Psychogeography and the Dérive

The concept of psychogeography is a very interesting one especially for individuals who live their daily lives in a city. Dérive, defined by the situationists was, 'to notice the way in which certain areas, streets, or buildings resonate with states of mind, inclinations, and desires, and to seek out reasons for movement other than those for which an environment was designed.' So few of us take the time to just wander around the city without any destination. We are always planning out routes and stops along the way. The concept of just moving throughout a city and allowing its surroundings to influence where to go next is a concept that is difficult to grasp for me personally because I am so anal about knowing where I am going, what time I'll get there, what I'll be doing and so on. It would be very interesting to dedicate an entire day to simple exploration of the city. Documenting this with a video camera could turn in to a really interesting blog idea. If one blog dedicated to this idea alone encouraged individuals in major cities to document their personal experiences with a particular city, I think it would become a really interesting homage to places throughout the U.S.