Joe’s Logic

I like people who introduce me to new ways of thinking. One of them was Joe Scanlon.

Joe was a journalism professor at Carleton University. His other passion was studying disasters. He has done a lot of work on the Halifax explosion.

One thing he told me that should Vancouver have a major earthquake, radios would be very important to the city since they run on batteries. Bicycles would be the vehicles of preference.

There was something else he said that has followed me through the years and it has nothing to do with disasters. It has to do with urban design.

It was Joe’s theory that urban planners should not build sidewalks unless it was pretty obvious where people will walk. It is better that they allow the people to walk on the grass for a year or so, see where the grass is worn out and then build the sidewalks there.

You know what? This makes a lot of sense. How many places have you seen sidewalks that are seldom used with nearby unpaved paths?

It’s funny how we often do the same with our lives. We quickly pave our path to the future when it might be better to wait to see the pattern that appears on the grass before we commit to building the road.