Jane's Walk Tours Give Insider Look at Brooklyn and Beyond

Jane’s Walk NYC returns this year with tours exploring New York City from a local point of view led by fellow New Yorkers. The annual weekend of free walking tours takes place the first weekend in May and the calendar of events has launched.

Hosted by the Municipal Art Society (MAS) since 2011, Jane’s Walk NYC is named after Jane Jacobs, opponent of powerful city planner Robert Moses and author of “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” the 1961 critique of 1950s urban planning policy. In the spirit of Jacobs, the free walks are meant to spark conversations about planning, history, preservation, development, and urban life. The New York City event is part of a global Jane’s Walk with hundreds of similar programs in cities around the world.

The 2025 New York edition features both in-person walks and virtual experiences led by locals. While the tours are free, and some are being offered multiple times during the weekend, reservations are required to keep the group sizes manageable. The calendar, which can be filtered by borough, launched on April 11, and some tours are already at capacity.

In Brooklyn, there’s a pretty impressive schedule of tours across the borough, and they are all in-person walks.

Tour Windsor Terrace through the eyes of a resident who spent his whole life in the neighborhood before his recent death at age 97. The memories of Artie Halbran, which were gathered into an autobiography with the help of tour leader David Bellel, will be shared while strolling by the sites he remembered best. The tour will be offered just once, on Saturday, May 3.

Get a closer look at the 80-foot-long “Exodus and Dance” frieze at the Kingsborough Houses with Vaidehi Mody, a senior planning consultant at NYCHA. The artwork by Richmond Barthé was relocated to Brooklyn in 1941 and recently restored. The tour route through the 17-acre development will highlight the role of public art and stop at important locations within the complex. The tour will be offered three times on Saturday, May 2.

Get an in-depth look at the controversial Pacific Park (formerly Atlantic Yards) with “A Mega Project Unresolved: What Happened With Atlantic Yards?” Watchdog Norman Oder will be leading the tour on Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3.

Desiree Rucker of Friends of Amersfort Park will lead walkers around Midwood and Flatlands for “Dead, Dutch, and Still Around.” In addition to exploring Amersfort Park, the tour will highlight sites with a connection to the Dutch past. The event will be offered on Saturday, May 2 and Sunday, May 4.

Wander through one of Brooklyn’s great cemeteries with “Evergreens Cemetery: Andrew Downing’s Creation That Inspired Central Park,” led by John Smelak of the Guides Association of New York. The tour will focus on Downing’s influence on landscape design and stroll by some of the resting places of New York notables. The walk is offered just once, on Sunday, May 4.

All of the tours happening in May can be viewed on the calendar online.

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• Preservationists Hope New Landmarks Rules Will Better Protect Historic Buildings, Prevent Demos
• Share Your Neighborhood Knowledge and Lead a Tour for Jane’s Walk 2025

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