“I had the pleasure of joining a Jane’s Walk led by HiMY SYeD today.

“He wore a Labyrinth pattern shirt and had a Labyrinth pattern jacket as well.”

— Richard Eriksson

Happy World Labyrinth Day Julie!

Thank you for joining my World Labyrinth Day: Toronto City of Labyrinths Jane’s Walk!

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A post shared by Julie Maclean (@julie.maclean)

Many thanks to Sarah Jensen (@the.heartofbarrie)

For joining my Toronto Jane’s Walk

And for sharing images

ReGrammed from her two posts :

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr4gdO_M3dR/

&

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr4lpNbsKZV/

“I’m in Toronto for the weekend for Jane’s Walk Toronto.

A Jane’s Walk is a walking conversations inspired by writer and urbanist Jane Jacobs.

They’re held in hundreds of cities across the world.

(Including 5 of them in Barrie throughout May)

Tonight’s walk through Parkdale Village and Exhibition Place shared ideas from her 11 books.

And it was led by HiMY, the guy who (somewhat illegally) paints Labyrinths all over Toronto! @LabyrinthsDOTca 👏

This first half of the walk featured community gardens, one of the ping pong tables I’ve been eyeing up for Barrie and Trenton Terrace, home to the most adorable workers cottages (that were once affordable).”

— Sarah Jensen, The Heart of Barrie

Grateful you found attending this evening’s Jane’s Walk worthwhile.

I did not make the connection between you and Barrie.

I know you have car-free days through the summer, I intend to pop up there in Barrie during one or more of them to chalk Labyrinths in the open car free public spaces.

I trust people will enjoy exploring & walking them.

Thank you for joining my Jane’s Walk!

“Such a great walk to start the weekend, thank you!

I’m based in Barrie, but in Toronto fairly often, especially the Parkdale area.

It’s one of my adopted neighbourhoods.

I enjoyed learning more about it and Jane.

We’d love to have you come to Barrie and create Labyrinths!

We’re running our car free Open Air Dunlops twice a month, starting June 10th.

Let me know if you’re coming up.”

— Sarah Jensen, The Heart of Barrie

Our Jane’s Walk began in front of the Parkdale Labyrinth

Inside Masaryk Park in Parkdale, Toronto.

I shared that since Childhood, Jane Jacobs was fascinated with Mazes and Labyrinths.

Cities as Labyrinths, without dead ends, rather than Cities as Mazes with many dead ends, is something that informed Jane Jacobs on her understanding of The City and its Streets, which comes through and can be found in her writings.

Jane Jacobs had at least one book about Mazes and Labyrinths on the shelf in her personal library at home, at the time of her passing in 2006.

Labyrinths and “Mazing” of streets by using one-way streets and forced turns for vehicles to improve quality of life inside residential neighbourhoods was something I did my best to express at the start of my Jane’s Walk.

Our Jane’s Walk made it as far as Fort Rouille located inside,

Or rather located as an interrupted concrete outline on the ground,

Within present day Exhibition Place.

Our final stop was opposite Ontario Place.

Here I suggested that “Ontario Place For All”,

The group aiming to save Ontario Place,

Should rename themselves as:

“Ontario Place for All, Austria Place for Some”

Because during the Spadina Expressway era,

Whenever the group was mentioned in print or on TV,

It included their SOS mandate:

“Stop Spadina Save Our City” [ Co-ordinating Committee ] .

Likewise “…Austria Place For Some”

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A post shared by Sarah Jensen (@findingmyselfinbarrie)

Grateful to Olivia Chow,

Who joined 34 fellow Jane’s Walkers on my

“The 11 Books of Jane Jacobs All in One Jane’s Walk”

Almost everyone ( 30! ), including Olivia, stayed til the final walk stop opposite Ontario Place.

“HiMY SYeD leading a Toronto Jane’s Walk celebrating Jane Jacobs’ urbanism and philosophy through her books.

“We are imagining the Spadina Expressway nightmare and are grateful of Jacobs’ role in stopping it.

— Olivia Chow

“Nice to see ⁦Olivia Chow on a ⁦Toronto Jane’s Walk⁩ led by HiMY SYeD on the topic of Jane Jacobs’ books on cities.”

— Ushnish Sengupta

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World Labyrinth Day 2018 – Vancouver City of Labyrinths Project – Jane’s Walk

Start Location : Abandoned Olympic Village LRT Station Platform, North end Olympic Village Canada Line Train Station Parking Lot.

When : Saturday May 5 2018 at 4:30 p.m.

This 90 minute Jane’s Walk will celebrate ” World Labyrinth Day ” and share why and how Vancouver is becoming a “City of Labyrinths”.

Walk includes visits to:

• Spyglass Place Labyrinth
• Recently completed “Vancouver Public Labyrinth” by False Creek
• A small Labyrinth beside Olympic Village.

History, purpose, and benefits of Labyrinth Walking will be shared.

How Labyrinths can be both Fun as well as ‘Giant Outstallation Art‘.

We will explain how Labyrinths have been used in designing cities for thousands of years(!).

This walk will decode TOAD – Temporary Obsolete Abandoned Derelict – urban infrastructure and how Labyrinths are excellent examples of Urban Acupuncture, Tactical Urbanism and Placemaking.

