Walk to Work: Parking Garages, Skyways, Ear Buds

I have to admit, I walk to work quite often. It is the only place that I regularly walk. It is close and every time that I have to go to work I always allow my self plenty of time to get there. I do this because I can’t drive, it’s too expensive – nearly $20 each time I work. And since I’m walking to a part-time retail job, paying to park would be counter-productive. It takes me around 15 to 20 minutes to walk, depending on my stride. I nearly always walk straight down Third until I reach Ninth Street, where I enter the skyway via the Campbell Mithun Tower. Skyways are an interesting part of Minneapolis walking culture. A majority of people walk in the climate controlled and carpeted skyways versus on the exterior ground-level street.

The skyways have become the new street-front, with restaurants, shops, cafes, and banks, why would you walk anywhere else? This is especially true in the nearly seven-month-long Minnesota winter. The interesting thing about downtown and its skyways is that they are only busy during business hours. Any other time, when people are back home in the suburbs, they are nearly empty. Unfortunately downtown was built for corporate employees and not local urbanites. I attribute this lack of people to the parking garages and skyways. If most downtown workers walked to work they would have to live in the city. This would ultimately create a more diverse downtown.

However, I’m not sure that it would make people more social. Many people, like myself, pop in their ear buds and crank-up the iPod dial when they hit the streets. It’s like being in a car, your own personal space as you have defined it. A very specific element of control, control from the outside world, the other. If you can’t hear anyone you don’t have to respond to them, it makes you feel safer. Moreover it just makes everyone less social, and they are happy to drive home to the suburbs because they don’t feel connected to the city.