Toronto Star - Jane Jacobs - Editorial

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"Editorial: Toronto loses a friend"

Wednesday, April 26, 2006, 01:00 AM

EDITORIAL

With the death of Jane Jacobs yesterday, Toronto lost more than a writer, intellectual and urban activist. This city lost a faithful friend and a high-spirited defender.

Best known for her seminal 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jacobs was an early proponent of liveable communities, which valued people, parks and neighbourhoods above highways, high-rises and urban sprawl.

But she did more than think and write about urban issues. She fought for what she believed. After moving here from the United States in 1968, she helped stop the proposed Spadina Expressway from ripping through the Annex neighbourhood and she continued her writing to become a legendary urban philosopher.

Few people have accomplished so much. Jacobs would have turned 90 next week. Over decades of writing and vigorous activism she helped change the way people regard urban areas and, in the process, changed the way that cities are developed.

It is to Toronto's credit that, of all the cities in all the world, Jacobs chose to make this her home. Few residents will be missed as much.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1146001825313&call_pageid=971358637177

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