Jane’s Walks – 2026

Free

https://www.janeswalkottawa.ca/en/

Jane Jacobs was an urban planning theorist, whose 1961 book “The Life and Death of Great American Cities” is a book that anyone looking at cities had to define themselves alongside.  She theorized about diversity of space, pedestrian economy and the pace of change within neighborhoods, among many other things.  Jane’s Walk Ottawa organized 56 walking excursions across Ottawa in 2026, and I regrettably only managed to schedule one, as all of them near me were booked up within hours of when they opened.  There are Jane’s Walks in dozens of countries were people learn about the use of collective space and how the culture of modern cities affects us all.

I attended a walk that started in the Byward Market and looped round Rideau Street, through Major’s Hill Park, and up to the footsteps of Parliament. We learnt about parks and greenspaces, the width of footpaths, natural borders like the Ottawa River and Rideau Canal, as well as older and newer buildings, and their respective roles in street culture.  One recurring theme in this meditation on urbanism was the role of zoning authority, and how the decisions are made to open areas to residential, commercial or industrial use, and how those decisions affect the local culture on the street-level. 

This wasn’t so much a history-talk as it was an urban-planning-theory talk, though I found it interesting, because the theory can do a good job to contextualise the changes to the city from 1826 forward.  One thing that really stood out in my mind was the assertion that crowds are necessary for community, as opposed to empty streets.  Compare walking down a lonely road in Barhaven to a busy street in Westboro.  The culture and community, economy and options are rather different, and that’s one of the successes to older neighborhoods like the Glebe or New Edinburgh, compared to newer developments like Stittsville or Findley Creek.  I also think that the lack of eyes, of panopticon observation, that turned the Byward Market in an unobserved no-man’s-land during Covid, might be a part of why the area is so dodgy now.

All-in-all, I found the walk-and-talk to be informal and enjoyable.  I’m looking forward to next year!