DOCSLIB.ORG

Contemporary Perspectives on Jane Jacobs

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Contemporary Perspectives on Jane Jacobs CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON JANE JACOBS This page has been left blank intentionally Contemporary Perspectives on Jane Jacobs Reassessing the Impacts of an Urban Visionary Edited by DIRK SCHUBERT HafenCity University Hamburg, Germany © Dirk Schubert 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Dirk Schubert has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editor of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court East 110 Cherry Street Union Road Suite 3-1 Farnham Burlington, VT 05401-3818 Surrey, GU9 7PT USA England www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows: Schubert, Dirk. Contemporary perspectives on Jane Jacobs : reassessing the impacts of an urban vision- ary / by Dirk Schubert. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4724-1004-7 (hbk) -- ISBN 978-1-4724-1005-4 (ebk) -- ISBN 978-1-4724- 1006-1 (epub) 1. Jacobs, Jane, 1916-2006. 2. City planning. 3. Urban renewal. I. Title. HT166.S3163 2015 307.1’216--dc23 2013028027 ISBN 978 1 4724 1004 7 (hbk) ISBN 978 1 4724 1005 4 (ebk – PDF) ISBN 978 1 4724 1006 1 (ebk – ePUB) III Contents List of Figures vii About the Editor ix About the Contributors xi Acknowledgments xvii Timeline xix PART I INTRODUCTION 1 50 Years: “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” 3 Dirk Schubert PART II JANE JACOBS: ROOTS, BASICS AND IMPACTS 2 Central Elements of Jane Jacobs’s Philosophy 13 Roberta Brandes Gratz 3 Jane Jacobs and the Self-Organizing City 21 Mary Rowe 4 Jane Jacobs and the Paradigm Shift: Toronto 1968–1978 31 Richard White PART III Jane Jacobs “A RADICAL THInker” – “CITIES FIrst” 5 Visual Order and Perceptual Form: Contrasting Jane Jacobs’s Urban Design Rejection with Kevin Lynch’s Approach 57 Jörg Seifert 6 Jane Jacobs and Sharon Zukin: Gentrification and the Jacobs Legacy 71 Madeleine Lyes 7 Taking Sides with a Man-eating Shark: Jane Jacobs and the 1960s “Density Turn” in Urban Planning 83 Nikolai Roskamm vi Contemporary Perspectives on Jane Jacobs PART IV JANE JACOBS AND HER IMPACT ON URBAN PLANNING OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA 8 More than Building Regeration: The Shift Towards Gentle Urban Renewal in Vienna 95 Christiane Feuerstein 9 Jane Jacobs, City Planning and its Rationale in Spain 107 José Luis Sáinz Guerra Translation from the Spanish by Alan Hynds 10 Beyond Diversity: Jacobs’s Death and Life and its Relevance for Dutch Urban Regeneration Policy 125 Gert-Jan Hospers 11 Jane Jacobs’s Perception and Impact on City Planning and Urban Renewal in Germany 137 Dirk Schubert 12 Jane Jacobs and the Transatlantic Collapse of Urban Renewal 171 Christopher Klemek PART V “We are all Jacobseans” – ARE WE? 13 Jane Jacobs 2.0 – Old Systems Need New Ideas: New Forces of Decline and Regeneration 185 Birgit Dulski and Gerben van Straaten 14 “That is the way the cookie crumbles” – New Paradigm Changes in Times of Globalization and Deregulation 199 Friedhelm Fischer and Uwe Altrock 15 Urban Ecology as the New Planning Paradigm: Another Legacy of Jane Jacobs 225 Stephen A. Goldsmith 16 What Would Jane Jacobs Have Said and Her Relevance for Today and Tomorrow 233 Klaus Brake 17 Jane Jacobs’s Hamburg Lecture, 1981 241 Index 251 List of Figures 1.1 Bouquet of flowers before Hudson Street 555 3 2.1 Jane Jacobs with the “Order of Canada”-medal at the Vincent Scully Prize celebration 2000 in Washington, DC with Roberta Brandes Gratz 14 3.1 Jane Jacobs chatting 22 3.2 Enabling self-organization 25 3.3 Jacobs’ principles 26 3.4 Continuum of words 26 4.1 Toronto’s regional expressway system, as built and proposed in the 1950s 33 4.2 Map of physical conditions of east downtown Toronto, 1961 37 4.3 Arial photograph of St. Lawrence neighborhood taking shape, about 1980 40 4.4 Drawing of “Physical Form: The Central Area Pattern,” about 1975 44 5.1 Differences and intersections: The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs and The Image of the City by Kevin Lynch 58 5.2 Jane Jacobs and Kevin Lynch at the Urban Design Criticism Conference 1958 68 8.1 Urban redevelopment project in Alt-Erdberg, 1956–58 97 8.2 Demonstration of architects and architecture students preventing the demolition of the city rail station designed by Otto Wagner at Karlsplatz, 1969 99 8.3 Festival for All, Spittelberg, 1973 100 9.1 Cover of the first Spanish