Did you know Jane Jacobs herself was influenced by Labyrinths in her writings about cities?

Join this Jane’s Walk and you will learn how!

Time permitting: using chalk on paved open space, people will be instructed in how to make their own Labyrinths, which we will then enjoy walking into and out of.

A limited number of printed materials will be available on a first-come first-served basis as keepsakes of this Jane’s Walk.

Coinciding with Jane’s Walk weekend, The Labyrinth Society has declared the first Saturday in May, World Labyrinth Day. This Vancouver Jane’s Walk is one of a number of global events marking the day.

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It’s the Sunday after World Labyrinth Day 2016, which was the day before, and I am leading a different Jane’s Walk than the one yesterday.

As my Dark Age Ahead – The Wizard of Ossington Jane’s Walk begins and passes through Christie Pits Park, I usually include a brief walk stop by my Christie Pits Park Wading Pool Labyrinth.

That’s where Nicole’s instagram above was captured.

Being a Jane’s Walk leader often has me concentrating on doing the best job I can.

That entails putting away the camera to be there in the moment.

I have so few photographs of my own walks.

Thankfully, Nicole shared a number of instagrams throughout this walk. And I am deeply grateful!

Enjoy…

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World Labyrinth Day 2016 – Toronto City of Labyrinths Project – Jane’s Walk

Cabbagetown Labyrinth (Near the Entrance to Riverdale Farm)

Saturday May 7, 2016 at 5:30 p.m.

This Jane’s Walk is 2 Hours.

Yes In My Back Yard Toronto is an annual showcase event of community engagement and civic involvement.

I’ve been attending YIMBY since the first one almost a decade ago back when it was at The Gladstone Hotel.

YIMBYtoronto 2015 finds new digs at TRSM – Ted Rogers School of Management – 55 Dundas Street West in the Downtown Core. Happening Saturday Morning and early afternoon on October 31.

Details of my Jane’s Walk:

YIMBY Toronto Walk: Downtown Toronto – City of Labyrinths

Saturday October 31 2015: 1 p.m., Meet by the escalators at 12:55 p.m. – TRSM 55 Dundas Street West

Presented by: Jane’s Walk

Walk Leader: HiMY SYeD

Toronto may have more Labyrinths than any other city in the entire world. Join this mini-Jane’s Walk to find out why, and learn more about leading a walk of your own!

My Jane’s Walk is one part of the day’s very full programming.

Plus, there are 100+ groups tabling at YIMBYtoronto.

Hope you say YES and join YIMBYtoronto and my Jane’s Walk on Saturday!

See you then!
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The First Saturday in May is World Labyrinth Day.

First Weekend in May is Jane’s Walk Festival.

Put them together, mix in Toronto City of Labyrinths Project, and ta da!

Toronto City of Labyrinths World Labyrinth Day Jane’s Walk 2015!

Kate Watanabe, Jane’s Walk City Organizer for Toronto, joined the walk.

Kate instagrammed this video from our meeting point, the Christie Street Traffic Island Labyrinth.

Toronto has become a City of Labyrinths.

Presently, we may have the greatest physical number of labyrinths of any City in The World. This Jane’s Walk will help us understand why.

Since 2002, the Toronto City of Labyrinths Project has been aiming to place a semi-permanent labyrinth within walking distance of every Torontonian.

This Jane’s Walk will follow a path into and around Christie Pits Park, where a number of the Project’s examples exist.

All four of the most popular labyrinth design patterns will be shown:

• 1. The Thousands of years old ancient classic seven-circuit Cretan design
• 2. The 800-year-old Chartes Cathedral 11-circuit pattern
• 3. The Contemporary Santa Rosa Labyrinth design
• 4. The inner-Chartes seven-circuit pattern

Background in-depth history of each of the four major designs will be provided:

• • The story of how High Park got the first official City of Toronto Labyrinth
• • The efforts of the Labyrinth Community Network in creating The Toronto Public Labyrinth in Trinity Square Park
• • Why labyrinth walking is a critical period in the development of decision making abilities in children growing up, which they then carry into adulthood.
• • The Connection between bodies of water and labyrinths. (Garrison Creek)

Using chalk on paved open space, people will be instructed in how to make their own labyrinths, which we will then enjoy walking in to and out of.

Before returning to our starting point where this Jane’s Walk will end, we will see one bonus example of Giant Outstallation Art:

• Toronto’s Giant Outdoor Subway Map and the story of why it’s there

A limited number of printed materials will be available on a first come first served basis as keepsakes of this Jane’s Walk.

Saturday May 7, 2011 6 p.m.

Meeting Place: Traffic Island in Front of Christie Subway Station Main Entrance

End Location: Like all Labyrinth journeys, we will return to our starting point to end the walk (Traffic Island in Front of Christie Subway Station Main Entrance).

Public Transit Directions: Christie Subway Station Main Entrance, Christie Street, North of Bloor Street West, Koreatown/Christie Pits Park

Accessible: Partially accessible – curbs, uneven terrain, busy sidewalks

Parking Available: Green P Parking behind Christie Subway Station

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