In the 50 years since the publication of The Death and Life of American Cities, urbanist and author Jane Jacobs has been highly influential, often misunderstood and misrepresented, and meant different things to different people. Unlike many cultural touchstones that lose significance after their initial impact, Jacobs's influence has grown exponentially since the mid-1990s. And so the appearance of the collection of essays, Reconsidering Jane Jacobs, edited by Max Page and Timothy Mennel and published by the American Planning Association, should come as no surprise.
In some respects, the book functions less as a critique or a revision of Jacobs's ideas and more as the provider of an expanded context for understanding Jacobs and her work. Biographical information and an assessment of her writing style provide additional information on her background, mindset, and approach to her work.
Five chapters are devoted to international analyses where Jacobs's ideals are put to use (or not). Interestingly, in the case of a contentious project in Buenos Aires, the author describes how Jacobs's ideas have taken root in South American culture without her name or works being widely known or available. Additionally, in the case of planning in Abu Dhabi, two AICPs argue that, paradoxically, a top-down approach is the best way to achieve the Jacobsian ideal of vibrant communities and active street life due to the local culture and governmental structure.
Also included are an overview of how the New Urbanist movement uses and misuses Jacobs and her work, and an interesting comparison of Jacobs's concepts and the creation of the quasi-community surrounding Andy Warhol's factory in 1960's New York.
Perhaps most noteworthy to practicing planners in 2011 is the final essay by Thomas J. Campanella, in which the author tackles the issue of the possibility that planning is now or could become a "Trivial Profession," unable or unwilling to effect the changes in the American landscape and culture it explicitly advocates. To this end he notes that, by 1994, Jacobs herself had "grown frustrated with the timidity and the lack of imagination on the part of planners... she lamented theabsence of just the sort of robust plannerly interventionism that she once condemned."
And so, as a revisiting of Jane Jacobs and her work, this collection of essays is worthwhile for those interested in expanding their knowledge of her work or seeking a brief primer on it. The main disappointment is that all of the essays treat Jacobs's work reverentially; a more sharp criticism of her work would not only make for a more interesting read, but would also have served to work against Campanella's notation on the danger of the "Trivial Profession" and, ironically, may have fit in better with Jacobs's own non-status quo stance.
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