Organize Jane’s Walk in Your City

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Organize Jane’s Walk in Your City

Jane’s Walkers in Calgary

“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”— Jane Jacobs, ‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities’

Get Your Neighbourhood Talking
Jane’s Walk is a fun, engaging international event that is easy to organize and has enormous benefits for cities and towns, neighbours and neighbourhoods. Local organizers can offer just one walk or dozens – you decide how big or small you want to make your Jane’s Walk event.

“Jane’s Walk is an interesting, easy and effective engagement tool—simple ask, no cost, big response from community. People were thrilled that hundreds of others were taking part in the walks across Canada” – Guelph Organizers

“The event is growing and diversifying as more people learn about it and as people gain a deeper appreciation for what a Jane’s Walk can do and be. We are expanding our reach into the suburbs – particularly those that are transitioning into inner-city neighbourhoods – and into geographically isolated neighbourhoods that tend to be stigmatized by the rest of the city but are demonstrably a source of pride to their residents.” - Calgary organizer

Walkers, guides and organizers say that Jane’s Walk is a great opportunity to build social bridges over the geographic, economic and cultural barriers that often divide our cities and towns. By learning about each other’s lives through sharing our experiences and environments, Jane’s Walk fosters understanding and a sense of belonging, knitting people together from diverse backgrounds into a strong and resourceful community.

Simple and Easy
Jane’s Walks can be thrown together in a matter of days - you decide you want to do a walk, you plan out a route, write up a description of the tour, set a meeting location and time, and get the word out to friends, locals, stakeholders - it can be that simple. Halifax, Windsor, Berlin, Peterborough and Sault Ste Marie have all held Jane’s Walks events that came together in a matter of days. The walks there were casual, friendly and enjoyable for all.

“Networks were certainly strengthened by doing the walk. We saw people who don’t normally participate in club outings come out to experience the park and the urban space and catch up with others. Some folks went out for brunch together afterwards.” - local organizer, Peterborough

Alternatively, Jane’s Walk can be organized by a group of people, community groups, or networks of groups who share common concerns for livable cities, neighbourhood engagement, walkability, and so on. Some groups plan out the walks, the schedule, the volunteer effort for months in advance. In Ottawa, for instance, organizers meet weekly in a community centre and work together to program the walks, translate the materials, manage their own website and do lots of local promotion.

The same sort of approach holds in cities like Winnipeg and Montreal. Some small cities have a large number of walks, like Guelph and Regina. Some organizers report that having a big social big social at a pub or community centre where everyone, including kids, can congregate really brings the event together and builds even more belonging. And in other places, the tours come together a bit more independently with walk leaders having some contact with each other, but organizers focus most of their time and effort planning their own walk and getting the word out. However it comes together, Jane’s Walk has flourished without attendant burnout and monetary outlay - almost all events are put together by volunteers, or benefit from sponsorship and support inside the host organizations.

“Unbelievable response here in Winnipeg, in spite of cool temperatures including snow. What an incredible event! The tours were engaging, full of current and past history and talk of changes that are on the way. The best part was when the guides shared stories about what they like to do in their neighbourhood and the important things that matter in their lives. Their affection for the area was clearly evident and it made the tours really fun and interesting. “- Winnipeg Organizers

“It was hands down one of the best examples of community development that I have seen. We had a very large, very respectful, and insightful crowd. It was an awesome day.” - St. Jamestown tour guide, Toronto

Building Your Network and Self-Organization
Jane’s Walk is a highly adaptable and flexible program - you decide what level of organization and effort you want to put into it. Regardless of the size of your event, a core principle of Jane’s Walk is that it is self-organizing and self-selecting. Organizers are expected to develop their own programming and walking tours, promote it locally, and solicit feedback from participants.

“Halifax is undergoing a lot of change at the moment — buildings going down and others going up. Many of the storefronts on Barrington Street are unoccupied with papered up windows. Because Halifax urban history can seem fleeting at times — disappearing around us — it was really powerful to have an older woman join the walk who has had experience with homeless people, shelters, and the gay community. She had the inside scoop on what had happened in various places — an underground knowledge of the city streets that is hard to pass on without a personal connection. Some of her stories included that of a homeless man who lived in a cemetery for several years, a gay bar that used to reside in the Khyber building, and an old tradition where street people would gather to drink tea with the nuns in the building on the corner of Barrington and Spring Garden Road.” – local organizer, Halifax

