I was reading about a contemporary architect who wrote a book called ‘Walkable city’. I did not read the book. I know it is a design one, one in which imagination, the concept and the environment meet to create the cities of the future.
Until then, however, my thought quickly went to a recent incident in Bucharest. I was going, at around 7 PM, to an ATM on Calea Calarasilor, near Piata Muncii. I passed some individuals who were lying on the sidewalk with some bottles in their hands and who were picking on people.
I can’t reproduce what my ears heard when I passed by them.
On my way back, I waited for someone else to come and I passed, together with a gentleman and a lady who were walking with their child.
I thought that the inner pithecanthrope of some compatriots had at least been polished or disappeared altogether. But no.
Whether he is lying on the sidewalk with alcohol in his hands, on a bench, in the park, or behind the wheel of a large car, or with a large, opulent gold chain, which he wears proudly around his neck, the pithecanthrope will reveal his colors no matter the occasion.
The cities in which you would want to walk with pleasure are still a fantasy for us. Until we get rid of bad taste, lack of education, fumes of alcohol, and egotism from some, it will be difficult to walk alone on the streets.