edition of Jane Jacobs’ book Death and Life of Great American Cities (1967) 109 9.2 The cover of Jane Jacobs’ book The Economy of Cities in its Spanish version (1971) 111 9.3 The cover of the book From Rural to Urban, in its Spanish version, by Henri Lefèbvre (1971) 113 9.4 A patio in the Galaxia residential complex in the centre of Madrid 115 9.5 The cultural “boxes” that contain no culture: The Millennium Dome in Valladolid 121 11.1 Jane Jacobs books published in German: Tod und Leben großer amerikanischer Städte (1963) and Stadt im Untergang – Thesen über den Verfall von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (1970) 140 11.2 Cover of German book: Urban Renewal for Whom? (with incorrect spelling: Büro für Stad(t)sanierung und soziale Arbeit), Berlin 1970 151 viii Contemporary Perspectives on Jane Jacobs 11.3 Project of “Alster Zentrum” of housing company Neue Heimat in Hamburg, supported by Victor Gruen, with a planned demolition of a whole urban district 154 13.1 Office stock (dark) and office jobs (light) in the Netherlands during the period 1992–2008 186 13.2 Vacancies of new buildings (dark) and existing buildings (light) in the Netherlands in the period 1995–2009 190 13.3 Illustration of a 100-year bull market: Unused new buildings (dark) and unused existing buildings (light) 191 13.4 Setting Granville Island Vancouver, with view towards downtown 192 13.5 Granville Island Vancouver, activities under the bridge 193 13.6 Blacksmith at work, Tilburg Smederij 013 re-use of industrial area 195 13.7 Public at Spoorzone Tilburg, Netherlands 196 14.1 Image and reality: Capitalist profiteering in the cloak of a non-profit housing association (1986) 201 14.2 Berlin: Bourgeois and punk in church united against urban renewal through demolition (1984) 202 14.3 Protest poster analyzing the interaction of Berlin interest coalitions (1968) 203 14.4 Berlin’s Palazzo Farnese: Aldo Rossi’s icon of postmodern façade mimicry (1993) – How mixed and historic can you get? 207 14.5 Tübingen, Französisches Viertel – an “ideal” Jacobsean neighborhood: Vibrant, socially and functionally mixed, pedestrian-friendly 214 14.6 Berlin Potsdamer Platz 216 14.7 The Coventry City Center Master Plan as an exemplar of hybrid mode development 217 About the Editor Dirk Schubert is professor for Urban Planning, Comparative Planning History, Housing and Urban Renewal at the HafenCity University Hamburg. His research focuses on urban history, planning history, history of housing and urban renewal, as well as studies on the revitalization of harbor and waterfront areas in seaport regions and on city/port interfaces. His latest books are History of Urban Renewal in Hamburg and London (1997), Changes in Port and Waterfront Areas Worldwide (3rd edition, 2008), Housing in Hamburg – A Guidebook (2005) (with Uwe Altrock) Hamburg – Growing City, and (with Axel Schildt) Cities between Growing and Shrinking (2008). He has published in English, Turkish, Chinese and French periodicals and journals on housing, urban renewal, planning history, waterfront transformations and transatlantic comparisons of planning ideas. This page has been left blank intentionally About the Contributors Uwe Altrock is professor of urban regeneration and planning at the University of Kassel, Germany, and holds a doctorate in urban planning. From 2003 to 2006 he was junior professor of urban structures at Brandenburg University of Technology in Cottbus and from 2002 to 2003 invited professor for neighborhood development at Hamburg University of Technology. Uwe Altrock is co-editor of the German Yearbook of Urban Regeneration and of the planning theory book series Planungsrundschau. His fields of research are urban governance, mega cities, urban regeneration and planning, planning theory and planning history. Klaus Brake is guest professor of urban and regional development at the Center for Metropolitan Studies (CMS) at Berlin University of Technology. In 1973 he earned a doctorate from the University of Oldenburg, Germany. From 1975 to 2000 he was professor of urban and regional development at the University of Oldenburg. Since 2000 he has been working as a consultant in Berlin. His academic work focuses on urban development and specifically the interaction of economic and spatial aspects, as well as current strategies of knowledge-based development and civil empowerment. Birgit Dulski is a senior researcher at the Center for Sustainability of the Nyenrode Business Universiteit in the