Thank you!

The Basics for Jane’s Walk Tour Guides

You have just signed up to lead a Jane’s Walk – congratulations. We’ll be posting your walk in the next 48 hours. In the meantime we hope you join the tour guide discussion forum to get connected with a growing community of tour guides from across North America and the world CLICK HERE.

We also hope that you take a look at this outline of the basic principles of Jane’s Walk so you can get familiar with our organization and objectives.

Thanks so much for getting involved and sharing your passion for your neighbourhood – the walkers will love you for it.

Jane’s Walk Vision

Walkable neighbourhoods, urban literacy, cities planned for and by people.

Jane’s Walk is an international initiative based in Toronto that began in 2007 and is held annually on the first weekend of May. The event is expanding rapidly across North America and internationally with some towns offering one tour and others dozens.

People face a complex array of challenges and hazards in our social and built environments. The decline in physical health is a problem that is exacerbated by our reliance on mechanical modes of transportation that burden our environment and infrastructure. When it comes to making improvements to the livability and vibrancy of neighbourhoods, people are often isolated or unaware of others who may share their interests. Jane’s Walk helps bridge these gaps and encourages people to explore the sidewalks they use for the basic tasks of daily life – tasks like shopping, getting to school and work. 

Jane’s Walk Principles

Jane’s Walk is a series of free neighbourhood walking tours that help put people in touch with their environment and with each other. The Walks are held annually on the first weekend of May to coincide with the birthday of writer Jane Jacobs who championed the interests of local residents and pedestrians over a car-centered approach to city planning.

All Jane’s Walk tours are given and taken for free. The walks are led by anyone who has an interest in a neighbourhood where they live, work or hang out. They offer a personal take on the local culture, the social history and the planning issues faced by residents. They are not always about architecture.  Jane’s Walks work best as walking conversations, with lots of personal observations and examples. Jane Jacobs believed strongly that local residents understood best how their neighbourhood works and what is needed to strengthen and improve them. 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 often takes Jane Jacobs’ ideas to communities unfamiliar with her ideas, in order to advance local engagement with contemporary urban planning practices.  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. 

Logistics

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.

A key principle of Jane’s Walk is that it is self-organizing and self-selecting.  Anyone can sign up to give a walk by getting in touch with local organizers via the web, phone or email. 

Tour guides don’t have to be familiar with Jane Jacobs’ work to lead a tour, but we encourage people to find out more by reading her books or consulting our website for more links and primers on her ideas.

Local organizers should be open to whatever concepts people come up with for walking tours, the more personal and idiosyncratic the better, although they should not be used simply for personal or professional gain, promotional or otherwise.

Attribution

All organizers and tour guides must include a mention or logo of Jane’s Walk during the event or on any signage, flyers, websites or other materials related to the event. 

Non-profit Orientation

Jane’s Walks are given and taken for free. No participant, tour guide 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. 

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.