What is Jane's Walk, and what is it doing in Richmond, Virginia?

Throughout her career, author and activist Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) challenged the way we look at our cities. A staunch opponent to the urban renewal efforts of the 1950’s and 1960’s and best known for her seminal work The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jacobs sought to elevate our perception of urban life  in all of its ordinary and gritty glory. She argued that cities grow and change organically over time, not according to the preconceived plans of academics, and that urban social ills are often misdiagnosed as being caused by the older patterns of dense urban fabric, resulting in misguided redevelopment that actually makes the problems of our cities worse. Jane would invite us to experience the vibrancy of our cherished neighborhoods firsthand in order to better understand how our built environment shapes the subtleties of our social and cultural networks. 

Following her death in 2006, a group of Jane Jacobs’ friends initiated a series walking tours of her native Toronto in May of 2007, coinciding with her birthday. The tour gave the opportunity for neighborhood insiders to celebrate the complexities of urban life that Jacobs cherished and in the following years, the idea spread to other cities and countries. For 2010, Richmond, Virginia has joined at least twenty-one US cities, twenty-nine Canadian cities and four cities outside of North America to host a Jane’s Walk on one of two designated dates in early May.

As the site for the inaugural Jane’s Walk in Richmond, the organizers have selected the Church Hill neighborhood, a community located immediately east of Downtown Richmond and rich with history and culture. On Sunday, May 2, 2010, at 3:00 PM, we will meet at the western edge of Chimborazo Park [near the intersection of North 32^nd Street and East Grace Street] and follow a circular route through the neighborhood, exploring a variety of streetscapes, architecture, public spaces, institutions and community services, while hearing the stories of residents and scholars about this quintessential Richmond place. The route is approximately two miles long, extends north of Broad Street and is expected to last about two hours. The sights along the walk will be illuminated by John Johnson, a Church Hill resident and expert of the neighborhood’s history, Gary Inman, an architectural historian with a wealth of knowledge on Richmond’s buildings and places, and Lisa Taranto, Director of Tricycle Gardens and creator of two community gardens along the route.

This walk is being organized by Glavé & Holmes Architecture, the Richmond design firm founded by Jim Glavé in 1965, in collaboration with the efforts of like-minded friends. Mr. Glavé is widely regarded as a pioneer in the fields of historic preservation and the adaptive reuse of old buildings and was responsible for saving some of the most beloved Richmond landmarks from the wrecking ball through a pragmatic approach that recognized the inherent value in these older structures.  He also opposed the creation of the RMA's Downtown Expressway, a limited-access highway that destroyed and isolated residential neighborhoods to provide suburban commuters a convenient path downtown, an effort that echoed Jane Jacobs' activism in New York City.  Following his passing in 2005, the Urban Architecture Studio at Glavé & Holmes, has inherited Jim Glavé’s passion for preserving and reusing our urban fabric and shares Jane Jacobs’ appreciation for the organic growth and change of our cities.