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April 25, 2006
Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs died today. I'm ashamed to admit that I've never actually read all of Death and Life of Great American Cities but I did read Dark Age Ahead when I was on a collapse-of-civilization kick last year. Even in a book not actually about cities, she had so much to say that it boggles the mind.
I really do love cities -- not just what they are, but what they stand for: the idea that we are richer when we are in contact and communion with one another. Even as someone who doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about urban planning, you can see every day how Jacobs' explanations of how cities work -- or don't -- is spot-on time and time again. She made me understand communities as eco-systems and how, like eco-systems, they can be devestated by thoughtless changes in their environment.
Net/net: Jane Jacobs makes me feel much better about not being able to afford a car. Why live in a city if you're not going to go for a walk in it?
There's a great obit in the NY Times today. I suggest you give it a read.
Posted by Drew at April 25, 2006 10:41 PM
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