“Legendary urban thinker, writer and activist Jane Jacobs

Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urbanist and activist whose writings championed a fresh, community-based approach to city building. She had no formal training as a planner, and yet her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, introduced ground-breaking ideas about how cities function, evolve and fail that now seem like common sense to generations of architects, planners, politicians and activists.

Jacobs saw cities as ecosystems that had their own logic and dynamism which would change over time according to how they were used. With a keen eye for detail, she wrote eloquently about sidewalks, parks, retail design and self-organization. She promoted higher density in cities, short blocks, local economies and mixed uses. Jacobs helped derail the car-centred approach to urban planning in both New York and Toronto, invigorating neighbourhood activism by helping stop the expansion of expressways and roads. She lived in Greenwich Village for decades, then moved to Toronto in 1968 where she continued her work and writing on urbanism, economies and social issues until her death in April 2006.”

http://www.janeswalk.net/index.php/walks/canada/winnipeg/

WPGxHBC – A Company’s Influence on the City

Guided by: Abigail Auld

“Ever wonder about the origins of downtown’s grid street pattern? Or how Memorial Boulevard lined up so perfectly with the Legislative Building? Who built the first traffic bridges in Winnipeg? Why the Princeton Apartments on Broadway look so posh?

The Hudson’s Bay Company has existed here for quite some time – far longer than the city itself! Over the years the company has had an enormous influence on Winnipeg’s urban development. On this walk you’ll learn about controversial land swaps, real estate monopolies and incredible changes in retail culture that have had lasting effect on the shape of our city.”