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Jane Jacobs: New Urbanist Who Transformed City Planning
Engaging in urban planning
- The writer and journalist Jane Jacobs is mainly known for her writings on urban planning.
- Through magazines such as Architectural Forum or Fortune, she explained her perception on what was wrong with the approach to redevelopment in New York City, for instance.
- After having attended courses on urban planning, she launched her most famous book 'The death and life of great American cities', which was both highly praised and criticized.
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Jane Jacobs and her biginnings
Born in a Jewish family in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Jane Jacobs is considered a founder of the New Urbanist movement.
What made her vision particular was the fact that she would look at cities as though they were living ecosystems, made up of interconnected elements. Furthermore, she was not into overcrowded cities, but rather well-planned high density. Having always been attracted by the design of the cities, she took up a career in writing on the topic once she moved in New York City and later on in Greenwich Village.
Engaging in urban planning
- The writer and journalist Jane Jacobs is mainly known for her writings on urban planning.
- Through magazines such as Architectural Forum or Fortune, she explained her perception on what was wrong with the approach to redevelopment in New York City, for instance.
- After having attended courses on urban planning, she launched her most famous book 'The death and life of great American cities', which was both highly praised and criticized.
Jane Jacobs' activism
The writer Jane Jacobs has always taken a high interest in urban planning, emphasizing the necessity to take into account community's needs.
She was particularly involved in redevelopment projects such as the ones concerning the Greenwich Village and Toronto, where she participated in demonstrations against changes that did not focus on community, but on individual interests of the 'master builders'.
'The death and life of great American cities'
Jane Jacobs was a writer and activist who published seven books throughout her lifetime and many more articles on urban planning in different magazines. In her most famous book, she presents new principles of city building and rebuilding. The focus is on great cities rather than on towns or suburbs. Furthermore, conventional urban is blamed for not having taken into consideration community's needs and natural ecosystems.
From the writer's point of view, diversity is the key principle and it can be reached by making sure of the following elements: mixing uses and functions within the neighborhoods as well as older buildings with newer ones, short blocks and denser neighborhoods.
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Key Ideas
Rising Noise Around Us
- Cities have a noise pollution problem, which is largely unaddressed.
- Noise complaints regarding the high decibel levels of traffic, airplanes, and even helicopters are getting more fre...
Effect Of Noise on Children
- According to the United Nations, about two-thirds of the world's population will be living in cities by the next 30 years.
- The World Health Organization recommends classrooms to be not louder than 35 decibels, which is never the case in big cities.
- Children are facing disruption in their learning, and research points out that those who study in a noisy place are 11 months behind the ones who are studying in quieter places in the same vicinity.
Living In Noise
Most of the city planning is done so that the affluent neighborhoods are in quieter areas.
However, this is also nullified when the ultra-rich who travel frequently stay close to the transit hubs (like Airports), being exposed to high decibels of noise.
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Old Fundamentals
There is a tendency to undervalue old ideas and fundamental wisdom, based on an assumption that old ideas will provide an average result.
In reality, old fundamentals are those great and...
Executing Of Old Ideas
- While fitness fads come and go, the fundamentals of basic weight lifting or daily walk remain strong.
- Companies executing fundamental selling practices, like making more calls to increase sales, seem to do better.
- Old books offering time-tested knowledge are still in print, while newer bestsellers disappear after a short time.
Implementing fundamentals is often the difference between success and failure.
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Forced innovations
Throughout history, disease outbreaks have forced new innovations in urban design. Cholera epidemics in the 1800s led to the necessity for new plumbing and sewer systems as well as new zoning la...
Virus-free transit
Better design could help reduce crowds where viruses can easily spread.
At airports, security screening could be done differently so passengers are not forced to wait in crowded lines. It can reduce congestion and person-to-person contact.
Buildings
Air quality should happen in the public transportation system as well as inside buildings since we spend most of our time indoors.
- Air can be made much cleaner with UV-C light, for example, that can eliminate viruses in air treatment systems.
- Bringing fresh air into the buildings is important, as is improving ventilation outside in dense neighborhoods.
- Future technology may include sensors that can detect viruses on surfaces in real-time that could trigger air cleaning.
- Some buildings could also deploy temperature screening to identify people who might be ill.
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