Each year, in the spirit of the great urban activist Jane Jacobs, MAS hosts 100+ free guided walks that celebrate New York City's diverse neighborhoods. Part of an international movement, Jane's Walk NYC gets thousands of New Yorkers out to our streets, to engage with the 8.5 million stories in our city. For more information about Jane's Walk, visit the website.

Times Square: Town Square or Nightmare?

About this Walk:

What’s in Times Square’s future? President of the Times Square Alliance Tim Tompkins invites us to imagine the future of the Crossroads of the World. Times Square is at a critical point, as a radical idea that was celebrated and replicated worldwide – creating a new category of public space that values pedestrians more than automobiles – is about to be tested with the preliminary opening of curbless plazas designed by the European firm Snøhetta. As Jane Jacobs wrote, a public space in and of itself is not enough, but what happens in it and on it defines whether it is an asset or liability. How do we make sure Times Square represents the best of New York through design, creativity, culture and technology – rather than the rabid hustler haven it is rapidly becoming? Fortune cookie surprise for all participants featuring predictions about Times Square’s future!

About the Walk Team:

Tim Tompkins has been the President of the Times Square Alliance since 2002. The Alliance is a business improvement district that works to improve and promote Times Square - cultivating the creativity, energy and edge that have made the area an icon of entertainment, culture and urban life for over a century. Prior to coming to the Alliance, he was the Founder and Director of Partnerships for Parks, which works to support New York City’s neighborhood parks. He has worked at New York City’s Economic Development Corporation, The New York City Charter Revision Commission, and was briefly the Nationals Editor at the Mexico City News, an English language newspaper in Mexico.