R.I.P. Jane Jacobs
Timothy Sandefur on Apr 28th 2006
Jane Jacobs, the author of The Death And Life of Great American Cities, a classic indictment of urban planning, died this week. Jacobs’ book was important for its critique of the tabula rasa notion that redevelopment officials have toward cities: that if we just tear down and build up from scratch, we can create desirable places to live. But Jacobs understood that what gives cities life is spontaneity, diversity, and dynamism. Sometimes, this means cities are messy. But it also is what makes a community out of a bunch of buildings. It’s what San Francisco has, and that a pedestrian mall or an awful, uber-planned community does not. And those qualities cannot be fostered by urban redevelopment.
Filed in The Bookshelf