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  • The phenomenon of walking: ...
    Rybråten, Stine; Skår, Margrete; Nordh, Helena

    Landscape research, 01/2019, Volume: 44, Issue: 1
    Journal Article

    Everyday walking is a far-reaching activity with the potential to increase health and well-being in the general public. From a phenomenological perspective, walking can be seen as a function of being-in-the-world, where the landscape, a sense of place, and the moment are closely entwined with the walker's own lived experiences. Using interviews with 73 walkers in a medium-sized town in Norway, this article explores the phenomenon of everyday walking. The data illustrate the multiple ways in which people emphasise well-being and ascribe meaning to their walking experiences, and how these ways may vary significantly during a life course, from day to day, and even within a single walk. Insights from this study may prove useful to policy-makers and administrative bodies in acknowledging people's various needs and gains related to everyday walking, and hence for promoting a diversified management of walking within the field of health policy, as well as in urban planning for walkable cities.