Jane Jacobs vs. Robert Moses - The Diigo Meta page

• 31 Jul 09
  

  Yule Heibel

  A review of Anthony Flint's "How Jane Jacobs Took On New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American City."
  QUOTE
  Now there's a book that shows how these mythic characters shaped each other's work and reputations - a volume that leaves me wishing there was some way today to combine the best traits of both.
  (...)
  Make no mistake, Jacobs is the hero of this yarn. But in the epilogue, Flint addresses our ever-changing urban dynamics, where Jacobs' quest for "thoughtful citizen involvement" has morphed into "all-powerful neighborhood residents, who seek conditions to stay exactly as they are and reward politicians who agree with them."
  
  Which sounds a lot like San Francisco, Berkeley and every other city [Victoria!] where process is more important than results. All the protections we've put into place, such as environmental reports, become weapons that can be used to derail anything that anyone dislikes.
  UNQUOTE

  jjacobs robert_moses urbanism cities urbanplanning politics

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