The woman who saved new york city from superhighway hell. The death and life of great american cities wikipedia. Americanborn canadian writer jane jacobs 19162006 revolutionized the field of urban planning with her pathbreaking 1961 book the death and life of great american cities. Jacobs lived in for the last 20 or so years of her life i see that the wisdom of this saviour of cities does not seem to be a core part of torontos current urban planning scheme. Advancing the observations of jane jacobs, a collection of original essays by leading thinkers that honors the late jane jacobs. In her view, streets should be places for people to encounter one another, to literally and metaphorically run into new things. Susan hughess book walking in the city with jane introduces young readers to jane jacobss insight and activism for her neighborhoods and her influence on urban planning. The book is still astonishing to read, a masterpiece not of prosethe writing is. Jane jacobs, the matchless analyst of all things urban, returned to new york the other day and looked around her. This book is an attack on current city planning and rebuilding. In prose of outstanding immediacy, jane jacobs writes about what makes. Jacobs was without doubt a deep thinker and one of the most important advocates of. The power of jane jacobs web way of thinking features.
It was not the book i imagined it to be, robert moses here lurks mostly unmentioned darting behind some of the paragraphs, very rarely making an appearance in an actual sentence. Here are fresh and timely ideas to springboard public dialog, community activism and celebration of whats local. Dec 06, 2019 after writing more books about urban life, jacobs died in 2006. Jane jacobs walk almost a decade after her death, the shadow of jane jacobs keeps growing as architects, urban planners and city makers discover and worship her acute understanding of how cities work. Sep 23, 2016 jane jacobs 19162006 was a heroic figure of intellectual life in the second half of the 20th century, and she is nearly always instructive and cheering to read about. If you are involved in government, architecture, or design, read this. She moved to new york city in 1934, where she held several different jobs while writing articles. Jane jacobs the book of life is the brain of the school of life, a gathering of the. Her book the death and life of great american cities argued that urban renewalslum clearance did not respect the needs of citydwellers. How jane jacobs fought urban renewal in the west village. Two new books about jane jacobs, urban visionary the new. It was a fitting backdrop for jacobs s observations on the physical.
Jane jacobs classic book on urban living is 50 this year. In 1960, jane jacobs s book the death and life of great american cities sent shockwaves through the architecture and planning worlds, with its exploration of the consequences of modern planners and architects reconfiguration of cities. We know jane jacobs wrote brilliant books, and it would be a crime to let her equally brilliant smaller writings, speeches and interviews be lost. Ethically, an open city would of course tolerate differences and promote. After graduating from high school, butzner worked at the scranton tribune. Its jane jacobss world we live in the new york times. The book has been credited with reaching beyond planning issues to jane jacobs, oc, o.
Jane jacobs and parks 101 chapter 5 of the death and life of great american cities deals with parks, which coincidentally is something provo is discussing lately. However, the focus should remain on preserving a large sphere in which urban residents retain the right to engage in their own planning. The death and life of great american cities jane jacobs. A bookstore, finally, comes to the bronx the new york times. Apr 03, 2018 still relevant more than 50 years after its publication, jacobss book criticizes the cavalier way urban planners stamped out neighborhoods in favor of freeways and high rises. Sennett takes issue with his friend jane jacobs, who defended. Theres a remarkable photo of jane jacobs in richard sennetts new book, building and dwelling. The death and life of great american cities part 1. But as i witness, or at least fear, the gradual decay of the city i live in which happens to be the city ms. Her name still summons an entire city visionthe much watched corner, the mixeduse neighborhoodand her holy tale is all the stronger for including a nemesis of equal stature. Perhaps more than anyone else during the past half century, jacobs changed the way we think about livable cities. City planning, urban renewal, urban policy, cities and towns, united states, juvenile literature, stedenbouw, long now manual for civilization, city. Apr 21, 2020 jane jacobs, americanborn canadian urbanologist noted for her clear and original observations on urban life and its problems. And since provo is working on its parks, i thought id mention a few things jane jacobs recommends.
