Jane Jacobs
Also known as Jane Butzner, Jane Isabel Jacobs
American-Canadian writer and activist (1916 to 2006) who changed how cities are planned.
At a glance
Main ideas
Eyes on the street, Four generators of diversity, Cities as ecosystems …
See all 5Criticism
No credentials, From the left
See all 2Books to start with
The Death and Life of Great American Cities, The Economy of Cities, Cities and the Wealth of Nations …
See all 5Connections
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Jacobs was a journalist with no planning degree who attacked 1950s urban renewal and slum clearance.
- Her 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities argued for dense, mixed-use, walkable neighbourhoods.
- In New York she fought Robert Moses's plans, including the Lower Manhattan Expressway, which was eventually cancelled.
- After moving to Toronto in 1968 she helped stop the Spadina Expressway.
- She considered her economic ideas, on how cities grow, her most important work.
Why it matters
- Her ideas, such as eyes on the street and mixed uses, became standard in urban design; she is a starting point for anyone thinking about what makes a city work.
Key facts
- Born
- 4 May 1916, Scranton, Pennsylvania1
- Died
- 25 Apr 2006, Toronto, aged 891
- Work
- Associate editor at Architectural Forum from 1952 to 1962, then a full-time author1
- Lived
- New York from 1935 to 1968; Toronto from 1968 to 20061
- Citizenship
- Became a Canadian citizen in 19741
- Arrested
- 10 Apr 1968, at a public hearing on the Lower Manhattan Expressway; the charge was reduced to disorderly conduct1
- Honours
- Officer of the Order of Canada (1996); American Sociological Association community and urban sociology section's Outstanding Lifetime Contribution award (2002)1
- Coined
- "Mixed primary uses" and "eyes on the street"1
Main ideas
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Eyes on the street2
Busy streets are kept safe by the people using and watching them, not mainly by police.
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Four generators of diversity2
Mixed primary uses, short blocks, buildings of different ages, and density.
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Cities as ecosystems1
She argued cities are living systems and favoured mixed-use development and bottom-up planning.
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Import replacement1
In The Economy of Cities, cities grow by replacing imports with local production, which shifts what they import.
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Cities before agriculture1
She argued that cities came first and agriculture was discovered in them, against the usual account.
Criticism
Books to start with
The line under a date fills as it gets older: empty when new, full at 2 years.
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities1
Her attack on 1950s planning and case for lively city streets.
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The Economy of Cities1
How cities grow through import replacement.
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Cities and the Wealth of Nations1
The city, not the nation, as the real unit of economic life.
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Systems of Survival1
A dialogue on two moral syndromes, commercial and guardian.
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Dark Age Ahead1
Signs of decline in five pillars of North American culture.
Connections
Links
Sources
Last checked against its sources today
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