Jane’s Walk Vancouver returns with more than 30 locally led walking tours throughout the Lower Mainland

Hundreds of cities around the world, including Vancouver, are hosting Jane’s Walks starting on Thursday, in honour of the late writer, urbanist, and activist Jane Jacobs.

“She started in New York, but eventually moved to Toronto and did a lot of different activities that help promote community, help talk about how it really is the ordinary citizen that should be involved in shaping our cities and building our cities,” said Maria Jacome, one of the organizers of Jane’s Walk Vancouver.

“And when she passed away, some of her friends got together in Toronto and wanted to honour her legacy and started a walk. And it’s grown. I think there were three walks that first year [in 2007], and it’s grown to over 200 cities across the world now.”

There are more than three dozen Jane’s Walks planned for Metro Vancouver over the four-day festival, including Mansion-Only Zoning and the Future of Shaughnessy; Hogan’s Alley: A Walk to Reclaim Space; and Discovering Home: A Jane’s Walk on The Drive, among others.

“It’s really neat because there are people who have been inspired to do walks about the city,” said Jacome. “For example, there’s a poetry walk, so they’re reading poetry about the city. There’s a sketch walk where it’s about sketching our city.”

But the walks aren’t just limited to Vancouver.

“So, there’s two walks in Langley, one on Saturday morning, one on Sunday morning. There are two walks in New West, at Sapperton, on Friday evening. There’s a walk in Port Moody on Saturday afternoon. Another cool one is Steveston.”

Above all, Jacome says the event is completely volunteer-driven.

“Some of them are urban planners, some of them are architects, some of them are just ordinary citizens who just happen to live in the neighbourhood and has something to share or talk about,” she said.

“And what gets me more excited is, no matter what a walk leader has planned or if it’s a walk they’ve done in the past, it’s different every year.”

The festival is on through Sunday. You can find out more at janeswalkvancouver.ca.