Netherlands. She studied architecture and urban planning at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, Hamburg University of Technology and Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, where she obtained her diploma (architecture) in 1995. Since April 2008 Birgit has been working at the Center for Sustainability and combines this function with a career as senior consultant at the Dutch Institute for Building Biology and Ecology (NIBE) where she is involved in the research of sustainable cultural heritage. Since 2001 Birgit Dulski has led various projects, initiatives and research projects on the subject of sustainable preservation of historic and characteristic buildings and has participated in architectural competitions where sustainability plays an important role.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Slum Clearance in Havana in an Age of Revolution, 1930-65
    SLEEPING ON THE ASHES: SLUM CLEARANCE IN HAVANA IN AN AGE OF REVOLUTION, 1930-65 by Jesse Lewis Horst Bachelor of Arts, St. Olaf College, 2006 Master of Arts, University of Pittsburgh, 2012 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2016 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Jesse Horst It was defended on July 28, 2016 and approved by Scott Morgenstern, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science Edward Muller, Professor, Department of History Lara Putnam, Professor and Chair, Department of History Co-Chair: George Reid Andrews, Distinguished Professor, Department of History Co-Chair: Alejandro de la Fuente, Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics, Department of History, Harvard University ii Copyright © by Jesse Horst 2016 iii SLEEPING ON THE ASHES: SLUM CLEARANCE IN HAVANA IN AN AGE OF REVOLUTION, 1930-65 Jesse Horst, M.A., PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2016 This dissertation examines the relationship between poor, informally housed communities and the state in Havana, Cuba, from 1930 to 1965, before and after the first socialist revolution in the Western Hemisphere. It challenges the notion of a “great divide” between Republic and Revolution by tracing contentious interactions between technocrats, politicians, and financial elites on one hand, and mobilized, mostly-Afro-descended tenants and shantytown residents on the other hand. The dynamics of housing inequality in Havana not only reflected existing socio- racial hierarchies but also produced and reconfigured them in ways that have not been systematically researched.
    [Show full text]
  • Urban Density, Creativity, and Innovation
    URBAN DENSITY, CREATIVITY, AND INNOVATION May 2007 Brian Knudsen, Richard Florida, Gary Gates, and Kevin Stolarick Abstract: Geographers and social scientists have probed the effects of agglomeration and spatial clustering on innovation and economic growth. Economists and others have identified the role of knowledge spillovers in driving the innovation process. While innovation is thus assumed to be a function of proximity, there has been little systematic research on the role of density in innovation. Thus, this research investigates density, and more specifically the density of creative workers, as a key factor influencing regional innovation. It uses principal components analysis to create and implement a composite measure of density and presents a model of innovation as a function of creative-density. Statistical analyses including multivariate regression finds that density and creativity separately and jointly affect innovation in metropolitan areas. The regression analysis finds a positive relationship between the density of creative workers and metropolitan patenting activity. This suggests that density is a key component of knowledge spillovers and a key component of innovation. Keywords: Creativity, Density, Innovation, Learning, Spillovers 1 I. Introduction Geographers and social scientists have long been interested in the effects of proximity and agglomeration on innovation and economic growth. Ever since Alfred Marshall, geographers have examined the economic consequences of dense linkages in industrial and economic agglomerations. These geographic agglomerations create external economies of scale through the sharing of technology and managerial expertise, thus increasing the productivity of inputs. For the past two decades, economic geographers have been especially interested in the rise of specialized innovation districts in the innovation process.
