Jane Jacobs
1916–2006
Journalist and activist who in 1961 showed that planners were destroying the very thing that makes a neighbourhood work.
Jacobs watched her own street in Greenwich Village and described what the urbanism of the day could not see: that safety comes not from the police but from «eyes on the street», people going in and out of shops and doorways at different hours. That requires mixed uses, short blocks and buildings of different ages.
Her book stopped urban motorways and changed the discipline, though her legacy is now invoked in both directions: by those defending neighbourhood life and by those opposing new housing. She is worth reading with that in mind.
On Jane Jacobs in this archive
- Urban economy
Life on Streets Shapes Safe Cities
How everyday interactions on streets create safe and vibrant urban spaces. Learn about Jane Jacobs' theories on…
Jane Jacobs 3 min read - Infrastructure
15 minutes City: Urban Planning Concept Became the New World Order's Master Plan
You have to give the contemporary conspiracy machine some credit: it has an extraordinary talent for finding…
Carlos Moreno 3 min read - Housing
Sharon Zukin's Gentrification Critique in 'Naked City'
Sharon Zukin, in her book *Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places*
Jane Jacobs 2 min read - Public space
Jane Jacobs: the street as the engine of the city
Jane Jacobs showed in 1961 that mixed uses, density and active streets keep a neighbourhood safe better than any…
Robert Moses 3 min read
