I crave immersion, in the places of a city that feel lived in; that have not been turned into caricatures of themselves or their pasts. Immersion both in the figurative sense of culture, but also in the depth of experience in a place (the time there, amongst people who live there).

How does one find this when no stone is left unturned in the modern, globalized world? Where every nook and cranny, mom-and-pop-shop has been added to a map provider; where you don’t really need to take chances anywhere because hundreds, heck, thousands of reviewers have surveyed it for you ahead of your visit.

Is it then a mindset? Like those videos and essays that talk about finding beauty in the mundane details, looking at something from a different angle. Not of this never-ending upward or downward spiral of thrill or novelty seeking — ie newness to capture people’s attention — or the monotonous sameness of these poses and people in these “popular” places. As Roman Fox puts it, “people are tired of these larger-than-life shots and instead want something calm, familiar, and relatable.”

Give me somewhere I can experience life being lived amongst others. And even better when I don’t feel like this unrealistic, unsustainable individualism, and the hyper-optimization, status-comparing and closed-off car culture of a place like Los Angeles. This is the appeal of places like New York City, of Tokyo, of Florence.

This is why I want to live somewhere walkable; amongst others, amongst small businesses where they know me by name, where they wave to people they know going by, like they do at that corner bar.