    [Show full text]
  • Urban Densification --A Sustainable Urban Policy?
    © 2002 WIT Press, Ashurst Lodge, Southampton, SO40 7AA, UK. All rights reserved. Web: www.witpress.com Email [email protected] Paper from: The Sustainable City II, CA Brebbia, JF Martin-Duque & LC Wadhwa (Editors). ISBN 1-85312-917-8 Urban densification --a sustainable urban policy? A. Skovbro Danish Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning, Department of urban and regional planning, Denmark Abstract Planning policies in many European countries advocate for the Compact City or some sort of compaction process, as a strategy to obtain a more sustainable urban development, It contrasts the car-oriented urban sprawl of many modern cities, creating longer distances between urban functions, poor access to facilities and services, less efficient infrastructure provision, loss of open land, social segregation, etc. A Compact City policy in contrast should by regeneration and densification of the urban area crei~te the opposite, thus contributing to a more sustainable development in its broadest sense, social, economic and environmental, This paper explores the implications of urban densification, Based on a case study of a Copenhagen district, the paper will show the pros and cons of urban densification and the impacts on the urban environment, focussing on the local urban environment. The casestudy will be used to conclude whether densification and compact city policies can lead to a more sustainable urban environment. 1 Towards higher densities and sustainability in the 1990s Danish national government has supported a sort of densification policy since the mid 1990s. The turn in the 1990s Itowards higher densities in urban areas was happening due to several circumsti~nces.
    [Show full text]
  • Smart Growth and Economic Success: Benefits for Real Estate Developers, Investors, Businesses, and Local Governments
    United States December 2012 Environmental Protection Agency www.epa.gov/smartgrowth SMART GROWTH AND ECONOMIC SUCCESS: BENEFITS FOR REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS, INVESTORS, BUSINESSES, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS Office of Sustainable Communities Smart Growth Program (Distributed at 1/14/13 Sustainable Thurston Task Force meeting) Acknowledgments This report was prepared by the EPA’s Office of Sustainable Communities with the assistance of Renaissance Planning Group under contract number EP-W-11-009/010/11. Principal Staff Contacts: Melissa Kramer and Lee Sobel Mention of trade names, products, or services does not convey official EPA approval, endorsement, or recommendation. Cover photos (left to right, top to bottom): Barracks Row in Washington, D.C., courtesy of Lee Sobel; TRAX light rail in Sandy, Utah, courtesy of Melissa Kramer; Mission Creek Senior Community in San Francisco, California, courtesy of Alan Karchmer and Mercy Housing Inc. (Distributed at 1/14/13 Sustainable Thurston Task Force meeting) Table of Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................ i I. Economic Advantages of Smart Growth Strategies .............................................................................. 1 II. Economic Advantages of Compact Development ................................................................................. 4 A. Higher Revenue Generation per Acre of Land .................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Measuring Urban Sprawl; How Can We Deal with It? Amnon Frenkel, Maya Ashkenazi
    Measuring Urban Sprawl; How Can We Deal With It? Amnon Frenkel, Maya Ashkenazi Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, and Center for Urban and Regional Studies, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. Tel: +972-4-8293956, Fax: +972-4-8294071, E-mail: [email protected],ac,il Abstract Measuring urban sprawl is a controversial topic among scholars who investigate the urban landscape. This study attempts to measure sprawl from a landscape perspective. The measures and indices used derive from various research disciplines, such as urban research, ecological research, and fractal geometry. The examination was based on an urban land-use survey performed in 78 urban settlements in Israel over the course of 15 years. Measures of sprawl were calculated at each settlement and then weighted into one integrated sprawl index through factor analysis, thus enabling a description of sprawl rates and their dynamics during a time period of two decades. The results reveal that urban sprawl is a multidimensional phenomenon that is better quantified by various measures. Keywords: Urban Sprawl, Sprawl Indices, Land Use, Growth Management Policy 1 1. Introduction During the past two decades urban sprawl has become a subject of particular interest among planners and policy-makers. Critics of sprawl all over the world are concerned by its many alleged negative impacts, such as lack of scale economies, which reduces the level of public services in the suburbs and weakens the economic base of central cities; increased energy consumption through encouraging the use of private vehicles, thereby causing traffic congestion and air pollution; and irreversible damage to ecosystems, caused by scattered and fragmented urban development in open lands (Ewing 1997; Burchell et al., 1998; Downs, 1998; Brueckner, 2000; Johnson, 2001).
