Jane Jacobs (1916-2006)

[Kiah]

"Legendary urbanist, thinker, writer, and activist Jane Jacobs died yesterday, Tuesday, April 25, 2006. Jacobs, never formally educated or professionally trained in urban planning, came to be the field's most famous critic and commentator, through her writings and grassroots activism. She inspired countless individuals, re-establishing the importance of citizen participation in community design.

Remembering Jane Jacobs

"Great cities are not like towns, only larger. They are not like suburbs, only denser. They differ from towns and suburbs in basic ways, and one of them is that cities are, by definition, full of strangers."

"It may be that we have become so feckless as a people that we no longer care how things do work, but only what kind of quick, easy outer impression they give. If so, there is little hope for our cities or probably for much else in our society. But I do not think this is so."

--Jane Jacobs, The Death And Life of Great American Cities (1961)