This weekend marks the sixth annual set of Jane's Walks, walking tours about urban history and planning held in honor of the patron saint of 20th century urbanism, Jane Jacobs. In New York, the Municipal Art Society has catalogued more than 70 tours, all of them free, in all five boroughs. In most cases, there's no RSVP required.
The selection is great (really, go check out the full list), but here's a sample of walks that should appeal in particular to Streetsblog readers:
Manhattan West Public Space Icons: From Times Square to the High Line, look at the urban design transformations taking place on Manhattan's West Side. This tour will also look at protected bike lanes, pedestrian plazas and transit corridors. Saturday, 8:15 a.m.
Eyes on Brooklyn Heights: Market Urbanism contributor Sandy Ikeda leads this tour showing how Brooklyn Heights exemplifies Jane Jacobs' ideas about urban development. A Market Urbanism meet-up will follow. Saturday, 4:30 p.m.
Noah joined Streetsblog as a New York City reporter at the start of 2010. When he was a kid, he collected subway paraphernalia in a Vignelli-map shoebox.
Before coming to Streetsblog, he blogged at TheCityFix DC and worked as a field organizer for the Obama campaign in Toledo, Ohio. Noah graduated from Yale University, where he wrote his senior thesis on the class politics of transportation reform in New York City. He lives in Morningside Heights.
New York City's congestion pricing tolls are one historic step closer to reality after Wednesday's 11-1 MTA board vote. Next step: all those pesky lawsuits.