What is Starwalking?
(January 5, 2015)
Starwalking is a form of exploration. It was initially conceived for exploring urban areas and can be thought of as a large scale walking tour of a city with the goal of stumbling upon all kinds of interesting things and sharing the experience in a blog.
Starwalking employs a search pattern that always starts from the same central point. Each day you go to that central point, choose a different compass direction, and start walking. After some distance, turn left or right and walk for awhile either along the arc (the curved line that maintains equal distance from the central point) or the chord (the straight line segment that connects one point on the circumference to another). When you feel like you have gone far enough, turn again and walk back to the central point. At the end of the day, you will have carved out a sector of the circle whose origin is the central point.
Sorry about throwing in those geometry terms. The following diagram (click it to see a larger version) matches what is described in the paragraph above and will hopefully clarify. However, it is just an example of how a Starwalk can be done. If you want to zig-zag all over the place, go ahead.
- Start at point O in the center of the circle and walk outward along line A.
- When you reach the end, turn left and either travel along the curved line B (the arc) or the straight line C (the chord).
- When you reach the end, turn left and return to the center via line D.
Although my application of this sport is for urban exploration, it can be applied anywhere. Other than the description of the search pattern (which somewhat resembles a Sector Search), I place no restrictions on where you start from, how many directions you choose, how far you go in any given direction, or how long you choose to accomplish it. However, if I dared proscribe one rule for Starwalkers it would be: be nice.
I do encourage you to take time to look at things rather than march along with a power stride. If you see something over yonder that catches your eye but would take you off course, feel free to go check it out. Why not? If you see a shop that looks interesting, go in. If you come across a bench, consider sitting and watching the world for awhile. It helps to be in awe of everything. Enjoy!
Starwalking is not intended to be a form of "Urban Exploration" per the classic definition of that term (exploration and infiltration of locations and/or structures that are either abandoned or not generally accessible to the public). Keep an open mind and you will find plenty of amazing things to see without trespassing.
Finally, a note of caution. Please keep your safety in mind. The unfortunate reality is that there are places where it is not safe to walk so it might be wise to consult a native before starting your trek.
The Starwalker logo (as seen in the upper left corner of each web page):
