Isn’t City Walk just a stroll?

This article, titled "City Walk is popular, what on earth is it?", vividly and interestingly analyzes the origin and development of City Walk. It also analyzes the reasons why City Walk became popular, and points out that it meets the needs of young people in pursuit of emotional value. It is very inspiring.

"These days, walking on the street can no longer be called walking on the street, it should be called citywalk."

Xiaoyu, who is at the forefront of fashion, said so. This summer, city walk has become a hot topic on social media, and various routes can be seen everywhere. Open Xiaohongshu and search for city walk, and the results show that there are more than 500,000 related notes. In the first half of 2023 alone, the number of searches related to city walk on Xiaohongshu platform increased by more than 30 times year-on-year.

Many people joined in, but many people were puzzled. In Chinese, city walk means "walking on the road" or "strolling around". Why does it have to be given a foreign name like "wearing new shoes and walking on the old road"?

What exactly is a city walk? Literally translated, it means city walking or city strolling. This term is actually a foreign import. It originated in London, England, when a travel website launched a sightseeing route called city walk, which took tourists strolling through the streets of London.

Nowadays, this seems to have become the exclusive domain of urban beauties. Many netizens even joked: "Put on lululemon pants, match them with solomon shoes, and have a chill city walk."

But in fact, city walk is not a new thing. In China, the act of walking on the road is infinitely close to the concept of city walk. How come such a popular lifestyle has become so popular?

1. City Walk has become popular, what exactly is it?

"I've been in Beijing for six years, but I haven't even walked through the hutongs properly. One weekend in March this year, I called my sisters together and took an authentic hutong tour along the classic route of Wudaoying-Longhe Temple-Guozijian-Beiluoguxiang. We walked and rode shared bicycles, and even came across many Internet-famous shops along the way. It was so pleasant!" Jin Zi, who studied in Beijing for a long time, recalled, "At that time, the term city walk was not so popular. We just wanted to stroll in the hutongs and feel the Beijing flavor. If it were now, I would also do an old Beijing city walk."

Just as Jin Zi said, many people may have become city walkers without realizing it. There is actually no clear boundary to define it. As long as you walk, shopping, strolling, walking the dog, etc. can all be regarded as a type of city walk. Everyone may have their own understanding of it.

If we define city walk through social platforms, it may be different from strolling. Strolling is about being casual and not exploring, but city walks usually have a general route plan. People set out with a curiosity to explore the city, discover the beauty they have never discovered along the way, and feel the joy brought by casualness and freedom.

Following the trend of city walks, the IQ Tax Research Center found that city walks were first mentioned on the Xiaohongshu platform. Since 2016, Xiaohongshu notes have begun to recommend city walk routes. In the "Top Ten Lifestyle Trends in 2022" forecast report released by Xiaohongshu, "city roaming" was listed as an important lifestyle trend more than a year in advance.

At that time, the scope of city walks was mainly concentrated in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The most representative of these was Shanghai. The fashionable "Wukang Road-Anfu Road" was considered by everyone to be a must-visit route for Shanghai travel.

In April this year, data showed that the search popularity of city walk on the Xiaohongshu platform continued to rise. In June, some bloggers broke away from the specific city routes of city walk and began to recommend more life-like routes, or closely connected them with daily life. As a result, the concept of city walk gradually broke through the circle and became more and more universal.

Even many bloggers began to associate it with the MBTI personality, believing that city walk is where I-people belong. A person strolls in the city with headphones on, enjoying the precious sense of relaxation. The topic "wandering around is where I-people belong" once topped the Xiaohongshu hot list.

This summer, city walk has become a popular term on social platforms, with more and more people joining in the experience and sharing. There is even a mother sharing her experience of city walking with her 3-year-old baby.

The city walk has also evolved into various forms, such as pet walking city walk, coffee city walk, etc. Some netizens even joked: "The focus of Shanghainese city walk is the 24-hour gym, but I won't tell you which night market the end point of Shaanxi city walk is."

When CityWalk has become a lifestyle, it has increasingly become a fulcrum for us to establish a connection with the land beneath our feet through walking, helping us to find the disappearing neighborhood in our lives, enjoy the joy brought by relaxation, and harvest our own exclusive scenery.

Why do so many people want to be walkers?

In today's increasingly fast-paced world, our lives seem to have been shortcut. Facing the high-speed operation around us, it is difficult to find a reason to slow down. The life of "lying down and watching the clouds roll and unfold" described by the ancients is simply a luxury for us. Even vacation trips, which were once considered to be relaxing, are increasingly occupied by special forces-style check-in trips.

Xiaoyu is an amateur blogger on Xiaohongshu. She likes to record her life on it. In the past, when she went out to travel, she liked to make a very detailed travel guide. After arriving at the destination, she would just follow the map. Every time she checked a box, she felt a little more fulfilled.

She said: "When I go out, I like to feel the happiness of knowing what I am doing. Everyone says that the best ones are basically not that bad. It's just that I always feel regretful that I can't complete 100% of my wish list of destinations. Moreover, the pressure I put on myself every time I travel is a bit too high. I always think about checking in at a certain place and can't really enjoy it."

Later, influenced by her friends, she took a spontaneous trip in Thailand. She didn't make many plans like before, and the whole process was very casual. "Chiang Mai is a very chill city. You walk aimlessly in the old city and encounter many beautiful temples along the way. Each temple has its own characteristics. They are much better than the three temples in Chiang Rai that I specially signed up for. I especially regretted the time I spent on the road on the first day. And almost any coffee shop in Chiang Mai is delicious. I didn't do any research at all. I just opened a blind box and got a lot of surprises."

