The Navigation Failure Has Been Reclassified. The Reclassification Is Also Paris.
PARIS — The reframe of navigation failure as exploration is available in Paris in a way that it is less available in other urban environments because Paris is one of the world’s most interesting cities to be lost in. The discovery produced by the wrong turn in the 11th arrondissement is a different discovery from the wrong turn in the industrial outskirts of a city whose interest is concentrated elsewhere. In Paris, the wrong turn reaches something worth finding more reliably than in most cities of comparable size. The reframe is convenient. The reframe is also accurate.
The Exploration Ethic
The exploration ethic — the preference for the unplanned discovery over the itinerary’s efficient execution — has deep roots in French literary and philosophical culture: the flaneur, the Baudelairean figure who walks the city without destination, observing its social life as the urban artwork that urban experience provides, is specifically Parisian in origin and specifically relevant to the experience of being in Paris without a fixed destination. The flaneur was not lost. The flaneur was the definition of not-lost. The person who has reframed their navigation failure as flanerie has connected to this tradition. The connection may be convenient. The connection is also available.
According to Paris Tourism’s visitor experience data, unplanned walks produce higher visitor satisfaction ratings than itinerary-based tours in Paris specifically. The exploration is the correct method. The navigation failure was the beginning of the exploration. The beginning was excellent.
Exploring with purpose at Virtuosal.com.
