CITY FLÂNEUR 城市漫遊

Have you ever strolled along our cityscape? I love to walk freely in the city in my leisure time without any companion, purpose, or even, without destination. Walter Benjamin, a German philosopher, called travellers like me as ‘flâneur’, a French word with basic meanings of a stroller. Charles Baudelaire, a French poet in 19th century, is undoubtedly a major representative of flâneur. He transformed his steps and sights into prose in his book “Le Spleen de Paris” to record the process of urbanisation in Paris at that time. Always bored by routine life? Why not stroll along and observe the city as a flâneur? Eventually, you will be able to discover the beauty of the city.

有多久沒放慢腳步在城市恣意漫遊？我可是這方面的專家，每逢假日總愛在城市蹓躂散步。這旅程沒有旅伴，沒有目的，更沒有目的地，想到某個有趣的地名，憶起某個久違的社區，便把地圖和紙筆塞進背包，起行出發。德國哲學家班雅明把這種旅者稱為城市漫遊者，而十九世紀的法國詩人波特萊爾更是當中佼佼者，他在《巴黎的憂鬱》把腳步和觀察化成詩句，紀錄城市人流如鰂的繁鬧百態，以至當年巴黎城市化過程的點點滴滴。總為枯燥的生活而納悶？平日不妨放輕腳步，甚至放下手中的屏幕，從城市漫遊者的角度留意四周光影，也許你就能發現城市的美好。