I know what you’re thinking: “What the $&@! is a walkshop?” So am I. What the word actually means is anyone’s guess. My best stab at the answer: it’s a combination of photowalk and workshop. Basically, it’s a chance for ordinary people – especially photographers – to give their input on Wichita downtown development, with a focus on “walkability” (things that make the city more pedestrian-friendly).All

The sessions – a collaboration between Visioneering Wichita, Denver-based PlaceMatters and architecture firm Goody Clancy – take place this weekend. One is a chat session and two are “photowalks,” in which participants will walk along downtown streets, take photos, and e-mail or upload the results to city planners with captions describing what the things they photographed mean to them.

The photowalks are Friday, Dec. 4 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 5, from 9 a.m. to noon. The “walkshop talk” (discussion only, no photos) will take place from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Photos from the walks will be shown at the talk. (Are you keeping up with this? Two walks, one talk.) To attend any of the sessions, meet at the Eaton Block, 523 E. Douglas. All participants must RSVP on the walkshop site.

Local photographers, who organize themselves through a group on Flickr, have been doing organized group photowalks for awhile now. Photographer and community specialist Amy Delamaide has helped link the photogs with the planning folk. It makes sense – photographers often catch details the rest of us don’t. Kudos to the city for reaching out to this creative, innovative demographic.

Image courtesy of Eric Wittman

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