Exploring the Thought of Jane Jacobs - by Richard Keeley (Paperback)

About the Book

Examines Jane Jacobs's seven major books to explain her thinking on cities, nations, and economies, and suggests the continuing relevance of her thought to today's challenges.

Book Synopsis

In conversation with the great works of author, theorist, and activist Jane Jacobs, this study investigates her thoughts on cities, nations, and economies for today's urban challenges.

With the publication of The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) changed the way urban planners, architects, politicians, and ordinary citizens the world over understood the city and its challenges. Less attention has been paid to her subsequent works on cities and economies; Exploring the Thought of Jane Jacobs seeks to remedy that neglect. With careful attention to context, Richard Keeley explores Jacobs's understanding of streets and neighborhoods in cities great and small and her vision of the city as an organism extended through generations. He examines Jacobs's theories on the dynamics of economic development, the ethics of the workplace, and the difficulties of ethical business practice. He concludes with a reflection in Jacobsian terms on the need for a politics of place spanning generations.

Review Quotes

After twenty years of correspondence, conversation, and friendship with Jane Jacobs, Richard Keeley has written a unique and fascinating analysis of her ideas and methods. Although literature on Jacobs most often focuses on her seminal work The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Keeley probes six of Jacobs's often neglected subsequent books-including two written in dialogue-that offer explorations of economics and ethics as well as urban dynamics. In Exploring the Thought of Jane Jacobs: The Conversation of Cities, Keeley skillfully guides us through Jacobs's rich and complex thought, organized by theme, and suggests ways we could apply her insights to our current and future circumstances.

Coming from a rigorous appreciation of Jane Jacobs's work and enhanced by a decades-long personal connection, Richard Keeley brings her uniquely humane perspective into a new light, alive again. It is needed now more than ever. This is a must read for every architect and planner who cares about how the ecology of our communities might be nourished by design.

About the Author

Richard Keeley, before his retirement, served as Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduates in the Carroll School of Management and Director of Programs for the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics at Boston College.