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Vital Little Plans: The Short Works of Jane Jacobs
A career-spanning selection of previously uncollected writings and talks by the legendary author and activist
No one did more to change how we look at cities than Jane Jacobs, the visionary urbanist and economic thinker whose 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities started a global conversation that remains profoundly relevant more than half a century later.
Vital Little Plans is an essential companion to Death and Life and Jacobs's other books on urbanism, economics, politics, and ethics. It offers readers a unique survey of her entire career in forty short pieces that have never been collected in a single volume, from charming and incisive urban vignettes from the 1930s to the raw materials of her two unfinished books of the 2000s, together with introductions and annotations by editors Samuel Zipp and Nathan Storring. Readers will find classics here, including Jacobs's breakout article "Downtown Is for People," as well as lesser-known gems like her speech at the inaugural Earth Day and a host of other rare or previously unavailable essays, articles, speeches, interviews, and lectures. Some pieces shed light on the development of her most famous insights, while others explore topics rarely dissected in her major works, from globalization to feminism to universal health care.
With this book, published in Jacobs's centenary year, contemporary readers--whether well versed in her ideas or new to her writing--are finally able to appreciate the full scope of her remarkable voice and vision. At a time when urban life is booming and people all over the world are moving to cities, the words of Jane Jacobs have never been more significant. Vital Little Plans weaves a lifetime of ideas from the most prominent urbanist of the twentieth century into a book that's indispensable to life in the twenty-first.
Praise for Vital Little Plans
"Jacobs's work . . . was a singularly accurate prediction of the future we live in."--The New Republic
"In Vital Little Plans, a new collection of the short writings and speeches of Jane Jacobs, one of the most influential thinkers on the built environment, editors Samuel Zipp and Nathan Storring have done readers a great service."--The Huffington Post
"A wonderful new anthology that captures [Jacobs's] confident prose and her empathetic, patient eye for the way humans live and work together."--The Globe and Mail
"[A timely reminder] of the clarity and originality of [Jane Jacobs's] thought."--Toronto Star
"[Vital Little Plans] comes to the foreground for [Jane Jacobs's] centennial, and in a time when more of Jacobs's prescient wisdom is needed."--Metropolis
"[Jacobs] changed the debate on urban planning. . . . As [Vital Little Plans] shows, she never stopped refining her observations about how cities thrived."--Minneapolis Star Tribune
"[Jane Jacobs] was one of three people I have met in a lifetime of meeting people who had an aura of sainthood about them. . . . The ability to radiate certainty without condescension, to be both very sure and very simple, is a potent one, and witnessing it in life explains a lot in history that might otherwise be inexplicable."--Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker
"A rich, provocative, and insightful collection."--Reason
No one did more to change how we look at cities than Jane Jacobs, the visionary urbanist and economic thinker whose 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities started a global conversation that remains profoundly relevant more than half a century later.
Vital Little Plans is an essential companion to Death and Life and Jacobs's other books on urbanism, economics, politics, and ethics. It offers readers a unique survey of her entire career in forty short pieces that have never been collected in a single volume, from charming and incisive urban vignettes from the 1930s to the raw materials of her two unfinished books of the 2000s, together with introductions and annotations by editors Samuel Zipp and Nathan Storring. Readers will find classics here, including Jacobs's breakout article "Downtown Is for People," as well as lesser-known gems like her speech at the inaugural Earth Day and a host of other rare or previously unavailable essays, articles, speeches, interviews, and lectures. Some pieces shed light on the development of her most famous insights, while others explore topics rarely dissected in her major works, from globalization to feminism to universal health care.
With this book, published in Jacobs's centenary year, contemporary readers--whether well versed in her ideas or new to her writing--are finally able to appreciate the full scope of her remarkable voice and vision. At a time when urban life is booming and people all over the world are moving to cities, the words of Jane Jacobs have never been more significant. Vital Little Plans weaves a lifetime of ideas from the most prominent urbanist of the twentieth century into a book that's indispensable to life in the twenty-first.
