Learning by walking
Jane’s Walk has had a profound impact on how I learn about my city. When I lived in Toronto I explored neighbourhoods I hadn’t spent much time in, ones I had only heard about, and the one where I had spent all of my adult life via Jane’s Walk.
A personal, often amateur tour of a neighbourhood’s history, ecology, culture and future has been the most memorable way I describe and consider a place. On Jane’s Walk Festival weekends in early May, I try to get out to as many walks as possible.
Janes Walk weekend is May 5,6,7 in 200+ cities around the world. Find, participate and lead your own walk at janeswalk.org.
My fascination culminated in a walk I hosted under Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway in the spring of 2015, in which 185 people, including a former mayor, joined myself and a group of experts to explore the opportunities of this massive waterfront space.
When I packed up my life in Toronto in December of 2015, I reflected on what was most important to me when I consider a place. What do I value in my neighbourhood? What sites do I most like to explore? This began my considerations for how I would learn about NYC.
Learning by Immersion
On a bout of funemployment in 2012, I aspired to watch live music every night for a week straight. It was a way to consider new artists and venues I wouldn’t normally encounter, and a way to expand my preferred listening beyond the artists I had become enamoured with in my 20s.
With this in mind, I wrote out an agenda for how I would discover NYC. I would take it in week-by-week, each week focused on a particular area of interest that would allow me to dive deep into a topic, become immersed in it’s community, learn and immediately execute on opportunities that make themselves available upon discovering something new.
My original timeline looked like this:
Week One: Parks
Week Two: Music
Week Three: People
Week Five: Spaces
Week Six: Views
Week Seven: Art
There’s a long and intermediate story here that pushed back my move to NYC by 18 months. Now, in May 2017, I’ve arrived in Brooklyn, have an apartment, and have settled into a new routine and life. And now I have a new plan for what NYC will bring.
If there’s anything I’ve learned from meeting people via dating, professionally, or community building opportunities, is that they love to t̶a̶l̶k̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶s̶e̶l̶v̶e̶s̶ share what their interests and passions are.
This is where I came up with the idea of walking tours to learn about NYC.
Everyone’s an expert at their own life.
I’ve shared brief outlines about my interests, but want to stay open-minded about the opportunities that exist within a place. I minimize the amount of framing I provide for a walk.
Walking NYC
When asking someone for something like this, I try to frame my request correctly. How I ask people to show me their fave neighbourhood:
- It’s an opportunity to hangout.
- Plant the seed in their head so they have time to think about it.
- Frame it as an expert opinion.
With this template by my side, below are my walks to date. I’ll write about each and share some thoughts on the model as time passes. Come explore NYC with me.
Lower East Side with Rebecca Peel
March 25, 2017
Park Slope, Prospect Park & Prospect Heights with Claire Nelischer
April 15th, 2017
Battery Park, World Trade Centre & Staten Island Ferry
April 16th, 2017
Gowanus Canal, Gowanus, Gowanus Bay with the Gowanus Dredgers
April 23rd, 2017
Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge Park & Brooklyn Heights Promenade
April 30th, 2017
Ferry Inauguration: East River, Williamsburg, Long Island City, Upper East Side via NYC Ferry with Sam Utne
May 1, 2017
[Jane’s Walk] Midnight Moment: A Marvelous Order with
May 5th, 2017
[Jane’s Walk] Community Land Trusts, Environmental Justice and Hyper Gentrification in the South Bronx with South Bronx Unite
May 6th, 2017
[Jane’s Walk] The future sea level in lower Manhattan with Catherine McVay Hughes and City Atlas
May 6th, 2017
[Jane’s Walk] Randall’s Island: The City Within the City with the Randall’s Island Park Alliance
May 7th, 2017
[Jane’s Walk] Alexander Hamilton and George Washington: New York City and the American Revolution with Bruce Racond
May 7th, 2017
#partybusam: Sam Utne’s Open Roof Tour Bus Party with Sam Utne and Molly Sonteng
May 16, 2017
Harriman State Park, Appalachian Trail & Tuxedo, NY with Miriam Kelly
May 28, 2017
Flushing Meadows Corona Park with Tony Hancock, Dave Harvey
June 3 — June 10, 2017
Governor’s Island with Dave Harvey & Park People
June 11, 2017