    [Show full text]
  • Designing Cities, Planning for People
    Designing cities, planning for people The guide books of Otto-Iivari Meurman and Edmund Bacon Minna Chudoba Tampere University of Technology School of Architecture [email protected] Abstract Urban theorists and critics write with an individual knowledge of the good urban life. Recently, writing about such life has boldly called for smart cities or even happy cities, stressing the importance of social connections and nearness to nature, or social and environmental capital. Although modernist planning has often been blamed for many current urban problems, the social and the environmental dimensions were not completely absent from earlier 20th century approaches to urban planning. Links can be found between the urban utopia of today and the mid-20th century ideas about good urban life. Changes in the ideas of what constitutes good urban life are investigated in this paper through two texts by two different 20th century planners: Otto-Iivari Meurman and Edmund Bacon. Both were taught by the Finnish planner Eliel Saarinen, and according to their teacher’s example, also wrote about their planning ideas. Meurman’s guide book for planners was published in 1947, and was a major influence on Finnish post-war planning. In Meurman’s case, the book answered a pedagogical need, as planners were trained to meet the demands of the structural changes of society and the needs of rapidly growing Finnish cities. Bacon, in a different context, stressed the importance of an urban design attitude even when planning the movement systems of a modern metropolis. Bacon’s book from 1967 was meant for both designers and city dwellers, exploring the dynamic nature of modern urbanity.
    [Show full text]
  • Regulating Urban Densification: What Factors Should Be Used? Buildings and Cities, 2(1), Pp
    Regulating urban SPECIAL COLLECTION: densification: what factors URBAN DENSIFICATION should be used? EDITORIAL JACQUES TELLER HIGHLIGHTS CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Jacques Teller Urban densification is increasingly accepted as a necessity and is important for no-net Department of Urban and land take. Densification occurs in many places, especially fast-growing cities with a Environmental Engineering, combination of demographic change, economic pressure and large transport infrastructure University of Liège, Liege, projects. The costs and benefits of density require a nuanced understanding: potential Belgium direct, indirect and cumulative effects (environmental, economic and social), both on- [email protected] and off-site. The optimisation of densities implies a need to identify the conditions that can create the most value for the city, specify the places most appropriate for future inhabitants and activities, and promote spatial justice. The papers published in this special KEYWORDS: issue converge in depicting urban densification as a complex, nonlinear process, which affordable housing; cities; has to be addressed at various scales. Multifactorial metrics of density are superior to density; land take; land aggregated ones because they offer a better understanding of the urban forms and how use; social practices; urban densification; urban planning they are experienced by inhabitants and users. Both hard and soft densification have to be duly monitored and regulated if cities are to avoid overcrowding of places and buildings, which can be detrimental to urban resilience. The relation between urban densification TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Teller, J. (2021). Regulating and housing affordability is a critical factor that policymakers must address. urban densification: what factors should be used? Buildings and Cities, 2(1), pp.
