Sidewalks

I loved an article in the Globe's Ideas section today, as I frequently love articles in that section of the Globe. This one was about sidewalks - more like about a woman who is about sidewalks. Actually, it was about a woman who wrote a book about sidewalks, and I anticipate loving the book as I loved the article.

Sidewalks are the arteries and organs of urbanity and a thing much neglected in the public mind. Even our own fine walk-anywhere city finds its sidewalks squeezed and mutilated to accommodate vehicular traffic, presumably to support the irrational fantasy of parking in front of your destination. University of New Orleans' Renia Ehrenfeucht takes up their cause with UCLA's Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris in what promises to be a bright-eyed, broad-minded book, "Sidewalks: Conflict and Negotiation over Public Space", out in May.