As wonderful as it can be to walk in nature for a long time, there's something about walking in the built environment that is some kind of ethical engagement with it, that commands you to think about the ways in which the world has been put together and the ways you might fit into things. Becoming aware of the way the city is put together can make you realize the things you want to change about the city itself, or change about the world.

Writer Lauren Elkin discusses the power of wandering the city on foot - from noticing the infraordinary details of the built environment, to finding companionship on a solitary stroll - and walks us through the female experience of learning and living the city, on the street, with George Sand and Virginia Woolf for company.

Lauren is author of the book Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Interview transcript via Antidote Zine