Jane Jacobs has died at 89 in Toronto. Jacobs was an urban activist and writer about cities. Her book Death and Life of Great American Cities is the best book I've ever read about cities — how they work, how they change. Reading that book rendered visible whole rafts of secrets about how the world around me functioned. It was like taking off a blindfold.
"The key with Jane was that she believed that the world was a complex place. It was not a simple place, it was a complex place, and you couldn't just think in straight lines," said Sewell."You had to think about context, how things fit together. That was the key about her."
"Jane Jacobs will be remembered as one of the great urban thinkers of our time," Toronto Mayor David Miller said Tuesday in a statement.
"Her contributions and insights have forever changed the way North American cities are developed.
(Photo credit: Juan Freire, Flickr)
(Thanks, Dave!)
