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May 9, 2007
Reconsiderations of Jane Jacobs lead inevitably to Atlantic Yards musings
Atlantic Yards Report
In the midst of the Robert Moses revisionism, let's not forget the master builder's philosophical antagonist, Jane Jacobs. In February, City Planning Commission Chairperson Amanda Burden famously assured listeners that we now "plan from the ground up" and follow the principles of Jane Jacobs.
However, Burden had to explain her support for the not-so-ground-up Atlantic Yards, asserting , as if channeling Moses, "We’re a big city and we need big projects."
A few weeks later, Burden got an implicit comeuppance. Jacobs’ name is invoked “in some of the most erroneous situations,” Roberta Brandes Gratz, founder of the Center for the Living City at Purchase College, told the audience at a 3/7/07 symposium, Interpreting and Misinterpreting Jane Jacobs, at the Museum of the City of New York.
And, as the panel discussion continued, it inevitably focused on Atlantic Yards, the city's poster child for controversy over planning.
Posted by lumi at May 9, 2007 8:15 AM