Eyes Wide Open

Amid all of the emotional and heartfelt tributes this week upon the death of legendary urbanist Jane Jacobs comes a critical view by Nicholai Ouroussoff in today's New York Times.  It is titled, "Outgrowing Jane Jacobs."  Ouroussoff contends that the pendulum has swung so dangerously in favor of her ideas that it has distorted the public's understanding of urban planning.  Her complete rejection of modernism and the value of str0ng leadership and major infrastructure investment hurt more than help. 

"Perhaps her legacy has been most damaged by those who continue to treat 'Death and Life' [of Great American Cities] as sacred text rather than as what it was: a heroic cri di coeur.  Of those, the New Urbanists are most guilty; in many cases, they reduced her vision of corner hsops and busy streets to a superficial town formula that creates the illusion of urban diversity, but masks a stifling conformity at its core."

The answer, Ouroussoff contends, is not to discount the importance of Jacobs' attention to the "more delicate bonds that tie us to a community," but to remember the most important lesson she had to teach us:  the ability to look at the city with eyes wide open, without rigid prejudices, will help us build better cities.

  

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