Came across this interesting concept called Jane’s Walk, named after Jane Jacobs (1916-2006), an urbanist and activist, whose writings championed a fresh, community-based approach to city building.

More about the walk: Jane’s Walks are free, locally organized walking tours, in which people get together to explore, talk about and celebrate their neighbourhoods. Where more traditional tours are a bit like walking lectures, a Jane’s Walk is more of a walking conversation. Leaders share their knowledge, but also encourage discussion and participation among the walkers.

And who is this walk targeted at? According to the website, “Everyone knows something about where they live. Every perspective is important to building vibrant and healthy cities.”
This walk is intended for:
— 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.

You can also get involved as a volunteer, add your city or create a walk.

Sounds interesting? “Framing Shivaji Nagar through the eyes of Jane Jacobs“, led by Nithya Ramesh is the theme of the walk in Bangalore on May 4.

“On this photo walk, we’re not only going to look closely at our city, but also capture some of its scenes on camera.Since the walk is themed on Jane Jacobs’ ideologies, we’ll be paying attention to key concepts such as the ‘sidewalk ballet’, ‘eyes upon the street’ and many others from her book. Participants will be given a brief at the start point of the walk and will spend the next one and a half hours along the route for the walk taking pictures in line with the given brief. While on the walk, participants are welcome to  step into St. Mary’s church and observe the tamil mass and compare it to the musical service at St. Andrews church, peek into the parade grounds and the police canteen and join the walk leader for a discussion on community engagement in the city building process at Koshy’s.”

Reference: — Urban Design Collective