The Urban Ranger: A Reinhard Engels Everyday System

According to Reinhard Engels, creator of www.everydaysystems.com, a website that details several activities and concepts designed for "normal people" who just want a solution to their problem, human beings are "lousy at just about every kind of physical locomotion -- with one conspicuous exception: we are good walkers." Truly, human beings were build to walk. The ease with which we stand erect, the long periods of time during which we can slowly pick our way from point A to point B, and the fact that babies will teach themselves to walk even without instruction all point to the likelihood that walking is just about all human beings were made to do. Urban Rangering is hardly a new concept. It just has a new name, that's all. If you're an Urban Ranger, you're a walker.

But Urban Rangers are not powerwalkers. They're not aerobic walkers. They're not professionally athletic walkers. They don't require fancy shoes or special clothes or pedometers or sweatbands or even iPods with specialized exercise earphones. In fact, I would be surprised to find an Urban Ranger who considered what he or she did to be exercise at all. Urban Rangering isn't about walking a certain number of steps or a certain mileage in a certain amount of time; it's about having an experience.

When was the last time you explored your neighborhood - on foot? When was the last time you walked to the corner store to get a drink instead of driving? When was the last time you hoofed it to the library, to the school, to your job, to the bus stop? Have you ever? "The Streets" is a phrase that has a very negative connotation, and so we try to stay away from things that bring us to "The Streets." But really, The Streets are just roads, with houses and storefronts and sidewalks (by the way, did you notice that "sidewalk" contains the word "walk"?).

Walking The Streets can be exciting or eventless, scary or peaceful, tense or relaxing. Often, it's just pleasant. It's not simply hustling from one place to another, though. That would defeat the purpose. Think about the concept of a "ranger." One of the definitions of the word "ranger" found on dictionary.com is "one who roves." Think about that word, "rove." Wouldn't it be great to "rove" somewhere? It gives an image of vastly spreading meadows, valleys between immense mountains, traveling like a fantasy novel hero from one village to the next, free to do whatever you like.

But it's not just limited to fields and countrysides. The word "Urban" ensures that even those who live in the tightest of living spaces has the opportunity to rove. All you have to do is walk The Streets as a ranger would walk the valleys; namely, pay attention to your surroundings (and I don't only mean "Look both ways before you cross the street"). Look around you, take in the sights of your own neighborhood. Examine the people, the cars, the buildings. Draw conclusions about them. Read store signs. Know where things are. Memorize the postal service pickup for that box on the corner. Remember the hours of the Chinese takeout place across the street.

Open your ears, too. Sometimes the city sounds can be chaotic, but other times they can be beautiful. The sounds of the city are the sounds of life, buzzing, humming, stressful life. They can speak to you, and you can learn from them too.

To be an Urban Ranger, you need nothing except an ability to walk and appreciate your surroundings. It is purposeful, restorative, healthful, interesting, and an excellent and mindful way to pass the time - wherever you live.