“This casual stroll along Chiang Mai CityWalk made me realize that no matter in travel or life, there is no need to set too many limits for myself. There is nothing wrong with escaping from the fast pace of a special forces soldier. You may gain a different experience of this city by taking it slow, and you can still save a lot of money because you can mainly rely on walking and don’t have to go far to check in at popular spots,” said Xiaoyu.

"After I came back, I shared my private routes and received a lot of likes. I think using a label like 'niche' to share notes can help attract more traffic."

In addition to the more common traveling citywalkers like Xiaoyu, friends from the IQ Tax Research Center have also unlocked more postures about citywalk.

An An has two corgis at home. In addition to daily dog ​​walks, she looks for pet-friendly places every weekend. "Because I can't bear to leave the dogs alone at home, if we choose to stay outside on weekends, we will definitely take them out to play. We will get bored if we go to the same place too often, so we basically look for different places to experience every time."

According to An An herself, she has basically visited all the pet-friendly places in Beijing, and she is simply a living map of Beijing's "dog walking city walk".

"Some places say they are pet-friendly, but that's not always the case. Many restaurants have conditions that require you to sit outdoors in the summer. But now, as the concept of pet-friendliness becomes more popular, many restaurants allow you to bring your dog with you, and there are even 'cool little dens' exclusively for pets. It feels really good that puppies can get the same respect, and it gives them extra points in our hearts as owners."

As more and more humanistic concepts are introduced into life, it will add a lot of fun to life.

Manman, a pet owner who lives in the North Third Ring Road, feels the same way. She said, "I have made a lot of friends because of dog walking. We are all pet lovers. I once found another dog in Beitucheng Park. The two dogs didn't fight at all when they met, but played together. I went for a long walk along the back mountain with its owner. The puppies had a lot of fun, and I also made a friend who I can talk to. In fact, it is difficult to make friends outside the circle in the office. Dog walking can expand your social circle."

Manman's daily dog ​​walking route, City Walk, has now become a common route for more and more pet lovers around her. Seeing the dogs having fun, the owners are also happy and at ease. Most of them live in the same community, and usually the doors are closed in the high-rise buildings, so they rarely interact with each other. Now, because of dog walking, these people have reestablished emotional connections. If any owner has to go on a business trip, they will help take care of each other.

Manman said, "There are many ways to walk, and walking with dogs is our special way." These dog walkers bring a bit of warmth to the cold community.

Do you think city walk can only be walking? Xiaomei has another answer. She lives in Tiantongyuan Community and likes to ride her scooter for a spin. She calls herself the spokesperson for the scooter city walk. Her daily route is to go around Tiantongyuan, "the largest community in Asia". At first, her purpose was to take the two dogs for a spin. The puppies were very happy and excited when they got on the scooter. Xiaomei said: "Now when they see the scooter in the yard, they have learned to get on the scooter on their own initiative."

And while riding the bike, Xiaomei felt very relaxed both mentally and physically. She saw uncles and aunts singing and dancing on the road, heard the sound of the wind in nature, and felt that her whole body and mind were connected with nature, which relieved her tense mood at work.

"I would like to call the Citywalk the best pressure relief valve for office workers, but if you ride too fast, you will squint easily."

2. Get emotional value from city walk

In fact, there are more and more young people like Jinzi, Anan and Manman.

During their leisure time, they prefer to stroll around the city, either alone or with two or three friends, to see old buildings, visit specialty shops, order a cup of coffee or try authentic snacks, measure the vitality of the city with their footsteps, and feel the unique atmosphere of the city.

This is also a new way for them to re-understand themselves and their lives. There is no need for professional tour guides or excessive planning. Just follow your heart and leave the direction to every angle of the city. If you are in a good mood, you can also record your mood on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu and become a "city guide" for more people.

Yes, you may have discovered that in the current era of increasing material wealth, this generation of young people, in addition to making money, have begun to focus on the satisfaction of emotional values ​​and the enrichment of the spiritual world. Their life slogan has gradually changed from "pursuing success and never stopping" to "refusing internal friction and focusing on oneself". The younger generation is connecting themselves with reality in their own way.

Therefore, they began to seek various ways to relieve themselves, and city walking is one of the representatives. A leisurely city walk sends pleasant and positive signals to the brain, which accurately meets the emotional needs of many people who are silently enduring stress, anxiety and internal consumption, and brings them the emotional value they urgently need.

In particular, city walk does not have a high threshold for participation, and the form and location can be decided by oneself, which further enhances freedom and randomness.

"Every time I unlock a 'Manman exclusive route', I will immediately post it on Xiaohongshu and wait for likes and comments," Manman said with a smile. "You never know, some netizens who have taken the same route will leave me a message and ask me which store I can go to to order a 'hidden' food and drink when I go there again."

You can be the planner of the route, share it on social platforms, gain self-identity and resonance, or be the executor, check in at your favorite places, add a little fun to your ordinary life, and find a fulcrum to buffer when you are lost. Or, just do it casually and relax your body and mind.

Although everyone's life is difficult in their own way, everyone can gain emotional value from walking in the city. What you see is the scenery, and what you record is your mood.

Just like what Yi Yueli, a blogger on Xiaohongshu who keeps updating her walking diary, said: "Although the walking route doesn't change much every day, the sunset, the people passing by, and the perspectives of the photos and records are all different every day. There are surprises every day, and every day you can harvest unique scenery."

Author: Xue Jizhi

Source: WeChat public account "IQ Tax Research Center (ID: gh_c55b3561ece1)"