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Walking Conversations celebrates neighbourhood stories, community wisdom, and the simple act of walking together to better understand our cities.
Jane’s Walk began with a simple idea: When neighbours walk together, they see their cities differently. What started as a few conversations on Toronto’s streets has grown into a global movement rooted in curiosity, care, and the belief that everyday people hold deep knowledge about the places they call home.
This book invites readers into that world. Through stories from sidewalks, parks, alleys, towers, and quiet residential blocks, it shows how walking can nurture connection, spark civic dialogue, and strengthen our sense of belonging. It brings together personal moments, community wisdom, and practical insight to reveal how the simple act of moving through a place on foot opens up new ways of noticing, understanding, and participating in the life around us.
Warm, grounded, and shaped by lived experience, this book celebrates cities as shared creations and extends an open invitation to step outside, pay attention, and join the conversation.
Jane’s Walk began with a simple idea: When neighbours walk together, they see their cities differently. What started as a few conversations on Toronto’s streets has grown into a global movement rooted in curiosity, care, and the belief that everyday people hold deep knowledge about the places they call home.
This book invites readers into that world. Through stories from sidewalks, parks, alleys, towers, and quiet residential blocks, it shows how walking can nurture connection, spark civic dialogue, and strengthen our sense of belonging. It brings together personal moments, community wisdom, and practical insight to reveal how the simple act of moving through a place on foot opens up new ways of noticing, understanding, and participating in the life around us.
Warm, grounded, and shaped by lived experience, this book celebrates cities as shared creations and extends an open invitation to step outside, pay attention, and join the conversation.
Price: $22.99
Pages: 272
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Imprint: Dundurn Press
Publication Date:
20 April 2027
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9781459758193
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Geography, Urban communities / city life, ARCHITECTURE / Urban & Land Use Planning, NATURE / Environmental Conservation & Protection, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Essays, Walking, hiking, trekking
The book features contributions from civic leaders, planners, activists, cultural workers, and community advocates who have long championed walking, storytelling, and democratic participation. Editors Celia Beketa, Geraldine Cahill, Zahra Ebrahim, and Wes Reibeling all served on the Jane’s Walk Steering Committee for many years. Currently, Zahra and Wes live in Toronto; Geraldine lives in Drayton Valley, Alberta; and Celia in London, U.K.
- Introduction
- 1 Jane’s Walk — A Toronto Story by Margie Zeidler
- 2 There Is a Bridge, a Bridge Is There by Denise Pinto
- 3 Go for a Walk. Be Amazed. by Jane Farrow
- 4 Tallat: The (Im)possible Return(s) by Anwar Ben Badis and Dorit Naaman
- 5 Get Ready with Me: Behind the Scenes of My First Jane’s Walk and How a Literary Walk Changed the Way I See Ottawa by Susan Johnston
- 6 Dining with Strangers in the Rain by Genevieve Wagner
- 7 From Participant to Advocate by Adam Roy Cohoon in Conversation with Celia Beketa
- 8 Meeting Points, Starting Places, and the Routes of Disabled Friendship by Emily Macrae
- 9 Connection Before Crisis by Ayesha Talreja
- 10 In Praise of Anecdotal Evidence by Nate Storring
- 11 What Lasts When plazaPOPS Pops Down: Building Collective Memory While Walking Scarborough’s Strip Mall Main Streets by Naziha Nasrin
- 12 The Secret Life of a 311 Service Request by Becky Katz
- 13 Walking into a Movement by Jay Wall
- 14 Familiar Strangers by Adam Schwartz
- 15 Jane’s Walk in China — More Than Walking: Conversations That Go Deep by Claire Wang
- 16 What We Notice When We Walk by Nadina Galle
- 17 Who Gets to Pee in our Cities? by Kate Fane
- 18 Agency Untapped: Jane’s Walk as Democracy Innovation by Geraldine Cahill
- 19 The Natural Attractor by Nadia Halim in conversation with Geraldine Cahill
- 20 Nature Is … Inevitable by Lorraine Johnson
- 21 This Is Not a Cakewalk by Zahra Ebrahim
- 22 The Garbage Can Theory by Alia Scanlon
- 23 Have Faith by Chris Winter
- 24 Paths Toward Belonging by Celia Beketa
- 25 Jane Jacobs, Jane’s Walk, and Data Walks: A Personal Journey on Toronto’s Waterfront by Charles Finley
- 26 Democracy from the Ground Up by Hannah Evans
- 27 The Importance of Being an Earnest City Dweller by Wesley Reibeling
- 28 The Jane in “Jane’s Walk” by Mary W. Rowe and Alan Broadbent
- Acknowledgements
- Notes