Aug 14, 2017 jacobs was finishing a book, the death and life of great american cities, using the west village as an example of a successful urban environment, when, on feb. Jane jacobs 19162006 was an urbanist and activist whose writings championed a fresh, communitybased approach to city building. Jane jacobs is undoubtedly best known for the way she talks about city design, and design students around the world have learned the four pillars common to most functioning metropolises that she taught. The woman who saved new york city from superhighway hell citizen jane, directed by matt tyrnauer, chronicles jane jacobs s righteousand winningcrusade against robert moses. Jane jacobs was born on may 4, 1916 in scranton, pennsylvania, usa as jane butzner. Jacobs view is an attack on orthodox modern city planning and city architectural design. Jane jacobs book the death and life of great american cities has been on my mental toread list since i read the power broker, which was long ago.
Citylab caught up with him recently to discuss citizen jane. Jane jacobs, americanborn canadian urbanologist noted for her clear and original observations on urban life and its problems. Robert moses and the fall of new york is a thick, unwieldy book at 44 pages. The death and life of great american cities is a 1961 book by writer and activist jane jacobs. In the fortyplus years since her book the death and life of great american. They differ from towns and suburbs in basic ways, and one of these is that cities are, by definition, full of strangers. Jane jacobs provides a candid framework for understanding what makes cities work and why. Her other major works include the economy of cities, systems of survival, the nature of economies and dark age ahead. Jane jacobs was the legendary author of the death and life of great american cities, a work that has never gone out of print and that has transformed the disciplines of urban planning and city architecture. Jane jacobs, the death and life of great american cities. Susan hughess book walking in the city with jane introduces young readers to jane jacobs s insight and activism for her neighborhoods and her influence on urban planning. Silent spring by rachel carson 1962 rarely does a single book alter the course of history, but rachel carsons silent spring did exactly that. In jacobs view, their urban planning theories about the necessity of open. Her book the death and life of great american cities 1961 argued that urban renewal did not respect the needs of citydwellers.
Apr 14, 2017 the woman who saved new york city from superhighway hell citizen jane, directed by matt tyrnauer, chronicles jane jacobss righteousand winningcrusade against robert moses. In a 2001 interview between the writer james kunstler and the sainted urbanist jane jacobs, logue was the subject of. Jacobs begins the work with the blunt statement that. Dec 15, 2011 with the 50th anniversary of the publication of jane jacobs the death and life of great american cities coming to a close, michael mehaffy refutes the contrarians and clarifies jacobs lasting top 10 observations found in the incredibly influential book. Jane jacobss aura was so powerful that it made her, precisely, the st. She linked up with the new school in new york, and after three years, published the book for which she is most renowned, the death and life of great american cities. While writing the book, she described her goal as nothing less than creating a new system of thought about the great city. Jane jacobs s ambitions for the death and life of great american cities were substantially greater than has been commonly understood. Against the overdetermined vision of le corbusier, jacobs argued that places should become both dense and diverse, either in the form of dense streets or packed squares. In 1958, jacobs received a large grant from the rockefeller foundation to study city planning. Still relevant more than 50 years after its publication, jacobs s book criticizes the cavalier way urban planners stamped out neighborhoods in favor of freeways and high rises.
Jane jacobs, the writer who changed the face of the modern. May 4, 1916 april 25, 2006 was a canadian and american journalist, author, and activist best known for her influence on urban studies. Indeed, no one has ever written a better book about a city. Jane jacobs way comes to the village the new york times.
Jane jacobs, like friedrich hayek, seems to be open to centralized urban planning in certain situations. Jane jacobs was the seer of the modern city ben rogers. This collection is more than the sum of its parts, and is a great book to have at your fingertips. The death and life of great american cities by jane jacobs. She died on april 25, 2006 in toronto, ontario, canada. Mar 02, 2020 the death and life of great american cities was described by the new york times as perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning.
