Exploring the Thought of Jane Jacobs: The Conversation of Cities

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.

Richard Keeley was 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.