Jane's Walk Update

Since I first brought up the "Jane's Walk" idea, there's been a bit more buzz and talk about it,on this blog, Rust Wire and Null Space including several people interested in guiding a walk or helping in some way.

The official "Jane's Walks" are held in early May in cities and towns across mainly North America, so there's plenty of time to plan things out.

The central site's for info are:

Jane's Walk USA
JanesWalk.Net

All walks are free and there are no limits to how many a city can have.

Here's the comment I left on Rust Wire

"If I had to pick one walk, I think choosing an area with a variety of positive and negative issues might be best. For example, a functional or semi functional neighborhood divided by a major highway or a functional street grid cut off by a senseless mega block office park or even a poorly thought out park.

Also from my general knowledge, the issue of minimal concentration and population density is a big issue like it is on Pittsburgh’s North Side and Hill District both of which have big troubles supporting a supermarket, shopping district or mass transit.(even though both once had thriving shopping areas)

Remember, some of Death & Life’s chapter titles.

The uses of sidewalks: safety
The uses of sidewalks: contact
The uses of neighborhood parks
The uses of city neighborhoods
The need for mixed primary uses
The need for small blocks
The need for aged buildings
The need for concentration
The curse of border vacuums
Gradual money and cataclysmic money
Erosion of cities or attrition of automobiles

Sadly, I think in both Pittsburgh and Cleveland the best plan might be to walk the streets with a really old person with a memory of their neighborhoods before they were “improved” by government highways and politically organized mega projects.

Stay tuned, it looks like this will happen.