Walking forest in Suburbia: Becoming attentive

Walking allegedly fosters renewed attention to our surroundings. Becoming attentive to non-human others with whom we share life is also considered an ethical obligation in current scholarship responding to the ecological crisis. Based on a sustained practice of walking in the author’s suburban neighbourhood, this chapter investigates what ‘becoming attentive’ could mean. It presents three clusters of attentiveness – judging, connecting and responding – that emerged in close interaction with the landscape and other beings around. It shows that walking research has an itinerary of attentiveness and engagement that demands reflection, and that opens questions on how to give back the understanding received and how to sustain connections gained.