Jane’s Walk, a series of free walking tours that start Friday, is an annual event held to honor Jane Jacobs, whose ideas about urban development continue to guide urban planners and other city-lovers. Jacobs died in 2006, but her friends started the walks on her birthday weekend every year. They happen all over the world; in NYC, they’re organized by the Municipal Arts Society and anyone can sign up to lead a tour.
Jane’s Walks are informal tours, meant to spark discussion, not just lectures. There’s a map of them here. We see five on the UWS, including a walking tour of Riverside Park, a running tour of Central Park, a tour about the “hustle and bustle” of the Upper West Side, a drawing-mindful walking tour of Central Park and a “Wild Woman’s Walk on the Upper West Side,” that explores Central Park and the Dakota.
They’re free. And hopefully, the rain will let up for a while this weekend.
Images via Jane’s Walk.
Found out about these walks last year through WSR and loved it. It’s like a well-kept secret although many repeaters knew of it. Highly recommended. You think you know your neighborhood until you take one of these walks. Only wish they were offered more frequently.
Great…Jane Jacobs. Every time I drive down the HHP and hit another flooded crater, I think of the nice underground tunnel we could have had, if not for her mindless obstructionism. And she wasn’t even from the city.