The Influence Of Jane Jacobs

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When thinking about the average American city a portrait of buildings of all shapes and sizes comes to mind. There are shops, houses, restaurants, businesses, parks, schools, and all of the other various amenities that come together to make a city desirable and convenient. This layout that city dwellers most specifically the ones that live in New York City have come to love is greatly indebted to a woman named Jane Jacobs. This woman of short stature was able to fight off wealthy men who wielded great influence in New York with the stroke of her pen, and a sign in her hand. Without Jane Jacobs New York City would be a vastly different landscape made up of ten lane highways, and vast tracts of empty space if men like Robert Moses and Ebenezer Howard had their way. …show more content…

Jacobs is most commonly known for introducing ideological theories that have played a major role in urban development and planning to this day. These ideologies are mixed primary use development, eyes on the street protection, and social capital, which she talks about extensively in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities. These ideologies were not only radically different for their time, but now they have almost become a kind of canon for the modern urban

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