Jane Jacobs

Urban planner, Author

1916 – 2006

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Who was Jane Jacobs?

Jane Jacobs OC OOnt was an American-Canadian journalist, author, and activist best known for her influence on urban studies. Her influential book The Death and Life of Great American Cities argued that urban renewal did not respect the needs of most city-dwellers. The book also introduced sociology concepts such as "eyes on the street" and "social capital".

Jacobs was well known for organizing grassroots efforts to protect existing neighborhoods from "slum clearance" – and particularly for her opposition to Robert Moses in his plans to overhaul her neighborhood, Greenwich Village. She was instrumental in the eventual cancellation of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, which would have passed directly through Washington Square Park, and was arrested in 1968 for inciting a crowd at a public hearing on the project. After moving to Canada in 1968, she joined the opposition to the Spadina Expressway and the associated network of expressways in Toronto planned and under construction.

As a mother and a female writer who criticized experts in the male-dominated field of urban planning, Jacobs endured scorn from established figures, who called her a "housewife" and a "crazy dame."

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Born
May 4, 1916
Scranton
Also known as
  • Джекобс, Джейн
Nationality
  • United States of America
  • Canada
  • Germany
Profession
Education
  • Columbia University
Employment
  • United States Department of State
Lived in
  • New York City
    (1938 - 1968)
  • Toronto
    (1968 - )
  • Scranton
  • Greenwich Village
Died
Apr 25, 2006
Toronto

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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"Jane Jacobs." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/jane_jacobs>.

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