Parthenais Street Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - Christopher DeWolf Triplexes on Parthenais Street. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Parthenais Street and Mont-Royal Avenue Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Head to the archives for last month's posts. Jane Jacobs is dead Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - Christopher DeWolf Jane Jacobs in Toronto's Kensington Market. Photographer unknown. Jane Jacobs was a writer, intellectual, analyst, ethicist and moral thinker, activist, self-made economist, and a fearless critic of inflexible authority. Mrs. Jacobs died this morning in Toronto. She was 89. Her first book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, published in 1961, became a bible for neighbourhood organizers and what she termed the “foot people”. It made the case against the utopian planning culture of the times — residential high-rise development, expressways through city hearts, slum clearances, and desolate downtowns. She believed that residential and commercial activity should be in the same place, that the safest neighbourhoods teem with life, short winding streets are better than long straight ones, low-rise housing is better than impersonal towers, that a neighbourhood is where people talk to one another. She liked the small-scale. From the Toronto Star, April 25, 2006 Jane Jacobs, the matchless analyst of all things urban, returned to New York the other day and looked around her. In the forty-plus years since her book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” appeared, her views, which then seemed wildly eccentric—basically, that New York’s future depended less on tall buildings and big projects than on the preservation of small, old blocks and catch-as-catch-can retailing—have been vindicated so many times, and in so many ways, that by now one can hardly think about this city without thinking about her, and like her. Resident in Toronto since 1968 (“I needed to escape my civic duties here to write and think”), Jacobs, who is eighty-eight years old, was in town for the publication of her latest book, the intimidatingly titled “Dark Age Ahead.” One afternoon last week, she spent a few minutes talking about old haunts, feuds, and hopes. “I love New York so much still,” she said. “But the traffic is the worst I’ve ever known it to be.” (In a chapter in her new book, she explains briskly why one-way streets, designed to streamline traffic, only complicate it.) “New York still has so much pizzazz, because people make it new every day. Like all cities, it’s self-organizing. People looking for a date on Third Avenue make it into a place full of hope and expectation, and this has nothing to do with architecture. Those are the emotions that draw us to cities, and they depend on things being a bit messy. The most perfectly designed place can’t compete. Everything is provided, which is the worst thing we can provide. There’s a joke that the father of an old friend used to tell, about a preacher who warns children, ‘In Hell there will be wailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ‘What if you don’t have teeth?’ one of the children asks. ‘Then teeth will be provided,’ he says sternly. That’s it—the spirit of the designed city: Teeth Will Be Provided for You.” From the New Yorker, "Cities and Songs," May 17, 2004 Head to the archives for last month's posts. Views from above Thursday, April 20, 2006 - Christopher DeWolf Northeast view of the Plateau. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf West from McGill University. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Head to the archives for last month's posts. Laurier Street Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - Christopher DeWolf Restaurant owner on Laurier Street. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Laurier Street at dusk. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Head to the archives for last month's posts. High in Outremont Saturday, April 15, 2006 - Christopher DeWolf St. Michael's Church from Outremont. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Mansion and highrises in Outremont. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Head to the archives for last month's posts. Model city, II Friday, April 14, 2006 - Christopher DeWolf Downtown from above. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Downtown and the southwest. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Head to the archives for last month's posts. Model city, I Thursday, April 13, 2006 - Christopher DeWolf Golden Square Mile and Mount Royal. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Guy and Sherbrooke. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Head to the archives for last month's posts. St. Viateur spring Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - Christopher DeWolf Kids on Esplanade Street. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Cleaning windows on St. Viateur. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Head to the archives for last month's posts. March thaw Monday, April 10, 2006 - Christopher DeWolf Mont-Royal Avenue. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Crowds on Mont-Royal. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Head to the archives for last month's posts. Two months ago... Sunday, April 9, 2006 - Christopher DeWolf Skating at the Old Port. Montreal, February 2006. Christopher DeWolf Bernard and Waverly. Montreal, February 2006. Christopher DeWolf Head to the archives for last month's posts. Esplanade Street Sunday, April 9, 2006 - Christopher DeWolf Esplanade and Duluth. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Triplexes on Esplanade. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Head to the archives for last month's posts. To market, to market Wednesday, April 5, 2006 - Christopher DeWolf Eating at the Jean-Talon Market. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Quiet weekday at the Jean-Talon Market. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Head to the archives for last month's posts. Dépanneur Tuesday, April 4, 2006 - Christopher DeWolf Dépanneur at Clark and Fairmount. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Crossing Guy Street. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Head to the archives for last month's posts. Spring shadows Monday, April 3, 2006 - Christopher DeWolf Graffiti on Duluth Street. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Simcha's on the Main. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Shadows on Chambord Street. Montreal, March 2006. Christopher DeWolf Head to the archives for last month's posts.

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