Why cities should be openand unpredictable macleans. Prof jacobs manages the pleasant confusion of sharing her name with the influential, but now deceased, urbanist jane jacobs, who authored the book death and life of great american cities. Her influential book the death and life of great american cities 1961 argued that urban renewal did not respect the needs of most citydwellers. Apr 21, 2017 the battle in how the urban form of new york city in particular was shaped in the midtwentieth century is presented, the two leading figures on the opposing sides of the battle being robert moses, who held many senior positions related to development of urban infrastructure, and manhattan resident and journalist jane jacobs, author of the death and life of great american cities. How jane jacobs took on new yorks master builder and transformed the american city by cynthia chaldekas, midmanhattan library at 42nd street march 16, 2010 robert a caros tome the power broker. This book remains one of the most distinguished books on the subject. How jane jacobs changed the way we look at cities saskia.
The book also introduced sociology concepts such as eyes on the street and social capital. For contemporary architects, civic planners and city dwellers, jacobs book is a foundational text of humane urban planning. It was not the book i imagined it to be, robert moses here lurks mostly unmentioned darting behind some of the paragraphs, very. Building and dwelling is his twentieth book, but it feels haunted by the spirit of a. New village press and the center for the living city have teamed up to bring you the book what we see.
The book is a critique of 1950s urban planning policy, which it holds responsible for the decline of many city neighborhoods in the united states. To come to a compromise, the city brought in jane jacobs to represent their interests. Jun 24, 2016 as i was reading jane jacobs book the death and life of great american cities 1961, it inspired me to think about the importance of city streets. Jacobs organized grassroots efforts to protect neighborhoods from urban renewalslum clearance, in particular robert moses plans to overhaul her own greenwich village neighborhood. A greenwich village block has been named jane jacobs way, in honor of the authoractivist who immortalized it in her book the death and life of great american cities. Eyes on the street the life of jane jacobs by robert kanigel illustrated. Jane jacobs was initially rejected by the establishment the disparaging phrase mom in tennis shoes might have been coined decades ahead of its time to refer to her but shes since. Death and life was one of the first critiques on urban renewal and still stands as one of the most influential texts on urban planning. I got to talk to jane jacobs once, toward the end of her life, an interview. For chapter 18, which deals with transportation, i did a guest post for them designed to kick off their discussion. Jane jacobss ambitions for the death and life of great american cities were substantially greater than has been commonly understood. Jacobs was a critic of rationalist planners of the 1950s and 1960s, especially robert moses, as well as the earlier work of le corbusier. Apr 06, 2012 the city builders book club is in the process of reading jane jacobss seminal 1961 book, the death and life of great american cities. Instead of this closed city we need an open city where citizens actively.
She had no formal training as a planner, and yet her 1961 treatise, the death and life of great american cities, introduced groundbreaking ideas about how cities function, evolve and fail, that now seem like common sense to generations of architects, planners. Jacobs was also an activist, who was involved in many fights in. The city, she surmised at the end of the book, was an always unfolding problem in handling organized complexity. Aug 14, 2019 jane jacobs, writer and activist, took on the conventional approaches to city planning and fought for community and people oriented construction. The city planner ed logue cared deeply about racial and economic inclusion. Top jane jacobs quotes that serve as verbatim for urban planning. Why cities should be openand unpredictable jane jacobs walk.
Because of this, she has become an expert in professional disambiguation. The book was highly influential, offering a radically different view from what city planners of the time put forward. The following year saw the first janes walk, proud locals giving neighborhood tours. Jane jacobs biography life, family, parents, name, death. The word recycling plays at the top of ms jacobs work. She argued that modernist urban planning overlooked and over. Jane jacobs book should help to swing reformist zeal in favor of urbanity and the big city. Top jane jacobs quotes that serve as verbatim for urban. Jane jacobs chatting with the richard sennett, unperturbed by the drunk who. What the urbanist and writer got so right about citiesand what she got wrong. City planners like moses and charlesedouard jeanneretgris, who was better known as le corbusier 18871965, argued for the benefits of wide open parks and boulevards. The open city feels like naples, the closed city feels like frankfurt.
