Abstract:

The practice of walking is viewed by many as a means to engage with the environment, as well as improve one’s mental and physical health. Yet, what invisible barriers arise within urban spaces that may discourage walking for the disabled person? With this question in mind, my Senior Thesis for the Medicine, Science, and Humanities program seeks to answer: How can the knowability of public urban space be viewed through the sidewalk, an infrastructural terrain which, for some, opens the city, and for others, restricts the places one could go?