Outreach and Inclusivity
Tour guides and volunteers are really the motivating force of Jane’s Walk - if they’ve got the intiative, they’ll deliver the programming. That said, local organizers are expected to expected to solicit tour leaders and not just wait for anyone to sign up – people often need a personal invitation and encouragement to step forward. Local Jane’s Walk partners should be inclusive and diverse, welcoming anyone and everyone to participate in the walks and reaching out to people from every neighbourhood of the city or town to encourage participation. Jane’s Walks are creative and distinctive, we like to be open to whatever concepts people come up with for walking tours, the more personal and idiosyncratic the better. That said, Jane’s Walks should not be used for personal or professional gain, promotional or otherwise.

Jane’s Walks are a walking conversation.
“The youth got a huge amount out of leading the walk, they are changed by it. They have more confidence and say ‘hello’ now to everyone. They couldn’t believe they could stand up and speak in front of 100 people, and now they know they can.” - Toronto tour guide

“The walk brought together people from far and wide, young and old, and helped empower us to work together to keep our communities strong. For instance, as we were walking by the old school (closed in 1992), a teenage boy asked what the government was going to do with the building. No one seemed to know. After silence and murmurs, the boy said out loud ‘well, WE should do something then.’ And it was really a moment when I saw the magic of Jane Jacobs. All the members in the crowd seemed to agree that we had to do something before the school was just allowed to be torn down or get dilapidated. This was where a lot of people chose to stop to talk or go for a coffee nearby. We promised eachother that we would somehow, as a group, find out what our options are for the school. Thank you for bringing Jane’s great ideas to people far and wide.” - local organizer, Coboconk

What kind of support do organizers get?
The Jane’s Walk national office in Toronto provides important structural and administrative support to all local partners. We have only been around for four years and, like the organizations that put on Jane’s Walks, are getting by on limited resources. That said we do our best to connect people, answer requests, get materials developed and delivered, and be a cheerleader that helps organizers move through the steps of putting their event together. We keep in touch through email listservs, a Facebook organizers page and by phone. We help out a lot with the website, posting programming and updates or troubleshooting with organizers. We orchestrate a national publicity campaign and provide organizers with a basic website page on our site that promotes your event and schedule.

We provide you with the basics of what you need to organize and promote your event: A press release that can be filled in with local information; poster and postcard templates that you can adapt to local uses; electronic copies of Jane’s Walk logos and photographs from past events; tips for tour guides and organizers; and a community walking tour teaching curriculum that shows you how to involve groups and individuals (of all ages) in your tour programming.

“Helps connect people, places and events, including individual histories, memories, and experiences. And this adds layers which makes a richer urban fabric.” - Marinha Fernandes, Mumbai, India local organizer

“Follow up activities in Peterborough include the group deciding to approach the Public Works department to figure out a shared community approach to clearing the park pond for shinny hockey in the winter with people saying ‘Let’s make better use of this park in all the seasons.’” – local organizer, Peterborough

Jane’s Walk Principles and Vision
• Jane’s Walk honours the legacy and ideas of urban activist and writer Jane Jacobs who championed the interests of local residents and pedestrians over a car-centered approach to planning.
• Jane’s Walk helps knit people together into a strong and resourceful community, instilling belonging and encouraging civic leadership.
• We promote walkable neighbourhoods, urban literacy and cities planned for and by people.
• All Jane’s Walks are given and taken for free.
• The main Jane’s Walk event takes place annually on the first weekend of May, to coincide with Jane Jacobs’ birthday.
• Jane’s Walks can be organized and offered any other time of the year by enthusiastic local people or organizations, although the first weekend in May is the event to which the Jane’s Walk organization devotes its energies and resources.
• Tour guides lead the conversation with interesting insights and stories about their neighbourhood, but also encourage people to share their own opinions and observations.
• Jane’s Walk encourages an environment where people choose to walk, not merely as a recreational option, but as a viable and enjoyable way to improve health and increase social cohesion.
• Jane’s Walk helps pedestrians by providing a simple walkability tool kit, available on our website, which gives the basic tools for recognizing, discussing and improving local walking conditions.
• Jane’s Walk often takes Jane Jacobs’ ideas to communities unfamiliar with her ideas, in order to advance local engagement with contemporary urban planning practices.

