I’ve just moved back to the Bay Area with the intention of settling down after years of ecstatic mobility. In recent years, I’ve learned the immense importance of rootedness, stable relationships, and community. But having flitted about for nearly nine years, I haven’t exactly been keeping up my community-building skills. I’ve been meaning to knock on my neighbors’ doors for the last month. I’ve been meaning to explore the local farmers’ market that’s half a block away. I’ve been meaning to look for funky little art galleries and playhouses in my neighborhood, a community garden I can join, and a local Unitarian church. And while Google and Yelp helped me with my initial research, they were not able to propel me out the door. Unable to plow through this mental block alone, I’ve thought to myself, “I wish there were someone to hold my hand and lead the way.”

Through my work at New Village Press, I’ve discovered an organization that does just that. The Press is currently partnering with The Center for the Living City (CLC) - a New York City-based, educational non-profit – on a collection of original essays re-envisioning the work of activist and self-taught urbanist Jane Jacobs for the present day. This book, What We See, is the sister project to the CLC’s ongoing, international series of neighborhood tours - Jane’s Walk.

In collaboration with Toronto’s Centre for City Ecology (CCE), Jane’s Walk was established in 2007 to both honor the memory of Jane Jacobs and continue her legacy. Jacobs (1916-2006) was best known for her opposition to Robert Moses’ car-centered, Urban Renewal policies in 1960s New York City. She lead a grassroots movement advocating for the rights of the low-income communities that were to be destroyed by the construction of Moses’ Lower Manhattan Expressway. Her ability to organize and her compelling arguments led to cancellation of its construction.

In addition to grassroots organizing, Jacobs penned a number of seminal texts on urban planning, economic theory, and their relationship to the environment; among these publications were The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The Nature of Economies, The Economy of Cities, and Dark Age Ahead. All of her work – both theoretical and applied – emphasized the interconnection of communities, ecologies, and economies, and promoted a participatory, community-based approach to urban planning. She particularly valued the simple acts of walking and observing as means to engage in the project of community – that is, she championed a kind of engaged Flaneurism.

Jane’s Walk was established the year after Jacobs died to put into practice her ideas about ground-up community building. The walks are meant to connect community members with each other and with their neighborhoods, instill a sense of place in community members, stimulate local economies, and generate discussion within communities about failed and successful urban planning policies.

The walks are free to the public and led by local community members (some of whom are resident business owners, historians, politicians and architects). In fact, anyone can lead a walking tour; tour guides need only register their planned route and the theme of their walk at http://janeswalkusa.org/create-your-own-walk so the CLC can post it on its website.

Jane’s Walk has become so popular that it has spread to 19 cities within Canada, 19 cities in the U.S., and even two cities in India. Lucky for me, it has extended its reach to my neighborhood; Lynne, New Village Press’s director, will be leading a Jane’s Walk in Oakland’s Temescal District on Saturday, May 2^nd. Finally, I have a hand to hold, and a clear way to connect with my community.

For more information on Lynne’s walk, keep your eye peeled for New Village Press’s upcoming newsletter, or check out her entry on the Jane’s Walk website: http://www.janeswalkusa.org/janes-walk-oakland. And for more information on Jane’s Walk in other communities visit http://janeswalkusa.org or http://www.janeswalk.net/.

I hope to see you at Lynne’s house the weekend after next!

-Pepper