Comments on: Remembering Jane Jacobs

By: Ken Gildner

Ken Gildner — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 00:24:51 +0000

Visited Jane’s home in Greenwich at 555 Hudson Street this September. Couldn’t find any physical indication that she once resided in the neighbourhood, and when I queried the residents, most people didn’t know who she was. Perhaps she would have wanted it that way. :)

By: Ethan Bayne

Ethan Bayne — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 20:42:14 +0000

Jacobs is already memorialized in Toronto, at least in the manner of Christopher Wren:

si monumentum requiris, circumspice.

By: Christopher DeWolf

Christopher DeWolf — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 21:04:38 +0000

Definitely. I think that was Rochon’s point, too. It would be great if, in honour of Jacobs, some of her more elementary ideas about cities could be introduced in geography or social studies classes.

A few weeks ago my girlfriend found an old 1970s textbook called “Canada’s Cities.” It pretty much embodied the Modernist philosophy of urban planning. One section contained a photo of some beautiful old rowhouses in Toronto, complete with a group of children playing out front, and juxtaposed it with a shot of a banal 1970s townhouse development set behind an acre of grass with not a child in sight. “What kind of housing is better?” It asked, and then proceeded to inform readers that (duh!) the new rowhouses were of course better because they were new and clean and had lots of trees and “no overcrowding.”

By: RS

RS — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 08:14:37 +0000

No doubt…if they are going to rename du Parc as “Robert Bourassa” then well, yeah! She at least needs a little neighborhood park or something!

Just kidding. Like all great authors, she will be remembered regardless. I’ve only gotten to know her work since her death but it strikes me that the material side of remembering her is really antithetical…