On Reading Jane Jacobs...Finally

A planner who quoted Jane Jacobs for years finally discovers what the author really said in her classic book.

1 minute read

July 19, 2006, 10:00 AM PDT

By Christian Madera @http://www.twitter.com/cpmadera

"Despite the fact that I consider myself a hard-core urbanist steeped in the gospel of Jane Jacobs, until recently I had never actually read her classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities..."

"I decided to read itâ€"really read itâ€"about a year ago, after New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff pinned opposition to developer Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards megaproject in Brooklyn on "acolytes of urbanist Jane Jacobs." Predictably I didnâ€™t sit down with the book until after Jacobs died in April."

"The Jacobs I thought I knewâ€"an advocate for small-scale thinking and an opponent of large-scale projectsâ€"is not the one I discovered when I actually began to read her text."

Thanks to ArchNewsNow

FULL STORY: Jane Jacobs Revisited

Monday, July 17, 2006 in Metropolis Magazine

Architecture Social / Demographics World

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Start Learning

Advertise with us

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.