    [Show full text]
  • Quantifying the Effects of Residential Infill Redevelopment on Urban
    water Article Quantifying the Effects of Residential Infill Redevelopment on Urban Stormwater Quality in Denver, Colorado Kyle R. Gustafson 1,2, Pablo A. Garcia-Chevesich 1,2,3,*, Kimberly M. Slinski 1,4,5, Jonathan O. Sharp 1,2,6 and John E. McCray 1,2,6 1 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA; [email protected] (K.R.G.); [email protected] (K.M.S.); [email protected] (J.O.S.); [email protected] (J.E.M.) 2 National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center, ReNUWIt, Golden, CO 80401, USA 3 Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme, UNESCO, 75007 Paris, France 4 Earth Systems Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA 5 Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Beltsville, MD 20771, USA 6 Hydrologic Science and Engineering Program, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +1-520-270-9555 Abstract: Stormwater quality in three urban watersheds in Denver that have been undergoing rapid infill redevelopment for about a decade was evaluated. Sampling was conducted over 18 months, con- sidering 15 storms. Results: (1) The first-flush effect was observed for nutrients and total suspended solids (TSS) but not for total dissolved solids (TDS), conductivity, pH, and fecal indicator bacteria; (2) though no significant differences on event mean concentration (EMC) values were found among the three basins, local-scale EMCs were higher than traditional city-wide standards, particularly some metals and nutrients, most likely because of the significantly higher imperviousness of the Citation: Gustafson, K.R.; studied urban basins compared to city averages; (3) peak rainfall intensity and total rainfall depth Garcia-Chevesich, P.A.; Slinski, K.M.; showed significant but weak correlations with some nutrients and metals, and TDS; (4) antecedent Sharp, J.O.; McCray, J.E.
    [Show full text]
  • Operationalizing Jane Jacobs's Urban Design Theory: Empirical Verification from the Great City of Seoul, Korea
    JPEXXX10.1177/0739456X14568021Journal of Planning Education and ResearchSung et al. 568021research-article2015 Research-Based Article Journal of Planning Education and Research 1 –14 Operationalizing Jane Jacobs’s Urban © The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Design Theory: Empirical Verification DOI: 10.1177/0739456X14568021 from the Great City of Seoul, Korea jpe.sagepub.com Hyungun Sung1, Sugie Lee2, and SangHyun Cheon3 Abstract Jane Jacobs’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) had an enormous influence on urban design theories and practices. This study aims to operationalize Jacobs’s conditions for a vital urban life. These are (1) mixed use, (2) small blocks, (3) aged buildings, and (4) a sufficient concentration of buildings. Jacobs suggested that a vital urban life could be sustained by an urban realm that promotes pedestrian activity for various purposes at various times. Employing multilevel binomial models, we empirically verified that Jacobs’s conditions for urban diversity play a significant role with regard to pedestrian activity. Keywords built environment, Jane Jacobs, urban design, urban diversity Introduction instance, three of the seven TOD planning elements (e.g., density, diversity, and design) stem directly from Jacobs’s Jane Jacobs’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities necessary conditions for diversity (Cervero and Kockelman (1961) was one of the first books to criticize the dominant 1997; Ewing and Cervero 2010; Ha, Joo, and Jun 2011). planning paradigm of the latter half of the twentieth century, Mixed land use is a critical component of urban diversity which primarily consisted of large-scale redevelopment and because spatial proximity between different land uses highway construction.
