In this analysis of Jane Jacobs's ideas and work, Alice Sparberg Alexiou tells the remarkable story of a woman who without any formal training in planning became a prominent and effective spokesperson for sensible urban change. Besides writing the seminal book about contemporary cities, Jacobs organized successful community battles in New York against powerful interests. She resisted urban renewal in the West Village in the 1960s, helped defeat the Lower Manhattan Expressway, advocated the pleasures of street life that she called "sidewalk ballet," and opposed the original Twin Towers plans. She was also active in the anti-Vietnam War movement, which eventually led her to move to Canada. There she continued both her writing and her grass-roots activism, including helping to prevent the construction of an expressway that would have cut through several neighborhoods in Toronto.Based on a rich array of interviews and primary source material, this book brings long-overdue attention to Jacobs's far-reaching influence as an original and prescient thinker. According to Jane Jacobs, "there is almost nothing you can think of that cities don't provide some insight into." In page after page, we discover that there is also much about cities today that we owe to the insights and work of Jane Jacobs.

Jane Jacobs : Urban Visionary

Alexiou, Alice

Scarborough, ON, Canada: HarperCollins Publishers Canada, Limited

New Page 1
A Maclean’s national bestseller, now with P.S.the story of a revolutionary thinker whose ideas changed our cities.
When urban planning activist Jane Jacobs died in April 2006, Canada mourned the passing of one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. But the ideas and insights of her richly packed life of social actionincluding her groundbreaking Death and Life of Great American Cities, written over 40 years agostill resonate. In Jane Jacobs: Urban Visionary, journalist Alice Sparberg Alexiou explores the ideas of this incisive, passionately engaged mind and celebrates Jacobs’ contributions to the debates that have directly informed how many of us live today.
From the controversy that erupted when Jacobs dared to take on conventional urban planning wisdom in the 1960s to Jacobs’ immigration to Canada in 1968 and her immeasurable influence on Toronto’s cityscape, as well as her lesser known and equally provocativeworks on economics, Alexiou offers a thoughtful tribute to the award-winning and inspirational thinker, writer and activist.

Jane Jacobs

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Harper-perennial

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Books by Alexiou, Alice

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Alexiou, Alice. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Jane Jacobs : Urban Visionary

Jane Jacobs