VirginiaCreates: Jane Jacobs

Jane Jacobs: American-Canadian journalist, author, editor, and activist best known for her influence on urban studies, champion of the vitality of a city, creator of the concept "Ballad of the Sidewalk", advocate of walking, proponent for equal pay for women, mother.

“Jacobs was a woman of infinite humility, compassion, warmth and generosity of spirit. She reveled in challenging conversation with thoughtful people, listened carefully to citizen testimony at public hearings, never resisted the opportunity to stand up to power and wished only for people to continue the dialogue she started, not duplicate her words… Jacobs’s thought and writing comprise a resounding symphony of lessons and ideas; they compose a life’s work about economic, social and environmental justice.”

- The Nation, May 2006

Jane Jacobs at the White Horse Tavern in 1961 (Credit: Cervin Robinson)

Here are some facts, quotes and inspirations of Jane Jacobs, someone I had heard of but now I am enchanted. As an advocate for cities and neighborhoods, she lead the fight to save Greenwich Village and Washington Square Park, and she believed in the importance of getting out and WALKING and learning your surrounding!!! I LOVE this woman. VF

Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urbanist and activist whose writings championed a fresh, community-based approach to city building. She had no formal training as a planner, and yet her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, introduced ground-breaking ideas about how cities function, evolve and fail, that now seem like common sense to generations of architects, planners, politicians and activists.

A firm believer in the importance of local residents having input on how their neighborhoods develop, Jacobs encouraged people to familiarize themselves with the places where they live, work, and play.

janejacobswalk.org

"As a mother and a writer who criticized experts in the male-dominated field of urban planning, Jacobs endured scorn from established figures. She did not have a college degree or any formal training in urban planning, and was criticized for lacking such credentials."

Experiencing discrimination at Iron Age, she also advocated for equal pay for women and for workers' right to unionize

She was also famous for introducing the concept "Ballet of the Sidewalk" that intricate dance between neighbours and passers-by that make a street enjoyable and friendly.

After Jacobs' death in April 2006, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a Jane Jacobs Day, held on June 28, 2006.[75] The City of Toronto proclaimed her birthday the following year, May 4, 2007, as Jane Jacobs Day.

“No one can find what will work for our cities by looking at … suburban garden cities, manipulating scale models, or inventing dream cities. You’ve got to get out and walk.”

— Jane Jacobs, ‘Downtown is for People' (Fotune Classic, 1958)

Jane's Walk is a movement of free, citizen-led walking tours inspired by Jane Jacobs:

a series of free neighborhood walking, biking, and transit tours that help put people in touch with their environment and with the people who live in their community.

Our mission is to help people walk, observe, and connect with their community and environment. Walks inspire people to make a difference because they enable members of a community to discover and respond to the complexities of their city and environment through personal and shared observation.