Canals: the pleasure of unimpeded urban strolls
How a recent walk made me rediscover something I've long known, and now want more of.
I was recently enjoying a walk along Regent’s Canal in London from Kings Cross to Regent’s Park, and it was truly glorious: there are few things out there as satisfying as a great urban walk.
For one, the spaces along the way were animated, full of people going about their lives and happy to themselves be in a gorgeous public space; things have become so much nicer than they were when I last walked the towpath especially near Kings Cross. There were also numerous places where you could stop off and grab food or a drink, like in Camden. I also think the Regent’s Canal is a transport lover’s dream, given the numerous canal boats and railway bridge crossings you can see along the way.
Sitting on the tube headed to go film some footage, I was reminded of other great walks I’d experienced in the past — I often go on such strolls when I am going through a tough time or am making a big decision, and as such they often leave a long-term impression on me.
Some of the other places I can clearly remember having such nice and impactful walks include along the Hudson waterfront in Manhattan, along the river in Kyoto, and at home in Vancouver along False Creek and the Waterfront, or in the village of the ski town of Whistler. And initially, I was thinking that these walks might be imbued with some special calming qualities thanks to the presence of the water and quiet, but I’ve actually since had similarly pleasant experiences on the High Line (above Manhattan’s streets) and the West Toronto Railpath (which is directly next to a busy active rail line).
It was then that a frequent obsession of mine — albeit from the transit space — came to mind: grade separation.
Of all the great urban walking and pedestrian spaces I can think of, almost all of them are grade separated. Now, I don’t exactly mean this in transit terms: people and other pedestrian-exclusive paths can cross a main walking route at grade, but pedestrians should be able to walk continuously without being held up by wide streets or even needing to look both ways to cross narrow ones. This means such pedestrian spaces are probably a lot easier to create than rapid transit for example, because you don’t need to build many, if any, tunnels and overpasses. From that, it makes sense why these places are where they are — waterfronts are natural places for a “grade-separated” corridor in that there are often few crossing roads and rail lines to separate them outside of port or industrial areas; canals and rivers both often do cross lots of streets and other linear infrastructure, but they’d already have needed bridges or tunnels in the first place, and the same is true for major rail corridor.
I actually think it’s quite interesting to contrast cities that have such nice available linear public spaces in their centres (London, Paris) to those that do not, such as arguably Toronto. Having a nice place where people can walk out of an office, or where events can be hosted and people have space to spread out and relax is really good!
Such a space like this where you can walk unimpeded for a great distance is awesome. You can completely zone out and be with your thoughts, or you can really be calm and pay attention to your surroundings, be it canal boats, rushing water, or trains. Even better, you can share a moment with someone you care about, or just want to talk to without needing to constantly be alert to cars. Since most of these places have at least some distance between them and traffic (they often don’t run next to a road) you can usually find a quiet spot to sit down. Of course, once you have space for a grade separated walking path, you also get an excellent grade separated cycle path for free assuming you have sufficient space, something we clearly need far more of!
What’s clear to me is that we need more people-centred spaces in our cities, and what’s nice about a linear path with grade separation is you can move (which people like to do!) and still enjoy the benefits.
This is a good observation. But I do think Toronto has long walkable park-like spaces, if you know where to find them. For example, the walk up the Humber river is interrupted only at Old Mill by a very minor street. I have been on longer urban hikes in Toronto too in the ravines. Though I don't doubt that other cities have done it better.
Whether you're on a barge or cycling or walking along side the canal, canals are tranquil and beautiful places that should be preserved.