My grocery store is 0.25 miles away. That’s the farthest I go within a month apart from the bank. I realize that it would be ableist to expect everyone to carry two tote bags full of groceries back from somewhere that far regularly walking, but like what if there could be a service for disabled people to fetch groceries that way in the neighborhood? I saw some old people walking recently in my neighborhood and was considering doing that for them in exchange for some pocket change I needed for the laundromat right next to the grocery store. The farthest I go on a regular basis is a 25 minute walk to get my cashier’s check my landlord requires for rent. The buses in this town are too slow and inconsistent for that to make sense for me. I’m actually very proud that I don’t drive and wish I could make errands for physically disabled people given my fitness.
I find myself comfortable month to month staying within that 0.25 square mile area. I recently went about 100 miles west to a California beach for a day and night and I feel like my ordinary lifestyle made it that much more profound in contrast. It’s strange how that sort of compression and expansion of a sense of everyday space can change the phenomenology of a place, make something feel bigger in an odd way. The ocean was so amazing.
And so it just kind of seems like there’s no singular amount of minutes that should define your lifestyle but rather like maybe concentric circles with no absolute outer bound. And so this is very open-ended. Sort of musing here. I could be wrong. I work from home.
I’d look at Japan as an example of how this can be well done. I spent a short time in a pretty rural Japanese suburb (like walking distance from farmland), but the place I stayed was a 10-minute walk from two 24-hour convenience stores along with several restaurants and other shops.
A big part of this is zoning - even in the most restrictive residential zone in Japan, you can build multi-family units and small shops, unlike in the US where most zoned land is single family housing only. Here’s a great video that goes into more detail on Japan’s zoning.
It’s mind-blowing how something like this is straight up not common in America. As bad as my city’s design is, at least I can walk 5 minutes to buy some groceries.