Praise for Vital Little Plans
"Jacobs's work . . . was a singularly accurate prediction of the future we live in."--The New Republic
"In Vital Little Plans, a new collection of the short writings and speeches of Jane Jacobs, one of the most influential thinkers on the built environment, editors Samuel Zipp and Nathan Storring have done readers a great service."--The Huffington Post
"A wonderful new anthology that captures [Jacobs's] confident prose and her empathetic, patient eye for the way humans live and work together."--The Globe and Mail
"[A timely reminder] of the clarity and originality of [Jane Jacobs's] thought."--Toronto Star
"[Vital Little Plans] comes to the foreground for [Jane Jacobs's] centennial, and in a time when more of Jacobs's prescient wisdom is needed."--Metropolis
"[Jacobs] changed the debate on urban planning. . . . As [Vital Little Plans] shows, she never stopped refining her observations about how cities thrived."--Minneapolis Star Tribune
"[Jane Jacobs] was one of three people I have met in a lifetime of meeting people who had an aura of sainthood about them. . . . The ability to radiate certainty without condescension, to be both very sure and very simple, is a potent one, and witnessing it in life explains a lot in history that might otherwise be inexplicable."--Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker
"A rich, provocative, and insightful collection."--Reason
544 pages, Hardcover
First published October 11, 2016
77 people are currently reading
1534 people want to read
About the author
Jane Jacobs
69 books702 followersJane Jacobs, OC, O.Ont (May 4, 1916 – April 25, 2006) was an American-born Canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and decay. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States. The book has been credited with reaching beyond planning issues to influence the spirit of the times.
Along with her well-known printed works, Jacobs is equally well-known for organizing grassroots efforts to block urban-renewal projects that would have destroyed local neighborhoods. She was instrumental in the eventual cancellation of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, and after moving to Canada in 1968, equally influential in canceling the Spadina Expressway and the associated network of highways under construction.
Along with her well-known printed works, Jacobs is equally well-known for organizing grassroots efforts to block urban-renewal projects that would have destroyed local neighborhoods. She was instrumental in the eventual cancellation of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, and after moving to Canada in 1968, equally influential in canceling the Spadina Expressway and the associated network of highways under construction.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 17, 2016
Absolute must-read for Jane Jacobs fans, urbanists, anyone interested in cities. Fascinating book of essays, articles, speeches, and excerpts including much that was previously unpublished anywhere.
December 6, 2022
A thoughtfully selected and annotated collection of lessons and speeches that highlights Jacobs's evolution and iconoclasm. I don't always agree with Jacobs (indeed, often I find myself frustrated at how much she generalizes from her own narrow experiences), but I can't deny her role as agent provocateur to the establishment or her wide-ranging intellect.
September 28, 2017
This book is a collection of small essays by (and interviews of) Jane Jacobs. Mostly her observations are as insightful as always. For example:
*She wrote about the negative side effects of federal grants for capital spending. These grants encouraged construction, but didn't always support maintenance. As a result, local governments are stuck with infrastructure that they can't easily afford to maintain. (If you are more interested in this topic I suggest strongtowns.org)
*She was especially critical of highway spending because of the negative side effects of urban expressways that are unrelated to maintenance. More highway spending meant more automobile use, which meant higher health care costs due to auto crashes. And more car use also means more traffic violations, imposing costs on the court system and police. Land used for expressways is land that cannot be used for housing or commerce, thus impoverishing urban property tax bases.
*She wrote about the absurdity of bike-phobia based on safety concerns, by pointing out that indoor substitutes for bikes (such as stationary bicycles and similar exercise machines) led to 18,000 accidents per year requiring hospital emergency treatment.
On the other hand, some of her ideas seem a bit outdated. She was writing when even dense cities like New York had plenty of underutilized land, so she was perfectly willing to support broad neighborhood powers to limit new development. We now know that this sort of neighborhood veto may preserve beautiful places, but also limits the amount of housing - something that was not a huge problem in the 1970s (when there was very little demand for city life) but is a much bigger problem today.
*She wrote about the negative side effects of federal grants for capital spending. These grants encouraged construction, but didn't always support maintenance. As a result, local governments are stuck with infrastructure that they can't easily afford to maintain. (If you are more interested in this topic I suggest strongtowns.org)
*She was especially critical of highway spending because of the negative side effects of urban expressways that are unrelated to maintenance. More highway spending meant more automobile use, which meant higher health care costs due to auto crashes. And more car use also means more traffic violations, imposing costs on the court system and police. Land used for expressways is land that cannot be used for housing or commerce, thus impoverishing urban property tax bases.
*She wrote about the absurdity of bike-phobia based on safety concerns, by pointing out that indoor substitutes for bikes (such as stationary bicycles and similar exercise machines) led to 18,000 accidents per year requiring hospital emergency treatment.
On the other hand, some of her ideas seem a bit outdated. She was writing when even dense cities like New York had plenty of underutilized land, so she was perfectly willing to support broad neighborhood powers to limit new development. We now know that this sort of neighborhood veto may preserve beautiful places, but also limits the amount of housing - something that was not a huge problem in the 1970s (when there was very little demand for city life) but is a much bigger problem today.
