On one walk, youth were compelled to pick up trash and imagine the future of a fishing dock in their neighbourhood. Photo courtesy: Chelsea Gauthier.
CELEBRATE YOUR CITY! 2016 marks Jane Jacobs’ 100 year anniversary. We are gearing up for an exciting year celebrating our cities through Jane’s urban ecological lens. To see how you can be involved, visit janes100th. org. Consider celebrating your community with a gift to Jane by hosting or attending a walk. Your walk can focus around any topic; a place you value, fear, or are inspired by. We then urge you to take it a step further. What can you begin to do to preserve, change, or enhance the particular section of the urban ecosystem? See where the conversations take you as you listen and engage with others on your urban exploration to address the pressing issues, questions, and next steps that need to be taken in your community. We look forward to sharing these gifts to our cities around the world.
For more information on walks, visit janejacobswalk.org and Center for the Living City, centerforthelivingcity.org To join the 100th year Jane Jacobs’ Anniversary celebrations, visit janes100th.org #janes100th REFERENCES 1. Big Car Collaborative. “Jane Jacobs Walks”. 2015. Available at, http://www.bigcar.org/project/jw-janejacobs-walks/ 2. Jacobs, Jane. 1993. Death & Life Of Great American Cities, Modern Library Edition foreword 3. Lang, Glenna (2015) Interviewed by Chelsea Gauthier April 29. 4. Mohankumar, Vidhya. “Windows of Georgetown”. Urban Design Collective. 2013. Available at, http://issuu.com/ urbandesigncollective/docs/windows_of_georgetown-_ jane_jacobs_/17?e=11543008/7450583.
About the Author Chelsea Gauthier, Associate Director of the Center for the Living City, assists in managing the Jane Jacobs Walk program, community outreach, and other Center development. She holds a Master’s degree in City & Metropolitan Planning, a Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation, and a Bachelor’s in Urban Planning from the University of Utah. Chelsea’s interests and experience include urban ecology, environmental planning, historic preservation, and community engagement projects that create a platform for citizen activists to create change in their communities. She believes in the power of small scale interventions in cities to make big impacts within a community.
December 2015 | CITY OBSERVER
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