It was one of a handful of books, published in the 1960s, that helped galvanize movements for reform. Jul 23, 2006 jane jacobs 1961 book, the death and life of great american cities, belongs in this pantheon. The book highlighted that most of the urban development efforts did not take into account the suffering of those who lived in the city. May 4, 1916 april 25, 2006 was an americancanadian journalist, author, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics. How jane jacobs changed the way we look at cities saskia sassen when i first encountered this doyenne of urban activism, she offered one of the sharpest critiques id ever heard. The death and life of great american cities, jane jacobs impassioned defense of city life, is often cited as one of the most important nonfiction books of the 20th century.
Ont may 4, 1916 april 25, 2006 was an americanborn canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and decay. She is best known for the death and life of great american cities 1961, a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the united states. An interview with legendary author, jane jacobs, who wrote the death and life of great american cities. In this book, jane jacobs brings her creative mind and sharp wit to bear on the question of how cities grow economically. The book is jacobs bestknown and most influential work. Jacobs says, in a famous declaration, if density and diversity give life, the life they breed is disorderly. A direct and fundamentally optimistic indictment of the shortsightedness and intellectual arrogance that has characterized much of urban planning in this century, the death and life of great american cities has, since its first publication in 1961, become the standard against which all endeavors in that field are measured. Top 20 urban planning books of all time planetizen. Indeed, it is a mark of her impact that many people influenced by her ideas have never heard of her. Janes bravery and ideas had a huge influence on urban planning that is still being felt today. Jane jacobs 19162006 was an urban writer and activist who championed new, communitybased approaches to planning for over 40 years. In this lively and engaging informational picture book, award winning. A shift toward a more jacobsianhayekian urban planning might occur in at least two ways. May 19, 2011 jane jacobs was the seer of the modern city ben rogers.
Jane jacobs oc oont was an americancanadian journalist, author, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics. Her name still summons an entire city visionthe much watched corner, the mixeduse. Who plans jane jacobs hayekian critique of urban planning. Her 1961 treatise, the death and life of great american cities, became one of the most influential american texts about the inner workings and failings of cities, inspiring generations of urban planners and. One of the first people to understand this was not an architect or builder, but a journalist and activist without any formal training in city planning. Today, janes walks are held around the world, a fitting tribute to the woman who saved our cities.
Jacobs 1961 book, the death and life of great american cities, became the manifesto of a movement and a new view of city planning. They are open to the public but shielded from public view, and thus lack the checks and inhibitions exerted by eyepoliced city streets, becoming. Being human is itself difficult, and therefore all kinds of settlements except dream cities. In the book jacobs launched a broadside against the concepts of urban renewal that were fashionable at the time. Jane jacobs quotes author of the death and life of great. The death and life of great american cities is a nononsense guide on how to make cities lively, vibrant, humane places to live and work. Jane jacobs 4 may 1916 25 april 2006 her influential book the death and life of great american cities 1961 argued that urban renewal did not respect the needs of most citydwellers. They were at complete loggerheads, recalls jim jacobs. Jun 29, 2009 produced by the active living network, a project of the robert wood johnson foundation. I have always wanted to read this book and now i have my chance. Jane jacobss image of the city becoming jane jacobs. Sep 21, 2016 jane jacobs, the writer who changed the face of the modern city. Jane jacobs predictions about detroit open your city.
Jane jacobs, the writer who changed the face of the modern city. Jacobs is most wellknown for having penned the book the life and death of great american cities, published in 1961. She describes a trip to bostons north end neighborhood in 1959, finding it friendly, safe, vibrant and healthy, and contrasting her experience against her conversations with elite planners and financiers in the area, who lament it as a terrible slum in need of renewal. If so, it might well become the most influential work on cities since lewis mumfords classic, the culture of cities. The death and life of great american cities open library.