How do I bring Jane's Walk to my town?

How Jane's Walk Works for Local Organizers

“No one can find what will work for our cities by looking at …suburban garden cities, manipulating scale models, or inventing dream cities. You’ve got to get out and walk.”

- Jane Jacobs, author & urban visionary

Jane’s Walk Vision

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

What is Jane’s Walk

Jane’s Walk is an international initiative based in Toronto that began in 2007. The event is expanding rapidly across North America and beyond with some towns offering one tour and others dozens.

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.

Jane’s Walk Principles

As always, 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 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. 

Jane’s Walk Basics

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.

Local organizers of Jane’s Walk are provided with the administrative resources, infrastructure, network and inspiration to organize great community-led walking tours that energize local residents.

Jane’s Walks are best organized by a broad network of people and groups who share a common concern for making cities more livable but a spectrum of approaches and observations about the neighbourhood, the city, the past and future are welcomed. As with all community organizing, the wider the network, the lighter the organizational load for everyone.

Jane’s Walks are a walking conversation. Tour guides lead the conversation with interesting insights and stories about their neighbourhood, but also encourage people to share their own opinions and observations. Participants really enjoy the opportunity to meet neighbours face to face and hear each others’ ideas.

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 Jane’s Walk partners should be inclusive, diverse and accessible, 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. Organizers are expected to solicit tour leaders as well – people often need a personal invitation and encouragement to step forward. 

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.

The Jane’s Walk audience includes:

  • Anyone who enjoys getting to know their city and neighbours.
  • People who want to participate in meaningful conversations about the social and built future of their neighbourhoods.
  • People engaged in the work of building cohesive communities and improving the walking environment.
  • People who want to change their cities and neighbourhoods, for example to narrow the gap between the haves and have-nots in our cities and towns.
  • Youth and children who experience the impact of current transportation choices disproportionately, but who are rarely consulted on their aspirations for walking or cycling.

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.

If you want to organize Jane’s Walk in your city, town or neighbourhood:

Please drop Executive Director Jane Farrow a line to indicate your interest

416-642-5779

www.janeswalk.net