Sustainable Orillia and OPPI (Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI)will join to present another engaging walk-and-learn opportunity in Orillia on Saturday May 27 at both 10 am and 2 pm. Each walk will focus on the West Ridge development and community.
“Jane’s Walk in Orillia” is presented in honour of renowned urban planner Jane Jacobs (1916-2006).
Jane Jacobs was an urbanist and activist whose writings championed a fresh, community-based approach to city-building. She had no formal training as a planner, yet her 1961 book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, introduced ground-breaking ideas about how cities function, evolve and fail – ideas that now seem like common sense to generations of architects, planners, politicians and activists.
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody,” wrote Jacobs in The Death and Life of Great American Cities, “only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”
The 90-minute, 2 km. walks will be led by David Parks, an experienced municipal planner, now retired from a career with both Severn and Simcoe County.
Participants will meet at the parking lot behind Taco Bell (705 University Avenue). They will explore different residential activities, commercial activities, green space, walkable areas and traffic safety. The tag-team hosts will provide interesting opinions and insights on this development and ideas on what to look for in the future.
“Come and explore the good, the bad, and the ugly of the residential, commercial, recreational and education aspects of West Ridge in Orillia.,” said David Parks, “The West Ridge Community is a fast-moving development that has brought major retail to the area with some mixed use residential concepts and lots of traffic.
Register today for one of these interesting walks for all of us interested in the quality of living here in Orillia. Saturday, May 27th … at either 10:00 a.m. or 2:00. See you there.
For more information, please contact Dave VanAlstyne at ‘davidvanalstyne@sustainableorillia.ca’
