Setzen Sie auf Ihrem Spaziergang-Ing Schuhe!

Wenn Sie neu in Kanada (oder auch wenn Sie noch eine Weile hier gelebt), hier ist eine Chance, Ihre Heimatstadt kennen lernen and get some fresh air at the same time

Am Samstag,, May 1 and Sunday, Mai 2, cities across Canada are host­ing “Jane’s Walks,” a series of free neigh­bor­hood walk­ing tours.

Celebrating the legacy of Jane Jacobs (1916 – 2006), a noted urban­ist, activist, and author, Jane’s Walks inspire peo­ple to get to know their city — and each other — by get­ting out and walking.

Mehr als 60 cities world­wide, ein-schließlich 30 in Kanada, are hold­ing Jane’s Walks in 2010.

Jacobs was born in the U.S. but immi­grated to Canada in the 1960s. Her 1961 book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, intro­duced inno­v­a­tive, new ideas about urban development.

Jacobs cham­pi­oned cities that were higher den­sity and mixed-​​use but still walk­a­ble and human scale. Because of her belief that local res­i­dents should have input on how their neigh­bor­hoods develop, Jacobs encour­aged peo­ple to get bet­ter acquainted with their local com­mu­ni­ties.

Among the Canadian cities host­ing Jane’s Walks this year are:

• Vancouver
• Toronto
• Ottawa
• Montreal
• Calgary

Im vergangenen Jahr, I took an inter­est­ing Jane’s Walk though the Vancouver neigh­bor­hoods of Strathcona und Gastown that high­lighted those com­mu­ni­ties’ Jewish roots. Among other things, I learned that vaude­ville per­former Jack Benny met his future wife in the Ferrara Court build­ing on East Hastings Street. (Das Jewish Museum and Archives of B.C. hosts sim­i­lar walk­ing tours from June through August.)

For a com­plete list of 2010 Jane’s Walks across Canada, check the Jane’s Walk web­site.

Foto © Carolyn B. Heller