Let’s get walking

Jane’s Walk is an annual festival of free, citizen-led walking conversations inspired by writer, urbanist, and activist Jane Jacobs. Jane Jacobs was a prolific journalist and urbanist who made a profound difference in steering Toronto towards liveability and sustainability, and so the Jane’s Walk Festival commemorates this by encouraging citizens to explore the city they live in. Our goal was to promote and create material to support volunteers for a successful festival.

I volunteered as part of the communications team for Jane’s Walk Toronto. The 2015 festival, taking place in several neighbourhoods throughout Toronto, would not have been possible without the tireless commitment of hundreds of volunteers and citizens. As the back of house support, we provided graphics collateral for our citizen-led walking tours. We also provided support for promoting the festival through social and local media, the Walkshop Series featuring some of the city’s most renowned urbanists and community-builders, and the festival launch party.

For one of the Walkshop Series walks, Jane’s Walk invited former Toronto mayor John Sewell. Mayor Sewell was part of the so-called Reform Council of the 1970s that radically changed the process of urban development in the city, protecting neighbourhoods, encouraging citizen participation, reshaping and rethinking the downtown core, and building affordable housing. For the promotional poster, I chose to include a signature housing development – the Cathedral Court Co-op, one of the many co-ops in the downtown core built during the Reform Council.