Jane Jacobs was an urbanist, writer and activist. She is best known for
The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), a powerful critique of the
urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States. The book has been
credited with reaching beyond planning issues to influence the spirit of the
times.
Along with her
well-known printed works, Jacobs is equally well known for organizing
grass-roots efforts to block urban-renewal projects that would have destroyed
local neighborhoods. She was instrumental in the eventual cancellation of the
Lower Manhattan Expressway, and after moving to Canada in 1968, equally
influential in canceling the Spadina Expressway and the associated network of
highways under construction.
To read click here: Jane Jacobs (1916 - 2006)
