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Jane Jacobs on People-Centered Urban Planning
How a journalist with no formal urban planning education changed the way we build cities
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”
— Jane Jacobs in The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961)
For anyone who dabbles in urban planning, urban design, and other city-related fields, Jane Jacobs is certainly a familiar name. She was an American-Canadian journalist, author, and activist who greatly influenced the field of urban studies despite having no formal training in it.
Her book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, is arguably the most widely read literature among urbanists. Many of Jacobs’ ideas are still relevant today and are still considered by urban planners throughout the globe. One of her most enduring ideas is the notion of “people-centered urban planning” which we’ll discuss here.
Jane Jacobs is somewhat of a heroine for a lot of people, and there’s a good reason for that. To understand it, first, we should examine her battle with Robert Moses in the 1950s-1960s.
