So street wisdom is back in Paris after more than 100 years. Let me explain.
In the mid-nineteenth century a group of French artists and thinkers started turning to the city streets – rather than rural nature – for inspiration. So began the Flâneur movement – from ‘flâner‘, to stroll. Balzac described flânerie as “the gastronomy of the eye” – all about savouring the urban landscape. Baudelaire describes how the flâneur’s “passion and his profession are to become one flesh with the crowd. Thus the lover of universal life enters into the crowd as though it were an immense reservoir of electrical energy.”
Sounds like he had experienced Street Wisdom!
We didn’t consciously decide to continue this tradition when we set up our venture 3 years ago. But during this Parisian event, leading a group of 25 fearless inspiration seekers through the streets of the City of Light, Mel and I both felt the ghosts of the Flâneurs looking down and wishing us ‘bon voyage’.