WALKING/BIKING TOURS
As your Urban Geographer, I’ve had the pleasure of facilitating several walking and biking tours exploring the city - uncovering the hidden histories and geographies within the places we inhabit.
The following is a selection of walking tours I’ve created and lead. See a walk you like but missed? Want a walk designed for your event/organization/exhibit? Get in touch and we’ll talk walk.
New Monuments: Public Art Tour with Ellie Joseph and Daniel Rotsztain
The Bentway - August 2019
Ellie Joseph, organizer of the Two Row on the Grand event in Six Nations, in conversation with Daniel Rotsztain, The Urban Geographer, lead a site walk discussing the principles of the Two Row wampum belt, and how they intersect with the Bentway's histories, designs, and approaches to city building.
Walking the Sidewalk City
ICT for Sustainability Conference - May 2018A walkshop exploring the Toronto waterfront and the site of Google’s proposed Sidewalk Toronto neighbourhood. My interventions included exploring the idea of internet privacy with the analogy of artificial light. When light was first introduced to cities, it was seen as bringing safety at the cost of intrusion and social control. Now, it is so total, we don’t even think about it. Will the same hold true for the internet?
Geomancy Tour of Toronto Island
Film for Artists Residency - June 2015, June 2016 and August 2019As part of the annual Film for Artists residency at Artscape Gibraltar Point, this walk highlights some of the elusive geography of Toronto Island, a constantly shifting sandbar that has undergone many iterations since it was first formed by sedimentation dropped in Lake Ontario from the Scarborough Bluffs.
Cooksville: Mapping Stories
Story of M - May 2016As part of the City of Mississauga’s Story of M initiative, Robert Ruggeiro and I lead a group of youth around Cooksville to discover the community’s history, the way people use the neighbourhood today, and potential areas of improvement.
There’s no there, there? Walking Wellington Street East
Jane’s Walk - May 2016While most of downtown Guelph is defined by charming historical buildings, the stretch of Wellington Street East between Gordon and Wyndham is dominated by strip malls and fast food chains. This walk explored how the street emerged, and what came before it, questioning if strip malls have become heritage.
Super Fun Picnic Island Bike Times!
DINNERDINNER - August 2015For DinnerDinner - a collective that explores novel ways of eating together - I lead a bike tour around Toronto Islands, interrupted intermittently by delicious picnic baskets and concluding with a talk with Island residents who opposed Metro Toronto police and saved their homes from demolition.
City Seen: Exploring the Spectacle of Toronto
Koffler Gallery - August 2015A city demands to be seen – but it can also be felt, smelled and heard. This bike tour explored Toronto at its most spectacular - indulging in the performative nature of the city while reclaiming our other senses along the way. Traveling through the city’s Entertainment District, financial core, waterfront and industrial fray, we found spaces that offer mesmerizing and theatrical perspectives of the urban landscape.
Jane’s Walk: The Urban Legends of West Queen West
Koffler Gallery - May 2015Inspired by Erratics, an exhibit of real and fabricated archives, this walk through West Queen West explored its urban legends - local history that may have emerged from fact or fiction.
All the Libraries Toronto - well, some of them
Jane’s Walk - May 2015 The walk explored the history of Toronto Public Library, and public library service in general, with visits to current and historic library branches.