What a Crosswalk Reveals About a City

The easiest way to understand how much a place and its people value life—urban and human

The crosswalk dichotomy is a symbol for why people like me can never fully integrate or belong in Spanish society.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m obsessed with this.

How drivers stop—instinctively, naturally, automatically—at crosswalks in Spain. At least in Valencia. Though I experience the same every time I’ve visited Barcelona.

I come from a place—California—where, when drivers see someone set to enter a crosswalk, they don’t stop. They speed up. And when they’re forced to stop, they often carry this dirty look of annoyance. As if, you’re at fault for slowing them down. Like you’re averaging down their lap time.

You might live in a place like that, too.