    [Show full text]
  • Jane Jacobs Geographies of Place - Jacob’S Special Lens on the City
    International Journal of Humanities Social Sciences and Education (IJHSSE) Volume 6, Issue 9, September 2019, PP 30-42 ISSN 2349-0373 (Print) & ISSN 2349-0381 (Online) http://dx.doi.org/10.20431/2349-0381.0609004 www.arcjournals.org Jane Jacobs Geographies of Place - Jacob’s Special Lens on the City Dr. Tigran Haas* Director, Associate Professor, ABE School, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Center for the Future of Places (CFP), Drottning Kristinas väg 30, Entré Plan, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden *Corresponding Author: Dr. Tigran Haas, Director, Associate Professor, ABE School, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Center for the Future of Places (CFP), Drottning Kristinas väg 30, Entré Plan, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden Abstract: Some of the leading ideas and discussions in the Global Age of Cities and rapid urban development have and are still associated with cities and their different futures: the concept of global cities, 1rise of the creative class and the urban crisis, 2the network society, 3city of bits, 4splintering urbanism, 5planetary urbanization, 6and ultimately the triumph of the city7 as well as well-tempered city8 and infinite suburbia. 9These discourses see a plethora of structural transformations that Jane Jacobs was unable to see or predict and that go beyond her understanding of cities, which is ultimately bounded to specific places. This essay looks at some of Jane Jacobs’ “urban lenses” and specific points of view as well as the analysis of her specific “complexity of the urban” approach and deficiencies in not seeing the interdependency of the micro- meso-macro scales. Keywords: Streets; Race; Urban Planning; City Development; Humanistic Principles; Housing; Residents; Urbanism; New Geographies; 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Promoting Physical Activity and Active Living in Urban Environments
    PROMOTING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND ACTIVE LIVING IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS LIVINGINURBANENVIRONMENTS ANDACTIVE ACTIVITY PHYSICAL PROMOTING The WHO Regional Offi ce for Europe THE SOLID The World Health Organization (WHO) is FACTS a specialized agency of the United Nations created in 1948 with the primary responsibility for international health People’s participation in physical activity is infl uenced by the built, natural matters and public and social environments in which people live as well as by personal health. The WHO Regional Offi ce for factors such as sex, age, ability, time and motivation. The way people Europe is one of six regional offi ces organize cities, design the urban environment and provide access to the throughout the world, each with its own natural environment can be an encouragement or a barrier to physical programme geared to the particular health activity and active living. Other barriers exist in the social environments conditions of the within which people work, learn, play and live. countries it serves. Physical activity is an essential component of any strategy that aims to Member States address the problems of sedentary living and obesity among children and Albania adults. Active living contributes to individual physical and mental health Andorra Armenia but also to social cohesion and community well-being. Opportunities for Austria being physically active are not limited to sports and organized recreation; Azerbaijan Belarus opportunities exist everywhere – where people live and work, in Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina neighbourhoods and in educational and health establishments. Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus The Healthy Cities and urban governance programme of the WHO Czech Republic Denmark Regional Offi ce for Europe has focused on how local governments can Estonia Finland implement healthy urban planning to generate environments that France promote opportunities for physical activity and active living.
    [Show full text]
  • Urban Density and Covid-19
    ISSN 2042-2695 CEP Discussion Paper No 1711 August 2020 Urban Density and Covid-19 Felipe Carozzi Sandro Provenzano Sefi Roth Abstract This paper estimates the link between population density and COVID-19 spread and severity in the contiguous United States. To overcome confounding factors, we use two Instrumental Variable (IV) strategies that exploit geological features and historical populations to induce exogenous variation in population density without affecting COVID-19 cases and deaths directly. We find that density has affected the timing of the outbreak, with denser locations more likely to have an early outbreak. However, we find no evidence that population density is positively associated with time-adjusted COVID-19 cases and deaths. Using data from Google, Facebook, the US Census and The County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program, we also investigate several possible mechanisms for our findings. We show that population density can affect the timing of outbreaks through higher connectedness of denser locations. Furthermore, we find that population density is positively associated with proxies for social distancing measures, access to healthcare and income, highlighting the importance of these mediating factors in containing the outbreak. Key words: Covid-19, density, congestion forces JEL Codes: I12; R12 This paper was produced as part of the Centre’s Urban and Spatial Programme. The Centre for Economic Performance is financed by the Economic and Social Research Council. We would like to thank Gabriel Ahlfeldt, Steve Gibbons and Henry Overman for useful com- ments and suggestions. The work by Provenzano was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number: ES/P000622/1].
    [Show full text]