Jane Jacobs RIP

[owlmoose]

Pre-eminent urban scholar Jane Jacobs dies.

The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which she wrote in 1961, is still the classic work on city neighborhoods -- how they work, what makes them living and vibrant and real. It's one of the few college textbooks I kept, and I still pull it out when I want to make a point about planning. Her legacy is secure, but the Cities world will miss her.

Comments

[regann]

I've never heard of Jane Jacobs but her books sounds very interesting.

What did you study in college?

[rustehroll.livejournal.com]

I think the urban geography course I took was possibly the most interesting thing. We focused more on suburbs really, and how they're created to keep people inside content, but they also keep them from moving around the main city with the lack of transport.

Meep.

It was something I could see myself studying more, but I wasn't sure how much work there was for city planners!

[coco-keesses.livejournal.com]

I'm just now reading books from Venturi and Scott Brown (Architecture as Signs and Systems), and just yesterday read about Jane Jacobs. Must look her up. Did the cities program ever work with the UPenn department? I feel like a dork having been so close to the action, and yet architecture wasn't really that interesting for me at that period in my life. SB also writes of the genius of Louis Kahn, but I will never get over my grudge of having to use one of his buildings.