Jan 3, 2006

Mike Testa: Walk Culture Defined(tm)

In a recent interview with tourism executive Mike Testa, we learned his take on the walking community and our quest to define walk culture. Here are some notes.

Q: What's one of the connections between walking and tourism?
A: Whenever I travel to another place, be it Philadelphia or Walnut Creek, I walk around and see the city. When you have somebody walking around WITH you and telling you what you’re seeing, it becomes much more valuable. Otherwise, you’re just walking by buildings. Walking tours and other ways people can learn about their surroundings, are important.

Q: If you were creating definitions for the Urban Dictionary, what would be yours for ‘walk culture’ and ‘the walking community’?
A: Walk culture is discovery and taking pride in where you live. There are lots of people who live in a town their entire life and don’t realize the treasures there. It's important to know about them.

Q: What about the term, ‘the walking community’? What does that mean?
A: If I had to guess… Wait, maybe that’s something right there. Those words don’t ring any bells to me. My sense is, take a look at biking--that's a huge community. You have people who bike for physical fitness, for camaraderie, for transportation and other reasons. Part of the concept of ‘community’ is the social aspect—getting people together, doing something that’s fun and doing something that’s good for you while being with other people. That has to hold true for the walking community.

Q: Is there a way to raise the profile of walk culture and the walking community?
A: Sure there is and, like anything else, it’s about publicity. You need to address the basic questions people have like, why should I care? What’s in it for me? Certainly there are things in it (walking) for everybody but it’s a matter of most people thinking, “we all walk on a daily basis, we do it everyday and it’s part of our lives. For example, in a couple of hours I’m going to walk to lunch. Most people don’t look at it as “there’s a benefit to that activity”. Sometimes, there's something right under your nose that you don’t recognize. Sometimes you need someone to point things out to you.

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