Jane’s Walk: Granddaughter of iconic urbanist attending Winnipeg festival celebrating her legacy

Members of the community have been taking part in Jane's Walk since 2006 in Winnipeg.

The granddaughter of an iconic urbanist will walk alongside her grandmother’s legacy at a global event celebrating community history and connection.

Jane Jacobs was the renowned urban advocate who penned “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” – a work that became a conceptual pillar for city planners, architects, and policymakers alike.

To Caitlin Broms-Jacobs, she was grandma.

Sort of.

“I called her Jane,” she said in an interview with CTV News Winnipeg.

“Jane wanted her kids and grandkids to call her by her name, so I did.”

Broms-Jacobs spent most of her childhood alongside her grandmother in Toronto, baking cookies and playing games.

She first started to piece together who her grandmother was with the publication of Jane Jacobs’ children’s book, which she dedicated to her grandchildren.

In retrospect, there were other clues Jane was someone special.

“She had really interesting people coming through to visit her and to talk to her,” Broms-Jacobs recalled.

“As much as a small child can absorb from that kind of thing, I think I did pick up certain elements of her relationship with the world and how respected she was.”

It’s been nearly 20 years since Jacobs passed away, but her legacy walks on.

Every year, during the first weekend in May, an annual festival called Jane’s Walk shuffles into hundreds of cities across the world.

The public is invited to put on their walking shoes and join free, citizen-led walking conversations meant to encourage people to share stories about their neighbourhoods and discover unseen aspects of their communities.

There are 23 walks planned in Winnipeg this year exploring the local history of neighbourhoods from Old St. Boniface to Transcona.

“It’s a safe, free and very accessible way for people to come out and to find that strength in community and make connections,” said Ruhi Proshun with Winnipeg Arts Council, the organizer behind the city’s Jane‘s Walk.

“The world can seem like a lonely place sometimes, but hopefully these walks will help people feel like they’re a part of a community of people who are happy that they’re a part of it.”

Proshun said anyone can join this year or even sign up on to host a walk at an upcoming festival. Details can be found on the Winnipeg Arts Council’s website.

Broms-Jacobs plans to join the Jane’s Walk in the North End.

She has lived in Winnipeg for the past 15 years, having moved to the Prairies to join the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra as an oboist.

She picked the North End tour for a reason.

“Jane actually was in Winnipeg once. She was toured around by then Mayor Glenn Murray, and she reported back that she really liked the North End, which I think is really interesting.”