Robert Moses, Park Commissioner of New York City, with a 1939 model of the proposed Battery Bridge. Jane Jacobs will personify the refusal of the systematic eradication of the human, done in the name of a hypothetical better world. Jane Jacobs was a leader of community groups that opposed and killed this proposal. Jacobs, who has been the subject of several recent books timed to the centennial of her 1916 birth, gained fame in urban-planning circles with her then-controversial 1961 book … Glenna Lang says both Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses were there. Plan a night at the movies to see Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, a rousing documentary about journalist-activist Jane Jacobs and her fight in the 1960s against Robert Moses… I enjoy history and learned after I moved here that Robert Moses was an important piece of the NYC history puzzle. It sits on my shelf with yellowed pages. In his 2018 book Order Without ... Idaho, described this as an attempt to achieve "Jane Jacobs goals through Robert Moses tactics." Jane Jacobs vs. Robert Moses. New York “master builder” Robert Moses with a model of Battery Bridge. Moses in his earlier days was known as an enlightened master builder. Jane Jacobs is a historical figure, of course, and this fall Knopf will publish Robert Kanigel’s Eyes on the Street: The Life of Jane Jacobs. Second of three Anthony Flint’s new book “Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took on New York’s Master Builder and Transformed the American City” (Random House) seems to be about urban planning. Jane spent decades fighting Robert Moses, urban renewal, “slum” clearance, and the construction of highways … ... Robert Moses, to put a roadway through Washington Square Park, where she took her children. In the book Wrestling with Moses, the author Anthony Flint recounts the clash between Jane Jacobs and her nemesis, Robert Moses, bringing us front … Image: Wikimedia Commons. Jane Jacobs and the book that inspired a revolution. The legend of Jane Jacobs centers on the writer who revolutionized our thinking about cities with her now-classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and the fearless activist who stood up to planning czar Robert Moses’s rampaging road construction, thereby saving Gotham.A recent, rather cartoonish film on the subject is even titled: Citizen Jane: The Battle for New York. Roberta Brandes Gratz is an award-winning journalist and author of “Battle For Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs,” and most recently, “We’re Still Here Ya Bastards: How the People of New Orleans Rebuilt Their City.” Views expressed in the Opinion section are not necessarily those of The Lens or its staff. More: Classical Music Culture Jane Jacobs L Train New York City Opera Robert Moses Subways Tracy K. Smith Urban Planning This Week’s Issue Never miss a big New Yorker story again. The film highlights Jane Jacobs’ magisterial 1961 treatise The Death and Life of Great American Cities, in which she single-handedly undercuts her era’s orthodox model of city planning, exemplified by the massive Urban Renewal projects of New York’s “Master Builder,” Robert Moses. From Rebecca Pitts for Seven Stories Press, JANE JACOBS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE is the story of the visionary urbanist and activist who believed in the power of ordinary citizens to reshape their communities — one neighborhood at a time. I bought it shortly after I moved to New York City 30 years ago. A Marvelous Order is only one of a number of contemporary projects, graphic, documentary, and social, that call upon Jane in a variety of ways beyond simple biography. As per the film’s subtitle, a large chunk of “Citizen Jane” concerns the high-profile contest of wills between her and the imperious Robert Moses, New York City’s powerful city-planning czar. Jacobs became an activist working against the plans from Robert Moses to tear down existing buildings in Greenwich Village and build high rises. Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urban writer and activist who championed new, community-based approaches to planning for over 40 years. [Photo: C. M. Spieglitz/World Telegram and Sun, 1939/Library of Congress] Moses and Jacobs … It is ironic that immediately following the book's release Robert Moses was at the forefront of the project that would put a highway right through the middle of it, sacrificing Jacob's own home. By Anthony Flint on Nov 16, 2011. Jane Jacobs vs. Robert Moses Robert Moses had a greater impact on the physical character of New York than any other individual in the city’s history. Yet, the urban world we live in today, said Galperin, was created by Robert Moses. In May, I observed that "The Power Broker, Robert Caro's monumental biography of Robert Moses, oddly omits any mention of Jane Jacobs, now thought of as Moses's polar opposite, and the successful citizen protest against Moses's 1950s attempt to run a highway through Washington Square Park." I … The book is Wrestling With Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York’s Master Builder and Transformed the American City by Anthony Flint (2011, Random House). One of New York City’s best rivalries — Robert Moses vs. Jane Jacobs — was briefly and eloquently put into perspective on Monday night at an awards ceremony hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation. I read Robert Caro’s 1974 The Power Broker because I wanted to learn more about Jane Jacobs. Robert Moses, who led various New York City transportation and planning departments, proposed the creation of a ten lane elevated highway in Manhattan. In 1960s New York City, Moses … Robert Moses was focused on the automobile. Not the best of friends: Jacobs and Moses. Her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, became one of the most influential American texts about the inner workings and failings of cities, inspiring generations of urban planners and activists. Jane Jacobs… for young people! Confirmed: Bob Dylan Did Co-Write Protest Song About Robert Moses With Jane Jacobs By Ben ... For more on Jacobs, there's a new book out … Here begins the battle of Jane Jacobs vs. Robert Moses. Having read both The Death and Life of Great American Cities, by Jane Jacobs, and The Power Broker, Robert Caro's wonderful biography of Robert Moses, I found Flint's book an enjoyable review of Jacobs' efforts to stop three of Moses' proposed projects, and Moses… She generally opposed top-down decision-making, as practiced by "master builders" like Moses. Caro's contribution, cut She was the mother and … Robert A Caro’s tome The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York is a thick, unwieldy book at 1344 pages. Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs: A question of power | Return to Blog. The final showdown over the proposal happened in 1958. The book upon first reading was lost to me. It would require tearing down 400 buildings and remove 2,200 families and 800 businesses. by Patrick T. Reardon on Wed, 09/09/2009 - 7:44am. Book Description: The antagonism between urbanist and writer Jane Jacobs and master builder Robert Moses may frame debates over urban form, but in"Building Like Moses with Jacobs in Mind,"Scott Larson aims to use the Moses-Jacobs rivalry as a means for examining and understanding the New York City administration's redevelopment strategies and actions. After clashing with Robert Moses over the future of Washington Square and the slum designation of the West Village, Jane Jacobs had one final New York City fight in her: the battle over the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway (LOMEX). J ane Jacobs is often portrayed as an almost mythic figure, locked with Robert Moses in an epic battle for the future of New York. Lang: Jane had never come into contact with Moses personally before.