50 Years of Jane Jacobs: What Have we Learned and What Needs to be Done?

2011 marks the 50^th anniversary of Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs. In it, Jacobs attacks the planning methodology of the 1950s and 60s, most notably the Radiant Garden City idea which gained traction about this time. The book is known as the main impetus behind the New Urbanist movement, which questioned many modernist planning techniques.

So what exactly is it that we have learned, and in some cases, failed to learn, from this book? How is the New Urbanist movement set up to cope with some of the issues caused by the recent housing crash?

1) Modernist planning has been discredited: This happened in the early 1970s with the decay of many modernist low income housing projects, notably Pruitt-Igoe and Cabrini-Green. The sheer scale of these developments isolated many people who were previously members of close families and communities. The projects were not able to foster any social development, and no sense of community or ownership developed among the residents.

2) New Urbanism is now mainly an architectural movement: Despite the successes of the New Urbanist movement, the term “New Urbanism” is being widely misused to promote things which are in fact, the exact opposite of what it is about. A residential suburb that is composed of rowhouse style buildings built wall-to-wall is considered “New Urbanist” by many developers and most residents, but it is in fact, not. In order for New Urbanism to work, it must be clearly understood and used appropriately.

3) The public has been given a roll in the planning process: During the mid 20^th century, planners were accepted as experts in their field and were not questioned by the public. The New Urbanist movement changed this and public planning meetings are commonplace. However, this has backfired somewhat, as opposition to planning projects is increasing because members of the public do not always understand the goals of a project and the reasons for its proposal.

4) Modernism is not dead yet: While the epoch of Modern architecture may have come to a close, many of the ideas that allowed it to flourish are still in place, automobile dependance, single-use zoning, and the prevalence of suburbs composed of detached, single family houses and shopping malls. These do not provide social benefits, waste resources, and do not create sustained economic development.

5) Urban development (mostly) focuses on the whole of a city, not on specific parts: This is another of Jacobs' main arguments. One reason for the failure of project housing is the fact that it is thought of as project housing, thus creating social perceptions about it and those who live in it.

6) Mass transit is being recognized as a core component of urban development: In the mid 1990s, San Francisco revitalized its waterfront district by tearing down the damaged Embarcadero Freeway and replacing it with a boulevard, pedestrian mall, and light rail/streetcar line that connects Market Street with AT&T park and Fishermans' Wharf. In 2001, Portland, Oregon opened the Portland Streetcar, which has generated over $1 billion in economic development and revitalized areas such as the Pearl District.

7) Subsidy can only work so well: Since the 1930s, mortgages on suburban houses have been subsidized by the Federal Housing Administration. These subsidies artificially inflated the housing market and promoted home ownership to people even when it was not economically optimal for them. This is what created the subprime mortgage market, and thus the recent crash.