What We See: Advancing the Observations of Jane Jacobs Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book is a collection of essays based loosely on the work of Jane Jacobs (most known for her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, although she wrote numerous other books). Many of the essays are quite unimpressive, stringing together clichés or telling me what I already knew.
However, a few are noteworthy. I was engaged by:
*Ray Suarez's overview of suburban sprawl. Suarez points out that parents often move to suburbia for the benefit of children, but in some ways this experiment has failed, as suburbs "required more adult oversight, not less ... scrubbing the environment of outsiders heightened stranger anxiety rather than alleviating it." (But I question the causal relationship Suarez draws; perhaps stranger anxiety has risen in city adn suburb alike).
*Robert Sirman's essay is one of the better examples of how Jacobs' views can be applied in unfamiliar contexts. Sirman helped expand a ballet school in Toronto; rather than turning the school inward, away from the street, Sirman sought to revitalize the street- for example by supporting a nearby restaurant's attempt to open an outdoor patio, on the grounds that it would provide "eyes on the street" and thus make it seem less deserted.
*Hillary Brown's discussion of how "mixed use" can be applied to unfamiliar contexts- not just putting apartments above shops, but also adding various types of infrastructure together (for example, a Dutch bridge that accommodates not only pedestrian and vehicle traffic, but tramlines and utilities).
*Clare Cooper Marcus's discussion of attempts to combine the advantages of cul-de-sacs with the advantages of grids. (This essay was, however, far too pro-cul-de-sac for my taste, downplaying the reduced walkability of cul-de-sacs by seemingly taking it for granted that children would have no place to walk to outside their own block).
*Saskia Sassen's discussion of regional economic diversity, in which she suggests that cities' economic specializations are deeply rooted in their early 20th-century history, and thus tries to explain why (for example) New York is more dependent on finance than Chicago. (This essay, I thought, could have benefited from more data).


Click Here to see more reviews about: What We See: Advancing the Observations of Jane Jacobs


A timely revisitation of renowned urbanist-activist Jane Jacobs' lifework, What We See: Advancing the Observations of Jane Jacobs invites thirty pundits and practitioners across fields to refresh Jacobs' economic, social and urban planning theories for the present day. Combining personal and professional observations with meditations on Jacobs' insights, essayists bring their diverse experience to bear to sketch the blueprints for the living city.

The book models itself after Jacobs' collaborative approach to city and community building, asking community members and niche specialists to share their knowledge with a broader community, to work together toward a common goal of building the 21st century city.

The resulting collection of original essays expounds and expands Jacobs' ideas on the qualities of a vibrant, robust urban area. It offers the generalist, the activist, and the urban planner practical examples of the benefits of planning that encourages community participation, pedestrianism, diversity, environmental responsibility and self-sufficiency.

Bob Sirman, director of the Canada Council for the Arts, describes how built form should be an embodiment of a community narrative. Daniel Kemmis, former Mayor of Missoula, shares an imagined dialog with Jacobs,' discussing the delicate interconnection between cities and their surrounding rural areas. And Roberta Brandes Gratz-urban critic, author, and former head of Public Policy of the New York State Preservation League-asserts the importance of architectural preservation to environmentally sound urban planning practices.

What We See asks us all to join the conversation about next steps for shaping socially just, environmentally friendly, and economically prosperous urban communities.

Click here for more information about What We See: Advancing the Observations of Jane Jacobs