Celebrating Jane Jacobs
Dear readers,
A woman who speaks her mind, writes for a living, nurtures deep interest in cities as her passion. Jane Jacobs sounded a lot like what I was – except for her strident street activism. Back in 1996-97, while on an environmental fellowship to the United States, there was an occasion to meet the grand dame of urban renewal who took on the Goliaths of urban planning of her time, but it fell through, to my dismay. However, Jacobs has been a guiding light on my journalism-cities journey, her words instructive, her work illuminating. This edition of Question of Cities, gives her an Indian home – not because her legacy needed one but because we, the living, need to remember her, her words and work.
Jane Jacobs, the barefoot urban planner, changed the way cities are built and seen. Her principles evolved through her work on the ground, gave primacy to what are often dismissed as the smaller or lesser aspects of city making – shared spaces, vibrant streets, parks and so on. Jacobs had her share of critics, during and after her lifetime, but her vision has endured and informed the mainstream urban planning narratives in cities around the world. She transformed urban planning, taught us to look at the everyday lives of people in cities, and learn the art of protesting to make vibrant and equitable cities. How relevant are her ideas today, what do they mean in the Indian context, what does the essential reading on her comprise are questions we address in this edition published to mark her birth anniversary on May 4.
Saskia Sassen, the internationally-renowned Dutch-American sociologist, who cherished a long relationship with Jane Jacobs, writes the lead essay. The ideas that Jacobs advocated have lost none of their relevance more than 60 years later, Sassen says, adding that when people in cities across the world fight to save their neighbourhoods, local economies, and green spaces, they knowingly or unknowingly invoke Jane Jacobs who taught us to ‘see’ the city, to register its everydayness, and recognise what becomes invisible in the process of conventional urban development. Read it here.
Architect-activist PK Das, founder of Question of Cities, was awarded the first-ever international Jane Jacobs Medal on her birth centenary in 2016. His in-depth essay, a natural fit in this edition, focuses on Jacobs’ determination to make cities livable and her emphasis on small matters of city-making. Jacobs spoke of housing density and gentrification in Manhattan, and how this contributed to the deterioration of mental and physical health of people; Mumbai shows a parallel gentrification, writes Das while commenting that India’s mainstream ‘Brahminical’ urban planners, who dismiss her, would do well to engage with her ideas. Read it here.
In a series of engaging illustrations powered by a narrative and Jacobs’ quotes, Maitreyee Rele charts the life, times and struggles of Jane Jacobs. The visual essay shows the context in which Jacobs came into the popular conscience of New Yorkers, her fight with the bureaucratic system that were destroying cities in the mid-20th century United States, her alternative vision for neighbourhoods, and her journey from being the associate editor of the then well-known journal Architectural Forum to an influential bold voice who transformed urban planning around the world. Read it here.
Each year in the first week of May, for more than 15 years now, a few cities around the world host Jane Jacobs Walks or Jane Walks. Though Indian cities took a while to warm up to the global movement, urban designers and concerned citizens are among those leading the way now. Shobha Surin and Jashvitha Dhagey speak to four of them in Mumbai, Gurugram, Imphal and Chennai to find out what their endeavours have meant for their cities and for popularising Jane Jacobs’ work. Read it here.
For those who do are still getting to know Jane Jacobs or wonder what the old dame has for this generation, Jashvitha Dhagey weaves together a compendium or The Jane Jacobs 101 reader with several links to her work, essays about her, and quotes from Indian urbanists who have engaged with her. Do not miss it. Read it here.
And may I remind you of the QoC-CANSAFellowship? Please recommend this in your circles. I hope you found this edition on Jane Jacobs fulfilling. Share it with friends and write to me at smruti@questionofcities.org or contact@questionofcities.org.
Thank you
Smruti
May 05, 2023
Dear readers,
A woman who speaks her mind, writes for a living, nurtures deep interest in cities as her passion. Jane Jacobs sounded a lot like what I was – except for her strident street activism. Back in 1996-97, while on an environmental fellowship to the United States, there was an occasion to meet the grand dame of urban renewal who took on the Goliaths of urban planning of her time, but it fell through, to my dismay. However, Jacobs has been a guiding light on my journalism-cities journey, her words instructive, her work illuminating. This edition of Question of Cities, gives her an Indian home – not because her legacy needed one but because we, the living, need to remember her, her words and work.
Jane Jacobs, the barefoot urban planner, changed the way cities are built and seen. Her principles evolved through her work on the ground, gave primacy to what are often dismissed as the smaller or lesser aspects of city making – shared spaces, vibrant streets, parks and so on. Jacobs had her share of critics, during and after her lifetime, but her vision has endured and informed the mainstream urban planning narratives in cities around the world. She transformed urban planning, taught us to look at the everyday lives of people in cities, and learn the art of protesting to make vibrant and equitable cities. How relevant are her ideas today, what do they mean in the Indian context, what does the essential reading on her comprise are questions we address in this edition published to mark her birth anniversary on May 4.
Saskia Sassen, the internationally-renowned Dutch-American sociologist, who cherished a long relationship with Jane Jacobs, writes the lead essay. The ideas that Jacobs advocated have lost none of their relevance more than 60 years later, Sassen says, adding that when people in cities across the world fight to save their neighbourhoods, local economies, and green spaces, they knowingly or unknowingly invoke Jane Jacobs who taught us to ‘see’ the city, to register its everydayness, and recognise what becomes invisible in the process of conventional urban development. Read it here.
Architect-activist PK Das, founder of Question of Cities, was awarded the first-ever international Jane Jacobs Medal on her birth centenary in 2016. His in-depth essay, a natural fit in this edition, focuses on Jacobs’ determination to make cities livable and her emphasis on small matters of city-making. Jacobs spoke of housing density and gentrification in Manhattan, and how this contributed to the deterioration of mental and physical health of people; Mumbai shows a parallel gentrification, writes Das while commenting that India’s mainstream ‘Brahminical’ urban planners, who dismiss her, would do well to engage with her ideas. Read it here.
In a series of engaging illustrations powered by a narrative and Jacobs’ quotes, Maitreyee Rele charts the life, times and struggles of Jane Jacobs. The visual essay shows the context in which Jacobs came into the popular conscience of New Yorkers, her fight with the bureaucratic system that were destroying cities in the mid-20th century United States, her alternative vision for neighbourhoods, and her journey from being the associate editor of the then well-known journal Architectural Forum to an influential bold voice who transformed urban planning around the world. Read it here.
Each year in the first week of May, for more than 15 years now, a few cities around the world host Jane Jacobs Walks or Jane Walks. Though Indian cities took a while to warm up to the global movement, urban designers and concerned citizens are among those leading the way now. Shobha Surin and Jashvitha Dhagey speak to four of them in Mumbai, Gurugram, Imphal and Chennai to find out what their endeavours have meant for their cities and for popularising Jane Jacobs’ work. Read it here.
For those who do are still getting to know Jane Jacobs or wonder what the old dame has for this generation, Jashvitha Dhagey weaves together a compendium or The Jane Jacobs 101 reader with several links to her work, essays about her, and quotes from Indian urbanists who have engaged with her. Do not miss it. Read it here.
And may I remind you of the QoC-CANSAFellowship? Please recommend this in your circles. I hope you found this edition on Jane Jacobs fulfilling. Share it with friends and write to me at smruti@questionofcities.org or contact@questionofcities.org.
Thank you
Smruti
May 05, 2023