Last Call with Eleanor Gilmore and Joyce Mandell, Jane Week Organizers

Last Call with Eleanor Gilmore and Joyce Mandell, Jane Week Organizers
Sarah Connell Sanders
Correspondent
Jane Jacobs was an urban design pioneer, widely celebrated for her 1961 landmark text, “The Death and Life of Great American Cities.” In Worcester, we honor Jacobs each year with Jane Week, an opportunity to examine the design and function of our city. Eleanor Gilmore and Joyce Mandell are Jane Week's organizers.
Joyce, can you tell us how Jane Week got started in Worcester?
JM: Our first Jane Week was in 2017 and it was the culmination of a year of celebrating Jane Jacobs’ hundredth birthday. There are actually Jane Celebrations all over the world, which is very exciting. There were about 200 Jane Walks that year in New York alone. We didn't have Jane Week last year because of the pandemic and I actually held on to the Jane Award; it's been on my shelf for a year. Every year, we give out a Jane Award to a project that emulates the best design or revitalization of the city. The first year, it was Crompton Place. The second year, it was The Printer's Building. And the year after that, it was the Kelley Square redesign. Last year, it was supposed to go to Stearns Tavern. The award actually seems even more important this year for so many reasons, but the main reason is we've all been isolated and quarantining, and we're going to have to resocialize ourselves to start thinking about going back to public spaces and being in community with one another. We can start creating that community again, even online. There's so much fear out there and we've had so much divisiveness, hate, and anger on the national level. Even on the local level, a lot of us have different ideas about what makes a livable Worcester. Jane Week is a positive way to bring people into dialogue. We can listen to people who have different levels of power and influence. We are approaching the master planning process and I think Jean Week really just gives us a chance to start raising consciousness about the elements that we want to see in our city and how we are going to plan for them.

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