go to B.

  Seems obvious right? Well, stick to that rule at all times.

• While the first rule sets the basis for action, the real reason for it is as follows: any unnecessary change of direction, costs an optional path that could have been taken. For instance, sometimes we are at A but might want to wait for B to be available instead of crossing D. If you take B, then D and G are no longer available. Similarly, Jaywalking (taking the hypotenuse) only appears to be efficient locally, but not necessarily globally, hence, avoid it to retain possible paths later on. We sometimes do this because of external reasons; the physics of the environment or personal choice; path preference.

  Not throwing away possible paths allows us to make use of them later on.

• Given that some of us do not really walk like robots (no offence to robots), and that when we arrive at an intersection we generally either take a chance, try to beat the light or wait for it. In this case, waiting a little bit and then switching directions is better because beating the light does not necessarily improve things globally, perhaps only locally. We can let go of some of those seconds and take a safer path that is at our disposal.

  So, stay cool.

Besides the pleasure of efficient city walking, where is the life philosophy in this, right? Here is how I map these rules to a way of living:

• Be always on the move; both physically and mentally. Don't get stuck on mundane things that life throws at you. Explore, experience and escape from the loop.

• Keep your eyes open and look for opportunities at every turn. Respect other people's options and conform when you have to. Having various ways to get to your destination, desires and goals should give us a taste of freedom. The idea is to avoid or better handle things that sets a limit to our lives. Of course, one can only presume that open choice is a good thing. It is your call.

• There comes a time where we need to know for ourselves that what we have is sufficient to keep us happy. The more we run after that extra sense of perfection the more we are likely to exhaust ourselves, and miss the forest for the trees. We need to pause to enjoy what we already have.

About this article

• Granted not all cities have rectangular blocks. Curved paths would be a lot more complex to calculate but the idea would remain the same.

• I do not know if this is mathematically sound (perhaps you can check that out). I am going with the feel for now.

• Walking with another person is always more enjoyable but not necessarily faster. So, keep your family and friends close unless you really have to do your own thing.