There is an interesting piece in the Atlantic's Cities: Place Matter site about walking and eye contact with strangers.

The article cites a study involving an experiment where a woman on a college campus either makes eye contact, smiles and makes eye contact, or stares right through a fellow passing pedestrian.

Within a minute of the interaction, a second study member would ask the passing pedestrian - unaware that the eye contact or lack thereof was staged - a series of questions on how connected they felt to society.

Not surprisingly, pedestrians who had received eye contact reported the highest sense of connection to their community. Those who had been stared right through had the highest sense of disconnection (and higher than the control group).

The Atlantic Cities author conducted his own experiment in Washington, DC on his walk to work. Only 12.5% of people acknowledged his attempt to make eye contact. From my experience walking around Portland, I think the rate would be higher here.

Of course, there are many reasons people might not want to make eye contact with strangers, but in general, Portland is still a pretty friendly place. One of walking's great attributes is the ability to enjoy your surroundings and experience the place as opposed to simply going through it. 

Graph courtesy of Eric D. Wesselmann, Purdue University.

The Rose Festival is in full swing, punctuated by the arrival today at Tom McCall Waterfront Park of US Navy ships. This is quite a site, but if you use Waterfront Park as part of your commute route, expect delays and possible detours due to heightened security.

Naito Boulevard provides a parallel route to much of Waterfront Park. Pedestrians should note that there is only a continuous sidewalk on the west side of Naito.

For more information: http://www.rosefestival.org/events/fleet/#

Photo courtesy of the Portland Rose Festival

PORTLAND, Ore.- Llewellyn Kidical Mass evolved from the morning bike train organized by Philip Krain and Dean Hanel with a lots of great help and support from the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood bike families. Both the Portland Kidical Mass organization and the national one helped inspire the Wednesday's event and hopefully ones in the future.

Kidical Mass is an excellent way to safely have fun, be visible to the community and promote the idea of kids on bikes on streets. It's a FUN bike ride for kids, kids at heart, and their families. All types of bikes, trailers, bakfiets, Long Johns, tandems, trikes, wagons and whatever rolls are welcome! Come hoot it up with us.

Why do the ride? To celebrate the fact that Kids are Traffic Too. For family fun on vehicles that don't hurt the future! Another excuse to pedal with your family