Jane Jacobs Would Support ‘City of Yes’

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Jane Jacobs’ writings, particularly her 1961 magnum opus, “The Death and Life of Great American Cities,” have achieved a Talmudic stature among urbanists. Her works are crackling with impassioned opinions about the ideal city that at times appear to contradict one another. Readers can — and do — endlessly parse her words for insight into contemporary urban planning debates. Followers of a certain faith like to consider how their messiah would respond to a given quandary: What would Jane do? As New York City, under Mayor Eric Adams, embarks on its most significant rezoning since the year of the publication of “Death and Life,” the question is naturally being aired again. A recent article in Common Edge by one influential Jacobs admirer, Roberta Brandes Gratz, comes down definitively: “Jane Jacobs Would Reject NYC’s Proposed ‘City of Yes.’” Gratz, a well-respected urbanist whose books include “The Battle for Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs,” argues that Jac

What lessons can ‘The Death and Life of Great American Cities’ teach about New York’s rezoning plan? Jane Jacobs' writings, particularly her 1961 magnum opus, "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," have achieved a Talmudic stature among urbanists. Her works are crackling with impassioned opinions about the ideal city that at times appear to contradict one another. Readers can — and do — endlessly parse her words for insight into contemporary urban planning debates. Followers of a certain faith like to consider how their messiah would respond to a given quandary: What would Jane do? As

Jane Jacobs Would Support ‘City of Yes’

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