Remembering Jane
It has now been three years since the world lost the most well-known urbanist, Jane Jacobs. On the 1-year anniversary of her passing in 2007 I wrote:
Jacobs was not a professional planner, most likely a good thing in my view. She authored the classic 1961 book, Death & Life of Great American Cities, as well as a number of other books on urban economics and planning. Again, not a planner by training but by instinct and observation. For much of her life she worked against the urban experiments being tested by the professional planners and traffic engineers.
Jacobs was born in Scranton PA but lived in NYC for several decades before moving to Toronto. Two months after her passing I was walking the streets of her Toronto neighborhood. Though not perfect, I can see why she was drawn there. Beautiful dense urban city with active sidewalks.
I’ve been working on my Masters in Urban Planning & Real Estate Development (UPRED) from Saint Louis University since the Fall of 2006 (I’ll graduate in December ’09). In my studies I’ve read a lot of books and academic articles. Some of the reading has been by Jacobs and some has been about Jacobs. At least her theories. Much has been critical too.
Keep in mind it has been nearly 50 years since Death & Life was first published. Much of what she advocated doesn’t apply because cities ignored her warnings and razed large swaths of land for Urban Renewal.
Today’s cities are vastly different than the cities she studied in the 1950s for her book. Of course her observations not longer apply — we’ve long destroyed the very qualities she spoke so highly of.
The next year St. Louis lost our own urban advocate, Marti Frumhoff. Before Frumhoff died in 2007 she gave me copies of four additional books by Jacobs. I’ve yet to read these. To honor Jacobs I’m going to pick one to read this weekend. Her Death & Life book should be required reading for elected officials and, well, everyone else. May 4th marks her 93rd Birthday.
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Her book ‘Dark Age Ahead’ is a must read. Written just before her death and before our current economic issues, she almost predicts a lot of what is going on now and was very down about the future of our cities (but also hopeful we can change our ways). It is also interesting in how critical she was of her current city at the time (Toronto).
I was going to suggest the same as MH. A good, if depressing, read; I read it 4 or so years ago and I think if I revisited it, it might make me choke. I’ve forgotten the hopeful parts…