Jane Jacobs is Gone · 201 words posted 04/25/2006 02:05 PM
Her most famous book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, found a cult following among programmers because arguments about urban life are, in essence, arguments about networks. “Death and Life” is full of these arguments, some spot on, many debatable, but all worth considering. Her prescription for interesting city streets, for example: short, mixed-use blocks with frequent intersections. Think about the difference between Manhattan’s streets and avenues.
Here, her pithy take on privacy in cities:
Architectural and planning literature deals with privacy in terms of windows, overlooks, sight lines. The idea is that if no one from outside can peek into where you live—behold, privacy. This is simple-minded. Window privacy is the easiest commodity in the world to get. You just pull down the shades or adjust the blinds. The privacy of keeping one’s personal affairs to those selected to know them, and the privacy of having reasonable control over who shall make inroads on your time and when, are rare commodities in most of this world, however, and they have nothing to do with the orientation of windows.
Those words have aged well in the 45 years since she wrote them. I’m sorry she’s gone.
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