John's Blog

Yesterday, the papers reported the passing of Jane Jacobs, who wrote the influential "The Death and Life of Great American Cities". This book challenged some of commonly held assumptions about urban planning, and changed the way we looked at cities and their vibrancy. Although I was a big fan of her work, I really didn't have a clue about her background until reading the obituary and the tributes. The one detail that I found most fascinating was that she carried on imaginary conversations while running errands. She started this practice using Thomas Jefferson as her imaginary friend, but at one point ran out of things to say, and replaced him with Ben Franklin! I guess I'll be cutting those who talk to themselves a bit more slack from now on. Ironically, the iPod just shuffled up the 'ol Mott The Hoople classic, so I guess fate was responsible for this post's title. A few more Jane Jacobs links for 'ya:
Wikipedia Bio
Nominate the Best Jane Jacobs Block in NYC
Flickr: Best NYC Urban Block Group
Online Memorial Weblog
Healthy Cities, Urban Theory, and Design