Jane’s Walks

Jane’s Walk 2010:
Help us take New Orleanians Eyes to the Street

We are writing to invite you to participate in an event here in New Orleans on Saturday May 1, 2010.

It is called Jane’s Walk.

http://janeswalkusa.wordpress.com/

It is a simple and elegant formula: cities around North America are taking one day — around the birthday of legendary urbanist Jane Jacobs — to host a series of local walks that encourage local people and visitors alike to notice the city around them. In her 1961 classic The Death and Life of American Cities, Jacobs coined the phrase ‘eyes on the street’ as a critical component of creating livable and dynamic cities. Jane’s Walk is a tangible way to promote that principle.

We are hoping you might consider hosting a walk in a neighborhood of your choice. The walk can be themed around something that interests you (laneways? Housing types? Local watering holes? Let your imagination go here…)

Last year was our first to have Jane’s Walks in New Orleans, and we hosted more walks than any other US city! We encourage groups to host their walks during the cooler times in the day (early morning or evening).

Would you be willing to lead a walk? If so, here is what we need from you.

A meeting place and time for your walk.
A short (one paragraph is fine) about the tone/content/flavor of your walk.
A short sentence on you.

Some logistics.

You can lead this walk alone or with others.
We suggest you plan on 90 minutes as the maximum length.
All walks are free.
Information about walks will be posted various websites and local media
Walks can take place anytime Saturday, May 1.
We are hopeful most walks will be fully accessible to persons with mobility challenges—but if you anticipate any physical challenges on your walk, please include that in your description.

Another one of Jacob’s principles was that cities are best known and understood by the people who live and work in them. We are all experts. So we encourage you to offer a walk and share with others what you know to be true about your city and how it works. You will attract walkers who will also know things, and during the walk we encourage you to open the dialogue and solicit the observations of everyone.

We hope you will be able to participate with us on May 1 to celebrate New Orleans and the legacy of Jane Jacobs.

Helping to coordinate Jane’s Walk in New Orleans is The New Orleans Institute at City-Works. www.theneworleansinstitute.org and www.city-works.org.

For more information please contact Jessica Halem Jessica@theneworleansinstitute.org.