Jane Jacobs’ writings span several disciplines—including ethics and most especially economics—but she is best known for her contributions to and her critique of urban planning, design, and policy. Many of those whom she influenced in academia, policy, and activism took the occasion of her … [Read more...]
Sandy Ikeda’s “Eyes on Brooklyn Heights” Jane’s Walk this Sunday
Sandy Ikeda has led a Brooklyn Heights Jane's Walk every year since 2011 in celebration of Jane Jacobs' 101st birthday. Meet at the steps of Borough Hall (facing the Plaza and fountain) Sunday May 7th at 12:15. When you think of a city you like, what comes to mind? Can a city be a work of art? How … [Read more...]
Market Urbanist Book Review: Cities and The Wealth of Nations by Jane Jacobs
No one writer of the last 60 years has influenced urban planning and thinking as much as Jane Jacobs. It seems like just about everyone who has ever set foot in a major city has read The Death and Life of Great American Cities and most professional urban planners have embraced at least part of her … [Read more...]
Towards A Liberal Approach To Urban Form
It is because every individual knows little and, in particular, because we rarely know which of us knows best that we trust the independent and competitive efforts of many to induce the emergence of what we shall want when we see it.— Friedrich Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty Imagine the … [Read more...]
The Great Mind And Vision Of Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs (May 4, 1916 – April 25, 2006), one of the most important and influential public intellectuals of the twentieth century, died a few days shy of her ninetieth birthday. The intellectual legacy she left for social theorists is as significant as that of anyone else of her generation.She … [Read more...]
Episode 05: Samuel Zipp and Nathan Storring on Vital Little Plans
This week on the Market Urbanism Podcast, I chat with Samuel Zipp and Nathan Storring on the wonderful new volume Vital Little Plans: The Short Works of Jane Jacobs. From Jacobs' McCarthy-era defense of unorthodox thinking to snippets of her unpublished history of humanity, the book is a … [Read more...]
The Invisible City
Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities is a short, often wonderful but consistently enigmatic (at least to me) novel about an extended conversation between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. Marco tells the Khan a series of tales about fantastical cities he’s perhaps only imagined.I’ve always … [Read more...]
Markets As Cities
Why are a growing number of libertarians fascinated by cities and indeed pinning their hopes for a freer future on cities? Two examples of this just from recent Freeman issues are by Zachary Caceres on startup cities and the winner of the Thorpe-Freeman Blog Contest, Adam Millsap, responding to one … [Read more...]