I was first introduced to the word flâneur and the ideas behind it in grad school. In learning about it, I realised in many ways flânerie described behaviour I’d be pursuing for some time: leisurely strolling through cities, observing the variety of activities an urban environment offers. It’s one of the things I most enjoy about walking. I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of a copy of Walking in Berlin: A Flâneur in the Capital by Franz Hessel, first published in 1927.

Of course I fit the original conception of the flâneur: male, and of an economic class and skin colour that permitted them/me the liberty to walk the streets without concern and without raising concerns among the power structures of society.

Lauren Elkin provides a response to this limited notion of urban walkers in her book Flâneuse. She talks about the book in this podcast from London Review Bookshop and discusses it with The Irish Times. In Straggle, Tanis MacDonald brings together a number of essays around the experiences of a woman walking in the world. The Mirimichi Reader writes about the book and MacDonald talks to Open Book about Straggle.