Anyone seeking a demonstration of how completely orthodoxy and heresy can change places need look no further than the brisk documentary “Citizen Jane: Battle for the City.” That Jane is Jane Jacobs — journalist, activist, author of the landmark 1961 book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” — whose pro-neighborhood, pro-street life thesis…
Martin Gibala, professor, Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University. There are no more excuses for being out of shape. Researchers at McMaster University have found that short, intense bursts of stair climbing, which can be done virtually anywhere, have major benefits for heart health. The findings negate the two most common excuses of couch potatoes: no…
Michael Chernow, an exercise buff and the owner of the NoLIta seafood restaurant Seamore’s, started a weekly workout class available to his 40-odd employees soon after the restaurant opened in 2015. Every Wednesday at 9 a.m., about 10 to 15 staff members of Seamore’s Fit Squad meet for either an indoor cycling class or for…
After neighborhood sidewalks, shopping centers are the most popular places in the U.S. to go for a stroll. At 7 in the morning inside the Mall of America, capitalism sleeps. There are rows of kiosks with metal grates latched shut. Zamboni-like machines polish the floors. The crowds of shoppers—enough people on any given day, it’s…
This article is from the “A View From … ” section of the Winter 2017 issue of Rails to Trails magazine. It has been republished here in an extended format. When the snow hits, many trail enthusiasts stow their running shoes or tuck their bikes into the back of the garage, missing an opportunity to enjoy…
First there was the single-geared ‘fixie’ bike, then there was the unicycle, and then the electric unicycle. But hipsters could be ready to one-up themselves again with a new take on wheeled transport, which uses a treadmill instead of pedals. For riders of the Lopifit, getting from A to B is as easy as putting…
Cycling is my passion. I love to ride my bike on my way to work, when going shopping or in my spare time. I definitely love cycling while in vacation too. Unfortunately, not all the cities in the world can be defined as bike friendly. In the attempt to discover which are the most bike…
Franz Hessel’s ‘Walking in Berlin: A Flaneur in the Capital’ documents the city in the late 1920s “Walking down bustling streets is a particular pleasure,” begins “The Suspect”, the first piece in Franz Hessel’s Walking in Berlin, elegantly translated by Amanda DeMarco. “But my dear fellow citizens of Berlin don’t make it easy, no matter how…
These days, we spend so much time trying to figure out what to do next, how to get as far as we can in all aspects of life, and how to make the best impact on the world or our immediate surroundings. We sit there analyzing situations, figuring out game plans, and reading endlessly to learn…
If you design a city to get people walking, then people will do more physical activity. A new global study has found that a well-designed neighborhood not only keeps people fit but can reduce obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. The correlation between walkability and public health has been made before, but this study, published in…
