Graphic by Paola Raygoza
Prior to starting college, I had only ever attended yearlong schools that had summer vacations lasting six weeks. I was super unaccustomed to the large amount of downtime that came with a three-month summer, so I did what everyone does when they are at a loss for what to do with their time: I hopped on a TikTok trend. In 2021, TikTok user Mia Lind (@exactlylikeothergirls) popularized the Hot Girl Walk, a three-to-four milelong walk during which the walker intensely reflects on their goals, what they’re grateful for and the things that make them beautiful. Integrating a combination of low-difficulty aerobic exercise and intentional reflection into my daily routine positively impacted both my physical and mental health. However, in the last year that I’ve been doing it, I’ve noticed a huge problem with American infrastructure: There are not enough sidewalks for everyone to do Hot Girl Walks on.
According to research compiled for Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris’s “Sidewalks: Conflict and Negotiation over Public Space,” the first sidewalk ever was laid in Anatolia around 2000 B.C. It is unclear when and where the first sidewalk in America was built, but most academics presume it originated somewhere in New England. Sidewalks started cropping up to create a safe way for pedestrians to get where they needed to go and engage with their communities. In urbanized areas, foot traffic and sidewalks are an important part of the city’s function. Even as it became more and more common for families to own cars, the production of sidewalks by government entities in cities did not slow down. In New York City alone, there are 12,000 miles of sidewalk that are maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation.
Even though there is widespread use of sidewalks in city areas, suburban areas have a comparatively low number of sidewalks. The problems with modern sidewalk culture is threefold. First, there aren’t enough of them. Second, in most places, the property owners are expected to maintain them. Finally, there is a continuous creation of government legislature that discourages walking in favor of automated transportation.
Following World War II, there was an American mass exodus from the cities into the suburbs that was supported by the popularization and newfound accessibility of automobiles. Suburban neighborhoods quickly became autocentric havens from the “hustle and bustle” of the big city — which is code for away from the poor and nonwhite. A lot of individuals living within these communities believed that sidewalks invited in “undesirables” (once again code for poor and not white), and so they made it impossible for people to travel on foot by not building anywhere for them to walk. When neighborhoods were created, most of their infrastructural development and public planning centered around automobiles. For example, in the early days of Park Forest (one of the most popular suburbs of Chicago in the ’50s), housing was centered around “autocourts” (road-like pathways that led to homes), and was 10 miles away from the nearest grocery store. Without a car, it was virtually impossible for suburbanites to go to work, get groceries to feed their families or do other things paramount to living. The inability to function in the suburbs without a car increased car sales, which helped boost the fledgling automobile industry that was shaping up to be one of the most profitable sectors of the American economy in the mid-century. By aligning the development of suburban neighborhoods with the interests of the automobile industry in its infancy, the automobile industry created a profitable dependency on cars that still exists today.
Despite the racial and economic de-homogenization (sort of) of the suburbs as time has progressed, the walkability of suburban areas has not improved. Decades of underfunding, neglect and shoddy craftsmanship has caused structural problems with the sidewalks that do exist. In 2021, a woman in North Carolina sustained injuries after tripping on an uneven sidewalk. The woman’s injuries were so serious that she chose to pursue legal action against the city for their poor maintenance of the sidewalks. In the woman’s case, the sidewalk she tripped on was owned by the city she was in. However, there is no national standardization for who should be maintaining the upkeep of sidewalks, and, as a result, many local governments put that burden on homeowners. For some homeowners, being put in charge of maintaining their sidewalks can be inconvenient, expensive and downright confusing, which only exacerbates the lack of walkable suburban areas.
The physical difficulties associated with walkable suburban areas are not the only boundaries pedestrians face. Various government bodies around the United States have taken to enacting laws that criminalize some forms of walking. For example, Florida has more than 20 different laws about where, when and why pedestrians can walk, and in some cases the enforcement of these laws is incredibly strict (most of them being disproportionately enforced on people of color and the elderly). Some people argue that enforcing laws concerning walking helps keep pedestrians safe, but what they actually do is reflect the interests of the governing body. American infrastructure laws have a long history of being swayed by the needs of the automobile industry. Prior to the 1920s, the concept of jaywalking did not exist. People could walk and congregate freely because the line of what was road and what wasn’t was a lot murkier. As cars became more popular, automobile-related pedestrian deaths skyrocketed. As a result, many localities passed orders that shrunk the size of walkways to make more room for roadways. Additionally, the automobile industry started an aggressive campaign to shift the ownership of the streets from the people who walked on them to the cars that drove on them. These efforts included falsifying public reports of car-related deaths, visiting schools to teach children about the supremacy of the automobile, and creating a shame campaign that demanded police officers shame and harass those walking in the streets. These campaigns were largely successful and have continuously shaped the way that people regard pedestrians into the modern era.
Walking around in America should not be as difficult as it is — especially in an age where we all realize that solely relying on cars is horrible for the environment. Sidewalks facilitate accessible transportation and foster a safer way for people to get around — whether that’s to exercise, travel or just have a nice little Hot Girl Walk. The boundaries in place that prevent these activities from happening were created by an outdated, classist and prejudiced system. The right to Hot Girl Walk is an important part of our rights as Americans, and our infrastructure needs to start reflecting that.