Genius of Common Sense: Jane Jacobs and the Story of the Death and Life of Great American Cities by

Abstract

Children, Youth and Environments Vol. 22 No. 2 (Winter 2012) ISSN: 1546-2250 Genius of Common Sense: Jane Jacobs and the Story of the Death and Life of Great American Cities Lang, Glenna and Wunsch, Marjory (2008). Boston: David R. Godine; 128 pages. $15.95. ISBN 9781567923841. The first page of Genius of Common Sense transports readers to Jane Jacobs in fourth grade, hearing her teacher tell the class that cities always develop around waterfalls. Realizing that in her hometown of Scranton, PA, everybody knew that coal was the most important and that the little waterfall in the park near her house had nothing to do with how that city came to prosper, little Jane questioned her teacher, telling her that it did not make sense that all cities developed around waterfalls. This little anecdote, one of many sprinkled throughout this small book, aptly sets the stage for a biography of an independent-minded woman, a keen observer, careful thinker, and committed activist who became one of the most outspoken and influential critics of U.S. planning orthodoxies holding sway during the 1950s and 1960s. Lacking a college degree and formal professional credentials but possessing a keen intellect and astute observational powers, Jane Jacobs used common sense as the basis for her conclusions about what was wrong with urban planning at that time and for recommendations on what to do about it. This richly illustrated and well-researched biography draws from archival sources to offer welcome coverage of city life and urban planning, aimed at children age 10 and up—an age group for which there is little material on these topics. In 12 short chapters, the authors deftly weave together the personal experiences of Jane Jacobs with urban planning issues related to urban renewal, neighborhood planning and citizen participation. The narrative moves from her years in elementary school until the successful effort to defeat of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, which she led as a resident of 303 Greenwich Village in New York City. Chapters touch upon her life as a young writer in New York City, starting a family and fixing up a “candy-store house” with her architect husband, work at Architectural Forum, and her growing influence as a neighborhood activist, writer, and urban critic. The final chapter comments on her work’s later influence, while an epilogue briefly reviews her years in Canada, where she moved in 1968 to prevent her sons from being drafted into the Vietnam War—a war she fiercely opposed. Living in Toronto until her death at the age of 89, asserting life-long held principles, Jane helped win the fight to thwart the Spadina Expressway. Although Jane Jacobs wrote various books, she is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which was translated into dozens of languages and sold millions of copies, remaining in print continuously since its original publication in 1961. It, therefore, rightly forms the chief focus of Genius of Common Sense. When discussing this book’s main ideas, the authors use a balanced approach that includes mention of critics who disagreed with Jane Jacobs. The book does not, however, touch upon the charge of physical determinism that was central in Herbert Gans’ critique, among others. Rather, the book suggests that planners should avoid cookie-cutter approaches and rely on careful observation about what works, and what does not work, in their cities to create vibrant communities, allowing that different cities require different solutions. This slim book makes three important contributions. First,The Death and Life of Great American Cities directed attention to the positives of urban places and the importance of protecting and strengthening the assets of city neighborhoods that are home to working-class families. Unlike most media portrayals and much of the fiction and research literature of the 1950s onwards, which focused on the elimination of problems (and the elimination of neighborhoods perceived by planners and 304 urban officials as sources of those problems), Jacobs’ book encouraged its readers to see and develop the potential of neighborhoods to function as vibrant communities for their residents. Genius of Common Sense implicitly conveys the importance of factors identified by Jane Jacobs, especially sidewalks, parks and...