Remembering Jane Jacobs

Tuesday, March 19th, 2019
Jane Jacobs  (1916-2006) was an urbanist and activist whose writings championed a fresh, community-based approach to city building. She had no formal training as a planner, and yet her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, introduced ground-breaking ideas about how cities function, evolve, and fail. The impact of Jane Jacobs's observation, activism, and writing has led to a "planning blueprint" for generations of architects, planners, politicians and activists to practice. Jacobs saw cities as integrated systems that had their own logic and dynamism which would change over time according to how they were used. With an eye for detail, she wrote eloquently about sidewalks, parks, retail design, and self-organization. She promoted higher density in cities, short blocks, local economies, and mixed uses. Jacobs helped derail the car-centered approach to urban planning in both New York and Toronto, invigorating neighborhood activism by helping stop the expansion of expressways and roads. Follow this link to learn more about Jane Jacobs. Sourced from: International Association for Community Development and The Center for the Living City