Short History of Jane’s Walk
Since it’s inception in 2007, Jane’s Walk has happened in 68 cities including Toronto, New York, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Salt Lake City, Washington, San Francisco, Boston, Winnipeg, Halifax, Guelph and Regina. In 2009 we officially went international with one tour in Mumbai. Over 10,000 people took part in the 2010 Jane’s Walk offering a total of 424 walking tours. In 2011 Jane’s Walk grew to 511 walks in 75 cities worldwide, with almost 20,000 people out walking with us.

Attribution
All organizers and tour guides must include a mention or logo of Jane’s Walk during or on any event signage, flyers, websites or other materials related to the event. Non-profit groups, collectives, individuals, governmental agencies, unincorporated groups or associations may form partnerships with Jane’s Walk and place their logos, brands on promotional and media materials.

Non-profit Orientation
Jane’s Walks are given and taken for free. No participant or organizer may charge for Jane’s Walks or use the Jane’s Walk event or logo to make specific offers of good or services that are for sale or will result in making profits for themselves or their groups. Local fundraising efforts for the support of the promotion and organizing of the event is encouraged, but cannot result in the collection of money from Jane’s Walk walk participants during any tour or walk. Clarifications on this policy can be sought by contacting Jane’s Walk and getting written consent on any fundraising efforts.

Release of Liability
Participation in Jane’s Walk is open and undertaken at your own risk. You will be acting independently of Jane’s Walk, it’s staff, advisors, directors, volunteers, funders, assigns and partners, none of whom are liable for your actions. By participating in Jane’s Walk you voluntarily and entirely assume the risk of injury to yourself or others, assume all legal liability related to your Jane’s Walks tours and events, and agree to indemnify and hold harmless Jane’s Walk and its employees, officers, directors, members, volunteers, agents, assigns and partners. You also agree to obey the law and the directives of any duly-authorized law enforcement officer.

Community Walks Program
Jane’s Walk has developed a program to help groups create walking tours using a social mapping curriculum adaptable to many ages and interests. It is available free of charge to anyone on our website. In Toronto, this Community Walks program has built partnerships in neighbourhoods that face shared challenges, including increasing racial and economic marginalization, and limited access to social services, schools, transit, housing and employment. A special focus on the city’s inner suburbs/priority neighbourhoods, often considered unwalkable or even unsafe, highlighted the creativity of these diverse communities outside the downtown core in dealing with their existing walking environment. Guides and walkers explored strip malls now filled with community centres, visited independent shops and restaurants, and learned from youth and other residents about the best hangout spots for local food, green space, people-watching and meeting friends. For more information on the Community Walks Program, contact our .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

“I work for the city and I have found Jane’s Walks to be extremely valuable in helping me do my job. You sit behind your desk and work all day but you don’t necessarily get the chance to get out and meet the people you’re working for. It’s eye-opening and these walks give us a depth of feeling and understanding that you can’t get any other way.” – Toronto walker

Jane’s Walk in Schools
The Jane’s Walk School Edition was launched in 2008 using a modified social mapping curriculum used by community groups. Students from grades 6 to 12 created guided tours of their school’s neighbourhood that were fascinating and entertaining. Tours featured insider explorations of the local Jain Temple, puppet plays about condo developments, ghost stories, tours of “off-limits spaces” (for example, boys and girls washrooms), and thoughtful discussions of post-war suburbs, traffic planning, hydro fields and infrastructure.

Junior Jane’s Walks have also been held - this was a simple walk done with students in grades 1 - 3 where they went out on a walk, with clipboards and ‘Jane Jacobs glasses’ to ‘make observations’ about stuff in their neighbourhood - like sidewalks, playgrounds, curbs, traffic signs, bike lanes, gardens, dog walkers and so on.

The school curriclum is available on our website free of charge to any and all interested teachers and students - it is flexible and adaptable to a range of ages and interests.

Contact info
For further information about bringing Jane’s Walk to your city or town, please get in touch with us:
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“We did the walks in French and English, choosing not to provide simultaneous translation which is annoying and time consuming. We found it best to just let people talk in English and/or French as they preferred. If someone needed translation, someone did it for them. When groups were too big, sometimes it was better to divide into two groups, one English, one French.” – local organizer, Montreal

“Participants from each of the six Jane’s Walks praised the work of each of our guides. Our walks engaged with a great range of Jane Jacob’s issues – local history and stories, contemporary neighbourhood strengths and concerns, the impact of urban design forms, ways to densify that increase livability & walkability, and the importance of resident involvement in these conversations & decisions.” – Calgary