Is Jane's Walk on your screen?

If you haven't heard of Jane's Walks, it's time you did...

This coming weekend (May 1&2) is the focal point of this emerging movement. This is the fourth annual  Jane’s Walk, a series of free neighbourhood walking tours that explore the collective history, architecture, planning and personalities of particular locales. A Canadian innovation that's going global, last year’s walk saw more than 10,000 walkers explore 315 tours across Canada, the United States and India; this year’s adds walks in Ireland, Uruguay and Spain.

Celebrating the legacy of Jane Jacobs, the foremost urban thinker of recent times, Jane’s Walks inspire citizens to get to know their city and each other by getting out and walking. Jacobs famously declared that walkable, diverse and mixed used neighborhoods are the hallmark of a healthy city and its people.

“For Jane Jacobs, the best way to get to know the city and the neighbours was on foot,” says Jane Farrow, executive director of Jane’s Walk. “Jacobs encouraged everyone to just get out and look around, to walk the sidewalks and talk about what they thought needed to happen to make their neighbourhood better.”

“When it comes to improving their own neighbourhoods, people are often isolated or unaware of others who may share their interests,” Farrow adds. “Jane’s Walk helps bridge these gaps and encourages people to gain new perspectives on the sidewalks they use for the basic tasks of daily life – tasks like shopping, getting to school and work.”

Volunteer tour guides, ranging from aspiring municipal candidates to urban planners to recent immigrants and high school students, customize their tours with personal stories, local perspectives and insider hideaways to help bridge social and geographic gaps and create a space for cities to discover themselves.

For us missional church-types this is a brilliant opportunity to investigate our neighbourhoods with other people who are concerned about similar issues. Find your city & neighbourhood on their website. If there is no walk for your area, maybe you should think about organizing one yourself next year.