August 15, 2019
I would have given this book five stars if it weren't for the format. The "academic" approach of providing more information and context in the footnotes intrigued me prior to reading, but I found it distracting and disrupted the cadence of Jacob's writing. However, as always, Jacobs takes on urbanism, society, and the built environment were still able to shine and I would recommend reading it.
December 22, 2023
My first time reading Jane Jacobs, and she’s truly an urbanist icon
November 7, 2022
This is a wonderful collection of a brilliant voice of dissent. Nevertheless, Jacobs' absence of a theory of ownership--she constantly insists that ownership of production/resources isn't the core issue--was an exponential blind spot that doomed her vision of the small, local, diverse, and organic to the ephemeral at best.
The material that has come out of the Schumacher Centre for New Economics, following in the tradition of E.F. Schumacher's "Small Is Beautiful," has much overlap with Jacobs but with more structural endurance. The Schumacher Centre has collected and developed practices like credit unions, community land trusts, employee-owned companies, and local currencies like BerkShares in Berkshire County that actually embed the fractal vision Jacobs attempted to develop with staying power. Additionally, while Jacobs saw cities and their development needs as unique due to their import/export relationship, the methods of the Schumacher Centre have facilitated "vital little plans" in urban and rural communities alike with great success.
Only briefly in the 2000's, shortly before her death, does Jacobs begin to venture into this realm. There is one passage from a lecture addressing gentrification that finally makes the matter clear:
"Artscape, a Toronto organization concerned specifically with protecting and promoting the interests of artists, has come to the conclusion that the only sure way of preventing artists from being priced out of their quarters is ownership--in this case ownership by nonprofit organizations. The same is probably true for many other existing inhabitants--ownership by cooperatives, community development corporations, land trusts, nonprofit organizations--whatever ingenuities can be directed to the aim of retaining neighborhood diversity of population." ('Time and Change as Neighborhood Allies', pg. 360.)
Had this notion been applied to her whole career, she and her fellow organizers may have faced fewer temporary victories and lasting disappointments.
This book nevertheless contains a rich accumulation of relevant and sage advice. Her understanding of the simple things that make streets livable and vibrant endures. Her highlighting the good practice of the New York Public Library, testing locations for traffic before building new branches, remains uncommon common sense. Her insistence we should walk the neighborhood rather than formulate the abstract plans of an 'expert' who knows nothing about it is as close to an eternal truth as the field of planning is going to find.
If we combine Jacobs' sentiments with some of Schumacher's structures of ownership, little plans might yet manage to win big.
The material that has come out of the Schumacher Centre for New Economics, following in the tradition of E.F. Schumacher's "Small Is Beautiful," has much overlap with Jacobs but with more structural endurance. The Schumacher Centre has collected and developed practices like credit unions, community land trusts, employee-owned companies, and local currencies like BerkShares in Berkshire County that actually embed the fractal vision Jacobs attempted to develop with staying power. Additionally, while Jacobs saw cities and their development needs as unique due to their import/export relationship, the methods of the Schumacher Centre have facilitated "vital little plans" in urban and rural communities alike with great success.
Only briefly in the 2000's, shortly before her death, does Jacobs begin to venture into this realm. There is one passage from a lecture addressing gentrification that finally makes the matter clear:
"Artscape, a Toronto organization concerned specifically with protecting and promoting the interests of artists, has come to the conclusion that the only sure way of preventing artists from being priced out of their quarters is ownership--in this case ownership by nonprofit organizations. The same is probably true for many other existing inhabitants--ownership by cooperatives, community development corporations, land trusts, nonprofit organizations--whatever ingenuities can be directed to the aim of retaining neighborhood diversity of population." ('Time and Change as Neighborhood Allies', pg. 360.)
Had this notion been applied to her whole career, she and her fellow organizers may have faced fewer temporary victories and lasting disappointments.
This book nevertheless contains a rich accumulation of relevant and sage advice. Her understanding of the simple things that make streets livable and vibrant endures. Her highlighting the good practice of the New York Public Library, testing locations for traffic before building new branches, remains uncommon common sense. Her insistence we should walk the neighborhood rather than formulate the abstract plans of an 'expert' who knows nothing about it is as close to an eternal truth as the field of planning is going to find.
If we combine Jacobs' sentiments with some of Schumacher's structures of ownership, little plans might yet manage to win big.
