Urmi in Neighbourhoods, Lifestyle, In the News
The Toronto Star’s recent coverage of the issue doesn’t fail to mention the late Jane Jacobs, a prolific researcher of city life and the rule of thumb by which we measure city planning (though many of her followers find this easier said than done). The wonderful thing about Jacobs is that she is that rare author whose original work is better than any reference to it (this post included). The lucidity of her writing, particularly her 1961 classic, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, reveals a progressive yet unyieldingly practical approach to urban issues.
In contrast, the suburbs offer fewer ‘sidewalks.’ There are, of course, more actual walkways, but there are fewer people on them. We need to know people better in order to carpool (no bus stops here) and to invite each other into our homes (compare this to the strange mix of intimacy and anonymity that is the urban laundromat). Our fear in the suburbs is not knowing one another well enough. When everyone fits in and belongs together in a suburban neighbourhood, things work beautifully, but given any degree of diversity, things break down. Over time, isolation—punctuated by the visits of our trusted friends who drive over to see us—becomes the order of the suburban day.
In Jacobs’ analysis, the city with the thriving public sidewalk is the ideal. The in-between world of the ‘not city, not suburb', full of strangers who choose not meet each other on the street, is the nightmare.
Where would an über-PATH lie in Jane’s eyes?
Urmi Desai is an economic analyst and a freelance writer specializing in urban issues. She is editor of the Move Smartly blog.
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