Jane Jacobs

In his new book, Richard Sennett argues that cities—and societies—grow by dealing with change, not resisting it

The man who helped us understand media takes on the woman who helped us understand cities

Transit and traffic are emerging as major issues in the Toronto mayoral election, with rival candidates unveiling proposals to replace streetcars, build a tunnel under the downtown, extend subways or add bike lanes, almost daily. It might be of interest, then, to know what the great urbanist Jane Jacobs, patron saint of the Annex, thought about it all. Here she is in an absorbing interview with Reason magazine, from June 2001:

Before she became a Toronto urban icon, Jane Jacobs defeated New York’s master builder