Jane Jacobs at 100

This past week we celebrated the 100th birthday of Jane Jacobs, the writer, urbanologist and activist, who challenged both the ivory tower's and city hall's notions of how to design and care for our big cities.

I wasn't aware of the big anniversary when I wrote it last week, but by happenstance, she appeared in my last post as she has numerous times in this space over the past seven years.

When I heard the news of her centenary, I planned on commemorating it with a post of my own, until a piece written by my friend, the architectural historian Francis Morrone was brought to my attention yesterday. For my money, short of her own writing, it's the best thing written on Jane Jacobs.

So the only sensible thing I could do was steal it.

From the September 20, 2007 edition of the New York Sun, here is "The Triumph of Jane Jacobs", written by Francis Morrone, the man who first taught me about Jane Jacobs, and so much else.