The Death and Life of Great American Cities, by Jane Jacobs, is arguably the most influential book written on urban planning in the 20th century. First published in 1961, the book is a scathing critique of modernist planning policies that Jacobs claims were destroying many existing inner-city communities. Image File history File links DeathAndLife. ... Jane Jacobs Jane Jacobs, OC , O.Ont (May 4, 1916 – April 25, 2006) was an American-born Canadian writer and activist. ... Urban planning is concerned with the ordering and design of settlements, from the smallest towns to the worlds largest cities. ... See also: 1960 in literature, other events of 1961, 1962 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Modern architecture is a broad term given to a number of building styles with similar characteristics, primarily the simplification of form and the elimination of ornament, that first arose around 1900. ...

Reserving her most vitriolic criticism for the "rationalist" planners (specifically Robert Moses) of the 1950s and 1960s, she argues that modernist urban planning rejects the city, because it rejects human beings living in a community characterized by layered complexity and seeming chaos. The modernist planners used deductive reasoning to find principles by which to plan cities. Among these policies the most violent was urban renewal; the most prevalent was and is the separation of uses (radically oversimplified: residential, industrial, commercial). Robert Moses (1888–1981) Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was the master builder of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, and other suburbs. ... Blight often stands side-by-side with new structures during urban renewal efforts. ...

Instead of such policies, which she claims destroy communities and innovative economies by creating isolated, unnatural urban spaces, Jacobs advocates a dense, mixed-use urban aesthetic that preserves the uniqueness inherent in individual neighborhoods. Her aesthetic can be considered opposite to that of the modernists, upholding redundancy and vibrancy, against order and efficiency. She frequently cites New York City's Greenwich Village as an example of a vibrant urban community. Not coincidentally, this is one of the communities that may very well have been preserved, in part at least, on account of her writing and activism. Neighbourhood is a creative-euphoric musical project led by Fabian Szewczyk and Greg Ganczewski (UK/Poland). ... Nickname: Big Apple Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... The Washington Square Arch Greenwich Village (pronounced Grennich Village; also called simply the Village) is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern) Manhattan in New York City. ...

The book also played a major role in the urban development of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where Jacobs was involved in the campaign to stop the Spadina Expressway. Toronto, where Jacobs moved in 1969 and lived for the remainder of her life, is to this day regarded as one of the relatively few major metropolises in North America to have successfully maintained a large number of residential neighborhoods in its downtown core, a status which is attributed in part to Jacobs' writing and her local community activism. Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Official languages English (French has some legal status but is not fully co-official) Flower White Trillium Tree Eastern White Pine Bird Common Loon Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty... The Spadina Expressway, now known as William R. Allen Road, was proposed in the mid-1960s as part of a network of expressways in Metropolitan Toronto. ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ...

The book continues to be Jacobs' most influential, and is still widely read by both planning professionals and the general public. While encouraging Jacobs' early writings, urban theorist Lewis Mumford found fault with her methodology^[1] in the New York Review of Books. Robert Caro has cited Jacobs' book as the strongest influence on The Power Broker, his biography of Robert Moses. Lewis Mumford Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian of technology and science, also noted for his study of cities. ... Robert Allan Caro (born October 30, 1935) is a U.S. biographer, who has written voluminous studies of city planner Robert Moses and United States President Lyndon Johnson. ... The Power Broker is a 1973 biography of Robert Moses, New York Citys Master Builder, by Robert Caro. ...

Notes

The Death and Life of Great American Cities made the Intercollegiate Studies Institute's 50 Best Books of the Twentieth Century and was #39 on National Review's list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the century. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Inc. ...

1. ^ Jane Jacobs Interviewed by Jim Kunstler for Metropolis Magazine, March 2001. Retrieved on 2006-04-23.

2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 23 is the 113th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (114th in leap years). ...

See also

New Urbanism New urbanism is an urban design movement that became very popular beginning in the 1980s and early 1990s. ...

Bibliography

• [1961] (February 1993) The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Modern Library (hardcover), New York: Random House. ISBN 0-6796-0047-7. This edition includes a new foreword written by the author.