JANE JACOBS, UNDONE

In the 50-plus years since urban thinker, author, and activist Jane Jacobs wrote The Death and Life of Great American Cities, her ideas about what makes a healthy, vibrant, and successful city have significantly influenced planning and urban design practices across the globe. Jacobs herself has become a mythic — some might even say sacred — icon credited for turning the planning profession on its head. 

But as cities continue to grow and evolve, in size, population, and complexity, it is incumbent on us to take a critical look at the influence of Jacobs’ work, including where it may fall short and its relevance in today’s world.

On Thursday, February 9, the Daniels Faculty presents Jane Jacobs, Undone as part of the Daniels Fora series. Moderated by Dean Richard Sommer, this debate will feature Timothy Mennel, a senior editor for the American Planning Association (and co-editor of the books Reconsidering Jane Jacobs, Green Community, and Block by Block: Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York), and Margaret Crawford, a professor and scholar known for her work on Everyday Urbanism, a concept that encourages the close investigation and empathetic understanding of the specifics of daily life as the basis for urban theory and design. 

Jane Jacobs, Undone

Featuring Timothy Mennel and Margaret Crawford

Date: Thursday, February 9

Time: 6:30 – 8:00 PM

Location: Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles Street West

Stage furnishings provided by Herman Miller.

This is a public event. Tickets are required and available through:

http://janejacobs-undone.eventbrite.com

*****Please note that tickets are now sold out for Jane Jacobs, Undone. There will be a rush line for non-ticket holders at the Isabel Bader Theatre. Unclaimed seats will be made available to those in the rush line on a first come, first served basis prior to the start of the event.*****

Please note: While attendance is free, tickets are required for this event. Due to the overwhelming response to past lectures, tickets will be honoured until 6:15 PM. If you have not arrived by 6:15 PM, your reservation may be filled by guests on our waiting list.

ABOUT THE DANIELS FORA

The Daniels Fora present vigorous, engaging, and accessible discussions of interest not only to students, alumni, and professionals, but also the broader public. The goal of these public events is to bring together different perspectives in order to raise the level of debate, build relationships, and stimulate discussion among academics, institutions, and the general public. 

ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS

Timothy Mennel is senior editor and acquisitions manager for Planners Press and the PAS Reports series at the American Planning Association. He coedited Reconsidering Jane Jacobs (2011), Green Community (2009,) and Block by Block: Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York (2007). His Ph.D. dissertation in geography was a novel about Robert Moses’s New York. Mennel has published in the Journal of Planning History, the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, and elsewhere. He has been an editor at Random House, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Artforum, as well as a consultant to the Rockefeller Foundation, the Museum of the City of New York, and the Municipal Art Society of New York.

Margaret Crawford is a professor of architecture at the University of California, Berkley. Her research focuses on the evolution, uses, and meanings of urban space. Crawford is known for her work on Everyday Urbanism, a concept that encourages the close investigation and empathetic understanding of the specifics of daily life as the basis for urban theory and design. In 2005, Doug Kelbaugh characterized Everyday Urbanism as one of three contemporary paradigms of urbanism on the cutting edge of theoretical and professional activity.  

Crawford has written Building the Workingman's Paradise: The Design of American Company Towns, and has co-edited Everyday Urbanism and The Car and the City: The Automobile, the Built Environment and Daily Urban Life. Crawford has also published numerous articles on immigrant spatial practices, shopping malls, public space, and other issues in the American built environment. Since 2003, she has been investigating the effects of rapid physical and social changes on villages in China’s Pearl River Delta. Prior to her appointment at Berkeley Crawford held professorships at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and the Southern California Institute of Architecture.