Events

Jane Jacobs Today

Jane Jacobs' ideas redefined urban planning, and her hometowns of New York and Toronto are among many cities that continue to feel the impact of her writings. The American Planning Association's New York Metro Chapter, the Canadian Consulate General, and NYU Wagner will present a panel exploring the importance, meaning, and influence of her work, in theory and in practice.

By Aaron Donovan

10:36 PM EDT on October 10, 2006

Jane Jacobs’ ideas redefined urban planning, and her hometowns of New York and Toronto are among many cities that continue to feel the impact of her writings. The American Planning Association’s New York Metro Chapter, the Canadian Consulate General, and NYU Wagner will present a panel exploring the importance, meaning, and influence of her work, in theory and in practice.

Panellists include:

Paul Goldberger, Architecture Critic for The New Yorker
Paul Bedford, former Chief City Planner of Toronto
Lisa Rochon, Architecture Critic for The Globe and Mail
Raymond Gastil, Director, Manhattan Office, Department of City Planning
Eugenie Birch, Professor and Chair, University of Pennsylvania Department of City and Regional Planning and former New York City Planning Commissioner

These panellists, New Yorkers and Torontonians, will compare the impact Jacobs’ work has had on their two cities. They will discuss how the planning process and specific projects in both cities have been influenced by her and how her philosophy has in turn been modified by planners in the 45 years since publication of The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

Panel members will also explore which elements of Jacobs’ ideas underlie controversial projects today, and which are passÃ© for modern planners. Is Jane Jacobs still on the mark now? Which of her writings are worth revisiting? The panellists will share their opinions on how to move forward in an era where broad vision and public review are important parts of planning a project.

WHEN: Tuesday, Oct. 17, 6 – 8 p.m.

WHERE: NYU Wagner’s Puck Building, 295 Lafayette Street at East Houston Street, 2nd Floor

RSVP: http://wagner.nyu.edu/events/janejacobs.php

Aaron Donovan

Before he began blogging about land use and transportation, Aaron Donovan wrote The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund's annual fundraising appeal for three years and earned a master's degree in urban planning from Columbia. Since then, he has worked for nonprofit organizations devoted to New York City economic development. He lives and works in the Financial District, and sees New York's pre-automobile built form as an asset that makes New York unique in the United States, and as a strategic advantage that should be capitalized upon.

Events

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