The Economy of Cities
Jane JacobsPublished1970
Pages288
Formatpaperback
PublisherKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Synopsis
In this book, Jane Jacobs, building on the work of her debut, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, investigates the delicate way cities balance the interplay between the domestic production of goods and the ever-changing tide of imports. Using case studies of developing cities in the ancient, pre-agricultural world, and contemporary cities on the decline, like the financially irresponsible New York City of the mid-sixties, Jacobs identifies the main drivers of urban prosperity and growth, often via counterintuitive and revelatory lessons.
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About Jane Jacobs
J
Jane Jacobs
1916–2006
Jane Jacobs (born Jane Butzner; May 4, 1916 – April 25, 2006) was a Canadian and American journalist, author, and activist best known for her influence on urban studies. Her influential book *The Death and Life of Great American Cities* (1961) argued that urban renewal did not respect the needs of most city-dwellers. The book also introduced sociology concepts such as "eyes on the street" and "social capital". Jacobs was well known for organizing grassroots efforts to protect existing neighborhoods from "slum clearance" – and particularly for her opposition to Robert Moses in his plans to overhaul her neighborhood, Greenwich Village. She was instrumental in the eventual cancellation of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, which would have passed directly through SoHo and Little Italy, and was arrested in 1968 for inciting a crowd at a public hearing on the project. After moving to Toronto in 1968, she joined the opposition to the Spadina Expressway and the associated network of expressways in Toronto planned and under construction. As a mother and a female writer who criticized experts in the male-dominated field of urban planning, Jacobs endured scorn from established figures, who called her a "housewife" and a "crazy dame." She did not have a college degree, or any formal training in urban planning, and was criticized for being unscholarly and imprecise. She was also accused of inattention to racial inequality, and her concept of "unslumming" has been compared with gentrification. <u>Source</u>: Jane Jacobs. (2016, May 4). In *Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia*. Retrieved 10:55, May 4, 2016, from `https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jane_Jacobs&oldid=718578863`
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