Jane Jacobs - Question of Cities

What do Mumbai’s buildings owe the street?

Modern architecture has become mesmerised by the skyline and silhouette, and forgotten the human scale, the intimate two metres at which people experience the building. Bandra Kurla Complex, among similar areas, show the now default typology of blank podium towers,…

‘Cities that care’: A blueprint for feminist cities

A city is the ultimate act of an inclusive democratic society, a political act. It is also an important vehicle for the aspirations of equality of historically marginalised like the poor, women, caste and gender minorities, and people with different…

We want safe cities, we want feminist cities

The heinous rape-murder of a doctor in Kolkata sparked off heated discussions on women’s safety in cities. Safety of women anywhere is non-negotiable, it is the bare minimum, and it is not entirely women’s responsibility. Women also need to be…

The best of QoC 2023

As 2023 comes to a close, it is customary to compile year-end lists of the work done throughout the year. At Question of Cities, we join the bandwagon not as an exercise in self-congratulation but more as a reflection of…

Streets are sutradhars of people’s lives, first units of neighbourhoods

Streets, as living and meeting spaces for people, are more than roads. Street-based neighbourhoods reflect social cohesion and inclusiveness in cities but streets are being transformed into roads where people’s presence matters the least. Shop-fronted roads, built for consumptive economy…

Reading Jane Jacobs today: Why her urban renewal agenda is still relevant

The doyenne of urban activism, Jane Jacobs, urged professional urban planners to understand that a city is more than its economy and its structures, that it is made by the everyday lives and interactions of people. Through her writings and…

Jane Jacobs’ focus on people and everyday lives in cities resonates in India

Jane Jacobs, the American journalist and barefoot urban planner of the 1960s, was often dismissed as a ‘housewife’ and her creatively built community of protestors as ‘nothing but a bunch of mothers’ by professional planners. However, Jacobs kept her focus…

Jane Walks: A global movement to connect with cities and communities

How well do you know your city and its neighbourhood? Have you explored its layers of history and observed the nooks and corners that are changing? When Jane Jacobs Walks started in 2007 in the United States, a year after…

The life and times of Jane Jacobs, the urban activist who revitalised city planning

Jane Jacobs and her community-based ideas of urban planning snowballed into a movement as her influence spread. The urbanist and activist single-handedly transformed city-making and fought for a healthy, vibrant city. A series of engaging illustrations charts the life, times…