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by coldtea
3693 days ago
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>I don't know anything about Atlanta but in Arizona, per parent comment's story, for example, it's strange to see people walking around because it's way too hot in 80% of the state to walk around for leisure. I don't think it has anything to do with the temperature. You see tons of people walking around in cities in equally hot or hotter climates, from Cairo to the tropics... |
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ORIGINAL: You're overlooking a lot of important factors.
Distance: I highly doubt people in Cairo are walking 10+ miles to the nearest market.
Attire: If walking around in the summer in Arizona raises suspicion, I cringe to imagine what suspicions would be raised by doing so in long flowing robes that cover skin head to toe.
Sweat: In my experience in the tropics, being a bit sweaty is quite normal and acceptable. In The South (the southeast) it seems more acceptable, but in the dry Arizona desert, it's not quite normal to be drenched in sweat.
Air conditioning: AC is everywhere in Arizona. As such, the mode of survival is getting from AC to AC as quickly as possible. If AC weren't everywhere, people would probably find sweat more acceptable, but... it is.
Skin tone: I'm pasty white and was born and raised in Arizona. In my travels to the tropics I never once ran into a person as white as me who enjoyed walking in the heat.
All of these together make walking pretty rare. Sure, if people didn't have another option besides walking you'd have a population of fit, well-tanned Arizonians all over the streets. Markets would probably be built closer to homes and suburbs would shrink. People wouldn't need cars and would probably be more comfortable without AC 24/7. As a result, a bit of sweatiness would come to be expected and wouldn't be a source of self-awareness. But that's not the reality of that region.