And whyshould we try to? I’m in New York City for a few months working on finding my own answers to these questions.
It’s pretty overwhelming. I’m doing a lot of research, raiding New York’s brilliant public libraries and going to as many urban issues talks I can find.
The more I read, the bigger the picture gets, and the more I start to doubt my ability to answer these questions. So it’s been wonderful to immerse myself in What We See: Advancing the Observations of Jane Jacobs, a wonderful, new-ish (2010) collection of essays edited by Stephen A Goldsmith and Lynne Elizabeth.
I only came across Jacobs a few years ago, and like many others, her way of thinking – or rather, her way of seeing the city – was a revelation. Her genius was not in academic dissections, and her work didn’t take the form of the impenetrable, abstract explorations of the architecture journals I’m wading through. Her genius was in recognising the importance of simple interactions, in seeing the value embedded in the streets, shops, stoops and park benches she walked past every day.
Like Jane, I’m not an architect, a planner, or an academic. But I am an ambler, a dawdler, an eavesdropper and bench-warmer. I linger in the park and look in the windows of the bodegas and delis. I want to train myself to see like Jane Jacobs. My favourite essay in the book is by Daniel Kemmis, “Cities and the Wealth of Places”, in which he quotes Jane as she revealed the secret of her observational genius.
“As Gail recounted it, Jane said, “Well, I have a secret. Whenever I visit a new city, I take a companion with me.”
“A companion,” Gail said. “anybody in particular?”
“Yes,” Jane responded, “I ask Benjamin Franklin to walk with me. You see, everything is new to him, but he’s so curious and so intelligent, and so he always asks questions that I have to think pretty hard about before I try to answer. That helps me see deeper into the city than I would otherwise have done.”
As I walk the streets, and wade through the reams of writing about them, I’m hoping to be guided by Jane’s spirit and her inquisitive eye. Assume nothing, take nothing as gospel, and look for what really works – on the street.
