Back in 2013 our Talking Walking podcast series celebrated his Fifth anniversary.  We sought ways to make more people aware of the incredible archive of interviews of people passionate about walking that we had already recorded and published. So we went back to those interviewees and invited them to submit a Five-year walking forecast.  This proved remarkably popular, not just amongst the interviewees, but in bringing new people to discover Talking Walking.

Back in January this year we were thinking about ways in which we could get our 100+ interviewees involved once again promoting and drawing attention to their work in which walking is their catalyst.  Just the year “2020” got us thinking creatively,  about 20×20 Vision so we dropped a line to each of them inviting them to take part.

However the COVID pandemic kicked in very soon afterwards and understandably, rather more pressing issues than predicting the future of walking, appeared on everyone’s radar.  What we didn’t anticipate however, was the way in which the pandemic would cause governments across the world to restrict the movement of people so drastically, and that through “lockdowns” movement was restricted not just internationally but also on a local scale.   More people were walking more often in their local neighbourhoods, and our day-to-day lives were considerably altered, to such an extent, that these personal changes might have a greater and longer lasting effect on ‘normality’.  Might there be a chink of light, that maybe one day soon, that we all become less car-dependent and the world might change for the better for those of us on foot?

So last month we went back to those interviewees and invited them to submit their 20×20 Visions for what the world of walking might be like in 2040 and we’ve had a fantastic response as you can discover on the Talking Walking website

Country Walking Magazine are running a lead feature on these 20×20 Visions, with their own deputy editor, Nick Hallissey submitting his own 20×20 Vision.  We are hoping that many of their readers, and those of you reading this blog post, will contribute too – simply follow the instructions you find here.

Every Thursday during December 2020 and January 2021, will be publishing at least two 20×20 Visions on the Talking Walking website – you can keep up-to-date by subscribing to our newsletter or by following us on Twitter @museumofwalking – and we hope we will be listening to your own 20×20 Vision soon too.