Jane Jacobs, a well-known writer on urban issues, has died today. You can read the CBC obit here and the Toronto Star obit here.
I can personally recommend The Death and Life of Great American Cities and Dark Age Ahead as interesting, thoughtful tomes on the challenges we face in the very near future. You can also read some recent interviews with her here and here.
I didn't agree with everything she wrote, and I'd be interested in seeing a discussion here on her work and urban issues generally. Given that the world is increasingly urban, and will only become more so in the near future by all accounts, it's an important topic.
I studied urban planning in Boston in the early 70s and Jane Jacobs was the basis for much of our discussion on development for Boston and for America. Her work in The Death and Life... still accompanies my thoughts of development and planning on a human scale.
Living here in Mexico in what was a small village that is being too rapidly developed gives even more emphasis to her ideas on how neighborhoods must remain neighborhoods and how relationships are necessary for human relationships and security in cities.
I would lament her passing as all great minds are lamented. 89, however, is not bad especially when you have left a legacy of pivotal work behind.