I’m really glad that I didn’t start driving until my mid-20s. Before I found Debord and knew the word for it, walking everywhere was a constant dérive for me. I’m only an urbanist because walking and public transit turned cities into slow-motion exploration of whatever stood out to me until I saw the relationships behind it. The psychogeography stood out so much more than I could safely observe while driving. I love micromobility because it takes that same feeling, makes it much more accessible with better infrastructure, and increases the speed/carrying capacity just enough to make it on par with urban driving. Now every grocery run is a chance to explore something new in parks and wilderness areas, with a much broader spectrum of my neighbours safely maintaining their independence with whatever kind of vehicle works best for their body.
A friend (who told me about Fifthworldproblems, IIRC) and I used to do dérives all the time. We called it Shambling. It wasn’t until much later that I learned about the dérive and psychogeography and how it intertwines with ideas about magick.
This year I want to start organising formal ones between municipal greenspace workers having a union drive, the local DSA’s environmental justice committee, and regulars in the parks who have a daily personal connection to those landscapes. It seems like a really powerful tool for achieving something like Pedagogy of the Oppressed’s model and normalising holistic radical conversations.
I’m really glad that I didn’t start driving until my mid-20s. Before I found Debord and knew the word for it, walking everywhere was a constant dérive for me. I’m only an urbanist because walking and public transit turned cities into slow-motion exploration of whatever stood out to me until I saw the relationships behind it. The psychogeography stood out so much more than I could safely observe while driving. I love micromobility because it takes that same feeling, makes it much more accessible with better infrastructure, and increases the speed/carrying capacity just enough to make it on par with urban driving. Now every grocery run is a chance to explore something new in parks and wilderness areas, with a much broader spectrum of my neighbours safely maintaining their independence with whatever kind of vehicle works best for their body.
A friend (who told me about Fifthworldproblems, IIRC) and I used to do dérives all the time. We called it Shambling. It wasn’t until much later that I learned about the dérive and psychogeography and how it intertwines with ideas about magick.
I miss it.
This year I want to start organising formal ones between municipal greenspace workers having a union drive, the local DSA’s environmental justice committee, and regulars in the parks who have a daily personal connection to those landscapes. It seems like a really powerful tool for achieving something like Pedagogy of the Oppressed’s model and normalising holistic radical conversations.