March 6, 2017
I first heard of Jane Jacobs on an episode of the wonderful design podcast 99% invisible where her love of cities captivated me to learn more about her and her ideas. This collection of pieces written throughout her career is an amazing sampler of everything she thought cities could be, and everything she thought humans could achieve if we embraced the ways cities improvise and grow chaotically. Always clever, and with an ability to offhandedly shred misogyny in a single sentence, Jacobs was a writer with an extraordinary mind and always a good pair of walking shoes. I know this sounds like gushing, and it is, but I really enjoyed my time with this book, and hope it's something others can benefit from as well.
May 1, 2021
I think about Jane Jacobs daily while walking through my Toronto neighbourhood, a neighbourhood that she was very familiar with and certainly played a role in shaping. There is lots that she would be proud of and some that would horrify her - including the recent invocation of the "Minister's Zoning Order" in a number of locations throughout the east side, most notably the historic Foundry buildings. In the spirit of Jane Jacobs, a grassroots community effort with a vision of what this space could be took hold and halted the MZO. This story would fit right in this anthology and I would have loved to hear Jane's take on the situation!
August 3, 2018
Jane Jacobs' theory is usually sound, and interesting even when it isn't. I really liked that this anthology followed her trajectory as an academic, and constantly drew references between her works so any student of hers could follow it. Her best pieces detailed her strategies of small-scale infill and community organizing, while her work becomes a little less concrete when diving into economics. The Queen of Urbanism still reigns tall.
May 23, 2022
A classical liberal in the truest sense, Jacobs presents an optimistic and challenging perspective on urbanism. She clearly draws a lot from Adam Smith, promoting free competition and flexibility as creating organic connections within the cities. She takes an interesting anti-Malthusian position.
Much of her writing points towards an “ecology” of the city, where lack of government intervention will foster natural relations between people. This idea presupposes the industrial revolution never happened, and society is not self-contradictory. In her writing, capital and class are sociological concepts rather than political ones.
Much of her writing points towards an “ecology” of the city, where lack of government intervention will foster natural relations between people. This idea presupposes the industrial revolution never happened, and society is not self-contradictory. In her writing, capital and class are sociological concepts rather than political ones.
September 18, 2018
I love Jane Jacobs - one of the earliest and most vocal and erudite proponents of Cities For People, not just (or even primarily) for cars.
Society and politics are only now slowly understanding the truth and value of what she was saying over fifty years ago and for decades.
I guess the variety of short works in this collection - articles, opinions, speeches - would be a good place to start, before getting into her famous major books.
Society and politics are only now slowly understanding the truth and value of what she was saying over fifty years ago and for decades.
I guess the variety of short works in this collection - articles, opinions, speeches - would be a good place to start, before getting into her famous major books.
March 8, 2020
I've been a fan of Jane Jacobs since reading Death and Life, so I enjoyed this collection of her shorter works, interviews, and speeches. I think it appeals to people who are already Jacobs fans, and that anyone looking to dive into her thought would be better off picking up some of her actual works. To be honest, the most memorable part for me may have been the intro, which touched on her political views and worldview.
August 6, 2024
so much intrigue and joy in this book. i love seeing a woman unafraid to base her opinions on her experience, all the while acknowledging she isn’t the end-all voice on the matter! 4 stars because i can’t agree completely with the woman, but a 5 star in my heart. jane ur intellect continues to compel me to think deeper and harder about every tiny little thing
December 2, 2023
This book is just… nice. Most of the ‘theory’ in here is pretty intuitive and also repeated in like every other chapter. The first few articles were really great but most of the time I would skip entire articles just because I felt I’d read it like 50 pages back
March 26, 2020
Lots of reminders of the tradeoffs of city planning choices.
March 23, 2021
Great collection. Well written thought inspiring and provocative observations.
October 26, 2021
Świetna książka pokazująca jak każdy z nas może dbać o miasto i o przestrzeń w której żyje!
May 15, 2022
This book is like the Tales of perilous realms of Tolkien's work - good for fans who've read everything else. My favorite short story is "Islands the boats pass by."
October 13, 2022
8/10 love you Jane
November 25, 2023
This was definitely an interesting read, though I'm not sure I really needed to read the whole nearly-five-hundred-pages. The early sections were useful as extensions of some of Jane Jacobs's thoughts from The Death and Life of Great American Cities. In the later sections, the topic shifts to economics more generally, though, and I am less sure how seriously to take all of her ideas.
March 10, 2017
Six word book review: Seven decades of writing about cities.
September 21, 2021
Jane Jacobs is my urban planning hero - and this compilation of her works was absolutely beautiful. I was able to pick it up and put it down over the course of a few months without getting lost.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews