Always get tearful when I watch this...her and Holly Whtye are the people who challenge us to think about the human perspective of the street, emotionally, scale, need, sound, smell, climate, 3mph walking speed, etc....not locked in a steel bubble....God bless her and all the other activists......
Thank you for sharing this. I am an urban planning student at the Levin College of Urban Affairs. It is an excellent school with amazing instructors, however, I have always felt that the lessons have been detached. It is as if we are taught to see the city, the numbers and other quantifiable measures but not the people, the most critical composition of any great city. I come from both wealthy and poor backgrounds and what it has taught me is that there is beauty in every person just as there are flaws. I have always felt our lessons left this out in a way but Jane Jacobs doesn't. Her perspectives should be taken more seriously in the field. Although, of course we have discussed and studied some of her work I don't believe it was emphasized enough. Thank you for sharing this and I hope it continues to stimulate new ideas for whatever planning students may see it. My next paper, "Shrinking Cleveland: What Would Jane Jacobs Do?".
10 yrs since the Flint River Water Crisis began in Flint and we are still attempting to recover. Those powers that be have been attempting on the one hand to tell us our experience, on going illnesses and more are not real. They arepicking our bones in a not so good way. We now have tons of "rebuilding" going on as our city has fallen apart since early 2000s, The real estate bubble burst, foreclosures, abandonments, scrappers tearing wiring, plumbing out of walls, torched houses left abandoned for endless years, drifter/homeless move in and out of abandoned and burned out . . . . . finally another wave of tearing down derelict houses. . . . . . . . . . but wait, swaths of land now being built up with housing that makes us look more like an "industrial park" than a city of families and neighborhoods. Wish we had an inspirer like ms Jane here in Flint, MI - - -
one of the craziest things about moses’ plan in relation to modern ny as a nyc resident for life whose entire family is from here is that the areas condemned as slums are now some of the wealthiest in the city (especially greenwich village and soho). some of this is of course because of gentrification, and to an extent these neighborhoods have been destroyed (though to a lesser extent) in character due to overdevelopment. as a new yorker though, and especially as one who grew up in lower manhattan, i’m very grateful for jane jacobs and her work.
I was born in N.Y.. I never could understand why anyone would need a car in Manhattan. There is no decent parking. We had rapid transit which would take you were you needed for some change. If you did bring a car into Manhattan, you are taking a chance of having your tires stolen, the car stolen or it being vandalized. People double parked in the City. Not to mention that traffic was horrible.
The problem lies in Moses' first quote, where he defines traffic as car traffic, disregarding the cyclists, pedestrians, and the many people using public transport, as 'not traffic'. Cars might have their role to play in mobility, but they aren't and can't be the sole way of ttansportation, a car is no one-size-fits-all, and especially in cities, cars take up so much space, that often other modes are way better.
I'd go further and say that cars are simply incompatible with cities. The point of a city is that everything is close by, if you have to drive everywhere you might as well live in a suburb. Ideally you do your groceries across the street, your office is a 10 minute subway trip away and your kids can walk to school on their own (without the threat of being run over by cars).
In New Zealand, they put a huge motorway in Auckland in the 60s, destroying Auckland's most popular shopping district; Karangahape Road. They ripped out hundreds of shops and homes.
To be clear, I am not anti-car. And I don't believe Jane Jacobs was either. However, just as she did, I question the role of automobiles in the world. I question why so many are obsessed with prioritizing the accommodation of automobile movement and storage, and how inefficient and inappropriate such policy can be, especially in urban environments.
Perhaps the automobile was not meant for the large city that much, rather for trips outside the urban village and from and to the suburbs. But even then, I would like to see a society where we do not depend on the auto so much for even shorter trips. It is the deconstruction of private mass transit by the building of super-highways with a non-intercoursal structure with the life of the towns and people along the way, that helped kill railroads and buses. The city, the organized chaos, cacophonous joy of people living, working, playing, all in the same general area is something far far too much taken for granted, even today, and is the true collective of individualism that makes these places interesting.
I think it was time and place. For Moses' generation it was the epitome of "new and modern"; effects on mass transit was not a concern for him and many others from his generation. Jane Jacobs showed that enough was enough; and the results of what NYC is in the 21st century involves the developments Robert Moses made in his era; and Jane Jacobs (and others like her) to bring it back to a center (between the love affair of the automobile and the appreciation for historical areas); the result of which is a wonderful, beautiful eclectic mix of influences from the last 300 years. This clip portrays Moses essentially as the villain; which one-half of his story would dictate; however his mark on the city (for the positive) can't be underscored. The beauty in the architecture of the Triborough; The Henry Hudson Parkway, Whitestone, Throgs Neck, Verrazano (whose design never gets enough credit) is as important to the fabric of NYC as are the beautiful structures of SoHo and the West Village. Jane Jacobs actions made sure those treasures remained, however Moses' contributions (overall; and completely understanding his short comings) are equally as important.
Not completely, the ends dont justify the ends like he said, Those bridges would have been built without him, certainly not as fast, probably 10-15 years slower, but the damage of HOW he got those public works done will never be fully healed, still to this day the airports have no connection by rail, and mass transit in NY and America is abysmal, he is most directly responsible for New Yorks near bankruptcy in the 1970s by his expressways cutting businesses and neighbourhoods in half, accelerating the razing of manufacturing areas, his slum clearances increasing racial segregation, all exacerbating white flight which shrunk the city tax base, and his policies were adopted nationwide, he may he the single most deplorable figure in American history by the sheer number of lives destroyed indirectly by him.
Vince Graham But at the same time, Jane discourages creative destructions. Keep old neighbourhoods, well old neighbourhoods tend to favour cars so wtf do you want to do?
Joe Postove if you can afford to live in downtown, sure, but most people can't and transit often suck so you end up with disasters like Vancouver's Downtown where congestion and car accidents are a daily occurence.
I grew up in Washington Heights NYC. I was always an admirer of all of Robert Moses landmarks. After watching this video, I can't believe this guy was such a prick. Thanks for the Post.
This was a time when the idea of "urban renewal" and "redevelopment" were popular ideas and planning "Czars" like Robert Moses in NYC and all over the country, virtually destroyed hundreds of years of the history of cities, all in the name of central planning, a very "unamerican" concept. Jane Jacobs wrote in her book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" wrote that cities were SUPPOSED to be chaotic, unplanned (to a great extent) and the noisy, messy apparatus of men, women and children going about their individual daily lives. This is what made cities great and interesting, not bland and planned. My hometown of Norfolk, Virginia lost 90% of its history in the rush by the city father's to put a simple pleasant face on a complex organism. In the name of "slum clearance" Norfolk has turned into a bland imitation of Atlanta. With federal taxpayer dollars they managed to destroy almost an entire city. I sure hope we have learned our lesson by now.
Too young to have been in your sphere, but when I dicovered you , maybe while living at Mosholu pkwy. and Perry Ave. I was so influenced by you, and after shedding a few tears of joy at your real time conquests,, we in NYC. were so lucky and deserved this intelligent grandmother that made NYC the great city it is.I continue to practice many of the same ideas here in Lisboa today. Thank you Jane Jacobs.
Like they said, his "dream" was more like a nightmare. I've said before, that Robert Moses was right about some things and did a lot of good (like the parks in the city and Orchard beach) but like many powerful people, he got too full of himself and took advantage of that power. He thought he knew what was best for everyone, like he was a worldly professor teaching naive students. I also think he was addicted to expressways like alcohol or drugs. Thank goodness for Jane Jacobs! (He would have destroyed the cast iron district; how anyone can look at those buildings and want them gone is just unbelievable. I love 19thc urban architecture so much, I guess I'm biased. But so be it! I also love cities, so much more to them than the BORING suburbs.) Now I'm going to check out what happened in Charleston, didn't know about that before.
Sadly you don't need to imagine but can look at plenty of other US cities that were destroyed in the 60's and are now suffering the social and economic consequences.
Yes, there would be more high rises in Lower Manhattan housing regular people instead of old 4 story tenement buildings soley housing millionaires. All of the immigrant communities that Jacobs romanticized moved to the suburbs as soon as they could, except for the Chinese.
Years ago cars in London were much smaller and the city was mainly four lanes or less. I remember the sense that one could look across the street and the eye would be struck by the people on the other side. Later the cars got bigger and faster and then the people on the other side fell out of focus. It was much better before.
I believe that Seattle would be a better city without I-5 dividing the city in half. At least Vancouver, British Columbia has their highway on the end of the city instead of bisecting a city. Today, Seattle does have distinct neighborhoods but it does have an issue with traffic. I found it frustrating living in a city divided by a freeway. (I left Seattle in 2007). I've never been to NYC but I think that keeping neighborhoods intact was a smart move.
Jane Jacob's sister, Betty (Elizabeth) Butzner, later marrying Julius Mason, had a vision for a peaceful world. It involved the easy, neutral second language Esperanto.To this purpose she headed the office at 777 UN Plaza with her husband in the 1980's into the 1990's. I knew them both well.
I doubt anyone who was moved from a bustling thriving and interesting neighborhood to a set of large, bland and identical buildings where you might get stabbed in the hallways and there's no one to help you and you have to walk over a mile to the nearest convenience store, through abandoned parks with colossal concrete pillars where you might get mugged and there's no one to help you, I doubt anyone of those people came back to Moses to say they were for it all along.
An Eight Lane Expressway across Lower Manhattan... might as well call it the Cross Lower Manhattan Expressway because it would have "crucified" Lower Manhattan like his Cross Bronx Expressway "crucified" the South Bronx. And we all know what happened to the Bronx.
God Bless this woman Robert Mose s never drove a car but he knew what was best for everyone He was so powerful it was unbelievable His connections had no end and couldn't be unraveled
Ms Jacobs makes some very good points about neighborhoods and the interaction of the people who live there. Let's not forget the original slum clearance projects. Some of the houses they originally replaced were in no way reparable. Those who lived in these neighborhoods didn't need autos. Owning a car for the average working stiff was more trouble than it was worth. Might add Philadelphia wanted to expand the Be Franklin Bridge which would have cut right thru Chinatown and destroy the Church of the Redeemer the "Chinese Catholic Church" the only one of it's kind in the world. They moved the church and were able to keep Chinatown intact. What Mr Moses failed to do "gentrification" has accomplished. Manhattan is unaffordable for the working stiff. Prices are out of sight.
New York: A Documentary Film by Ric Burns. It is an eight-part documentary, and if I recall correctly, the excerpt in this video is from the 6th or 7th part.
put the cap on the CBE ! use new land from cap project to build affordable housing. put a cap on RR park ave,north , line - bronx, 132 st -190 st. use land for affordable housing. build on the long island sound " A florida keys style overseas highway " . this will relieve the CBE
Extend I-287 to Long Island and build an Oyster Bay Rye Bridge to connect the Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135) with the Cross Westchester Expressway. Build a 10 mile cable-stayed bridge from Oyster Bay, Nassau County, Long Island, NY to Rye, Westchester County, NY and I-287 to alleviate traffic on the I-95 Cross Bronx Expressway, Trans Manhattan Expressway, New England Thruway, Connecticut Turnpike, I-87 Major Deegan Expressway, New York State Thruway, I-278 Bruckner Expressway, BQE, I-295 Throggs Neck Bridge and Clearview Expressway, I-695 Throggs Neck Expressway, I-895 Sheridan Expressway, NY 135 Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway, and all other roads in the Greater New York Metropolitan Area. This would help trucks and cars get around the NYC and Long Island area easier and help relieve traffic.
Excellent! I decided to get an urban planning masters to help bring back cities to what they used to be and I find that most of what I learn is theory and models - instead of what she calls "experiments and observation." It's quite disheartening to know this still goes on. There is still such a "need" to appease the damn automobile (though they are important for certain things - like camping). Where did you find those interviews with Jane Jacobs?
The crusade led by Jane Jacobs was certainly a victory for citizens of of lower Manhattan, and the romanized story portrayed here is noted. However, in the final analysis one must realize why this expressway was never built- it was not vital as a through route. One can travel by car from New Jersey to Long Island using the perimeter expressways of Manhattan.The Cross Bronx Expressway is another story. That highway was absolutely vital and continues to be today. It is interstate 95, the most important highway up the east coast of the United States. That needed to be built.
The sound in this Moses-bashing mashup of the Burns mini series is as out of sync with the lips as the video is with the stellar achievements of this unique visionary. We Long Islanders have a different view of New York's Man who got things done. Check out my RUclips video, "Robert Moses: Long Island's Master Builder."
@@LucasFernandez-fk8se Atlanta has a very low density, below 4000/sq mile within city boundary. The sprawl almost demanded that there would be huge highways since the city is insanely auto-dependent. Nowadays, many planners see urban sprawl as something that's unsustainable and hard to overturn.
He was wrong by prioritizing automobiles ,but he also did a lot of good,around 500 playgrounds,parks,beaches,pools,bridges...Transportation in and out of the city needs to be improved,without destroying the whole place.
Manhattan's to fucking dense for driving. They should limit traffic to taxis, buses ,and emergency buildings. Then turn the Bronx into the world's largest parking garage. :P
Olha que coisa mais lindaMais cheia de graçae ela, meninaque vem e que passaNum doce balançoa caminho do mar. Moça do corpo douradodo sol de Ipanemao seu balançado é mais que um poemae a coisa mais linda que eu já vi passar. Ah, por que estou tão sozinho?Ah, por que tudo é tão triste?Ah, a beleza que existea beleza que não é só minhaque também passa sozinha. Ah, se ela soubesseque quando ela passao mundo inteirinho se enche de graçaE fica mais lindo por causa do amor.
The problem with public spaces and public transportation is that you're sharing space with drug addicts, criminals, the mentally ill, the homeless. These people are erratic, unpleasant, bizarre, and sometimes dangerous to be around. If the authorities could somehow prevent these people from occupying public spaces, then I would have no trouble, for instance, riding a metro. This is a show-stopping problem that must be solved before Jane Jacobs' vision can come to fruition.
Perhaps in Ms. Jacob's time crime wasn't as bad as it is now in parts of the inner city. However, I do not agree with the upper class and poor living together 'UNLESS' they freely choose too. Read my entire post before attacking me; I am not against poor living near upper class if it's something the upper-class chooses to do. However, I do not agree with Government forcing upper class/wealthier people to live near poor people should they chose to live in areas that are beyond reach for other income levels. I live in a neighborhood that's been almost completely gentrified, and I'm sure some of you reading my comment are against gentrification. However, my point is the gentrification that has taken place in my neighborhood has been totally privately funded. Therefore, no Government official has a right to come into our community we've worked so hard to create, and say we're going to build a complex of section-8/low income housing on a stretch of vacant land. They call it revitalization, I do not agree with revitalization because most of the time it means the Government is paying for it AKA my tax dollars. I grew up in a small town of only 75,000 people, but we had a grand downtown for a city so small, and I still miss when visiting all the department stores and small shops locally owned. There were a lot of specialty stores, and they all did a booming business until the mall was built, and once the large department stores left downtown, the mom and pop shops couldn't survive because people stopped going to that part of town. Therefore, eventually, it became an area where people committed more crime causing the rest of the small shops to close. I no longer live there because it was a town I grew up in and there were no jobs for me when I completed my education. So I like so many young people of my generation left to pursue careers in larger cities. The town I grew up in is having somewhat of a revitalization on the river where a lot of factories are being converted to condos and apartments. The apartments and condos are only affordable for a certain income level, and while it's not fair everyone cannot afford to live there it is part of life. I think a lot of people today are forgetting what America was founded on and it wasn't just freedom of religion. It was also so the poor person could move up in society because he/she pursued an education or was just naturally talented at making money in whatever his/her chosen profession. Yes, I realize I'm wandering, but we as American's need to think of what America is really all about and embrace it even though there are flaws because it's still the best place in the world to live. If it weren't the best place in the world to live why are there so many immigrants trying to come here legally and illegally? I love urban life, but I also like to feel safe. I like to be able to walk to the local restaurant down the street for dinner and if I run into a neighbor and stay later than planned not to have to worry about being robbed on my walk home. We have achieved that to a degree where I currently live, and I do not think any Government agency has a right to interrupt our way of life. The neighborhood I live in was threatened with a massive development just six blocks from my grand house, and the development was for section-8/low income residents.Well, there is a development just like it twelve blocks from me, and people are shot almost every day for something, robbed, stores are robbed houses are burgled with the people home called a home invasion. I have no desire to have that sort of thing any closer to my house. The deal didn't come to fruition, and the property has now been sold to someone who's building high-end condos, and townhouses. I am 45 years old the same age as the woman in the video, and while I agree with her idea of urban life. I love the city, but I do not like being told by the Government who can live near me based on their income. The people in the video were horrified about so many houses and small apartment buildings being torn down to build this monstrous highway. I am entitled to feel the same way about keeping lower income people at arm's length. I'll type it again; it's not fair everyone can't afford to live in my neighborhood anymore. However, life isn't fair, and I have worked hard in life to get where I am. The only thing that's been handed to me is the fact I married money, but my inlaws are still quite tight fisted with the money. My parents are poor, and so I know what it's like to be poor. Yes, I've gotten somewhat away from the topic of the video, but I make a lot of sense. However, I'm sure I'll be attacked so have at it because that's one of the great things about the internet is the anonymity in attacking one another. Isn't it? :-)
Duke Dude, it's clear you don't understand what gentrification is. But anyways I'll agree with you for the moment and say your right. Upper Class should have a say in who lives next to them. Wouldn't it be only fair that poor people have a right to say who lives next to them? Or have the the right to say what vacant land next to them can be used for? Developers have came into low income areas, raised property rent and taxes to the point where it's unaffordable for the residents who many have lived in these neighborhoods for generations.
Nothing about Jane Jacobs matters because of the following bible principle: "For there is no lasting memory either of the wise one or of the stupid one. In the days to come, everyone will be forgotten. And how will the wise one die? Along with the stupid one."(Ecclesiastes 2:16)
Ultimately these areas gentrify because they function better for people than the "renewed" areas. Renewal invariably decreased densities thereby increasing property scarcity and harmed accessibility for those who couldn't afford to drive. The gentrification of older areas is a sign that what was preserved was worthy of preservation.
@@ianhomerpura8937 So all welfare all social program s such as: social security, Medicare, unemployment, compensation, labor laws safety are "bad".. Ok..🤔 Go back into you cave..
Always get tearful when I watch this...her and Holly Whtye are the people who challenge us to think about the human perspective of the street, emotionally, scale, need, sound, smell, climate, 3mph walking speed, etc....not locked in a steel bubble....God bless her and all the other activists......
Thank you for sharing this. I am an urban planning student at the Levin College of Urban Affairs. It is an excellent school with amazing instructors, however, I have always felt that the lessons have been detached. It is as if we are taught to see the city, the numbers and other quantifiable measures but not the people, the most critical composition of any great city. I come from both wealthy and poor backgrounds and what it has taught me is that there is beauty in every person just as there are flaws. I have always felt our lessons left this out in a way but Jane Jacobs doesn't. Her perspectives should be taken more seriously in the field. Although, of course we have discussed and studied some of her work I don't believe it was emphasized enough. Thank you for sharing this and I hope it continues to stimulate new ideas for whatever planning students may see it. My next paper, "Shrinking Cleveland: What Would Jane Jacobs Do?".
this made me cry
update us if you will...!?
Heeeyyy, it’s been 8 years since you wrote this comment, did u pursued your dreams?
10 yrs since the Flint River Water Crisis began in Flint and we are still attempting to recover. Those powers that be have been attempting on the one hand to tell us our experience, on going illnesses and more are not real. They arepicking our bones in a not so good way. We now have tons of "rebuilding" going on as our city has fallen apart since early 2000s, The real estate bubble burst, foreclosures, abandonments, scrappers tearing wiring, plumbing out of walls, torched houses left abandoned for endless years, drifter/homeless move in and out of abandoned and burned out . . . . . finally another wave of tearing down derelict houses. . . . . . . . . . but wait, swaths of land now being built up with housing that makes us look more like an "industrial park" than a city of families and neighborhoods. Wish we had an inspirer like ms Jane here in Flint, MI - - -
one of the craziest things about moses’ plan in relation to modern ny as a nyc resident for life whose entire family is from here is that the areas condemned as slums are now some of the wealthiest in the city (especially greenwich village and soho). some of this is of course because of gentrification, and to an extent these neighborhoods have been destroyed (though to a lesser extent) in character due to overdevelopment. as a new yorker though, and especially as one who grew up in lower manhattan, i’m very grateful for jane jacobs and her work.
I was born in N.Y.. I never could understand why anyone would need a car in Manhattan. There is no decent parking. We had rapid transit which would take you were you needed for some change. If you did bring a car into Manhattan, you are taking a chance of having your tires stolen, the car stolen or it being vandalized. People double parked in the City. Not to mention that traffic was horrible.
The problem lies in Moses' first quote, where he defines traffic as car traffic, disregarding the cyclists, pedestrians, and the many people using public transport, as 'not traffic'. Cars might have their role to play in mobility, but they aren't and can't be the sole way of ttansportation, a car is no one-size-fits-all, and especially in cities, cars take up so much space, that often other modes are way better.
Yes
I'd go further and say that cars are simply incompatible with cities. The point of a city is that everything is close by, if you have to drive everywhere you might as well live in a suburb. Ideally you do your groceries across the street, your office is a 10 minute subway trip away and your kids can walk to school on their own (without the threat of being run over by cars).
First step, like what the dutch did: remove rat-running.
This is what happens when you remove the human element in progress.
This is what happens when you remove the human element in progress.
In New Zealand, they put a huge motorway in Auckland in the 60s, destroying Auckland's most popular shopping district; Karangahape Road. They ripped out hundreds of shops and homes.
To be clear, I am not anti-car. And I don't believe Jane Jacobs was either. However, just as she did, I question the role of automobiles in the world. I question why so many are obsessed with prioritizing the accommodation of automobile movement and storage, and how inefficient and inappropriate such policy can be, especially in urban environments.
Perhaps the automobile was not meant for the large city that much, rather for trips outside the urban village and from and to the suburbs. But even then, I would like to see a society where we do not depend on the auto so much for even shorter trips. It is the deconstruction of private mass transit by the building of super-highways with a non-intercoursal structure with the life of the towns and people along the way, that helped kill railroads and buses.
The city, the organized chaos, cacophonous joy of people living, working, playing, all in the same general area is something far far too much taken for granted, even today, and is the true collective of individualism that makes these places interesting.
I think it was time and place. For Moses' generation it was the epitome of "new and modern"; effects on mass transit was not a concern for him and many others from his generation. Jane Jacobs showed that enough was enough; and the results of what NYC is in the 21st century involves the developments Robert Moses made in his era; and Jane Jacobs (and others like her) to bring it back to a center (between the love affair of the automobile and the appreciation for historical areas); the result of which is a wonderful, beautiful eclectic mix of influences from the last 300 years. This clip portrays Moses essentially as the villain; which one-half of his story would dictate; however his mark on the city (for the positive) can't be underscored. The beauty in the architecture of the Triborough; The Henry Hudson Parkway, Whitestone, Throgs Neck, Verrazano (whose design never gets enough credit) is as important to the fabric of NYC as are the beautiful structures of SoHo and the West Village. Jane Jacobs actions made sure those treasures remained, however Moses' contributions (overall; and completely understanding his short comings) are equally as important.
Not completely, the ends dont justify the ends like he said, Those bridges would have been built without him, certainly not as fast, probably 10-15 years slower, but the damage of HOW he got those public works done will never be fully healed, still to this day the airports have no connection by rail, and mass transit in NY and America is abysmal, he is most directly responsible for New Yorks near bankruptcy in the 1970s by his expressways cutting businesses and neighbourhoods in half, accelerating the razing of manufacturing areas, his slum clearances increasing racial segregation, all exacerbating white flight which shrunk the city tax base, and his policies were adopted nationwide, he may he the single most deplorable figure in American history by the sheer number of lives destroyed indirectly by him.
Vince Graham
But at the same time, Jane discourages creative destructions. Keep old neighbourhoods, well old neighbourhoods tend to favour cars so wtf do you want to do?
Joe Postove
if you can afford to live in downtown, sure, but most people can't and transit often suck so you end up with disasters like Vancouver's Downtown where congestion and car accidents are a daily occurence.
I grew up in Washington Heights NYC. I was always an admirer of all of Robert Moses landmarks. After watching this video, I can't believe this guy was such a prick. Thanks for the Post.
This was a time when the idea of "urban renewal" and "redevelopment" were popular ideas and planning "Czars" like Robert Moses in NYC and all over the country, virtually destroyed hundreds of years of the history of cities, all in the name of central planning, a very "unamerican" concept.
Jane Jacobs wrote in her book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" wrote that cities were SUPPOSED to be chaotic, unplanned (to a great extent) and the noisy, messy apparatus of men, women and children going about their individual daily lives. This is what made cities great and interesting, not bland and planned.
My hometown of Norfolk, Virginia lost 90% of its history in the rush by the city father's to put a simple pleasant face on a complex organism. In the name of "slum clearance" Norfolk has turned into a bland imitation of Atlanta. With federal taxpayer dollars they managed to destroy almost an entire city. I sure hope we have learned our lesson by now.
You might enjoy RUclipsr Donoteat01. No we haven't learned our lesson, or rather THEY haven't learned their lesson.
Too young to have been in your sphere, but when I dicovered you , maybe while living at Mosholu pkwy. and Perry Ave. I was so influenced by you, and after shedding a few tears of joy at your real time conquests,, we in NYC. were so lucky and deserved this intelligent grandmother that made NYC the great city it is.I continue to practice many of the same ideas here in Lisboa today. Thank you Jane Jacobs.
Like they said, his "dream" was more like a nightmare. I've said before, that Robert Moses was right about some things and did a lot of good (like the parks in the city and Orchard beach) but like many powerful people, he got too full of himself and took advantage of that power. He thought he knew what was best for everyone, like he was a worldly professor teaching naive students. I also think he was addicted to expressways like alcohol or drugs. Thank goodness for Jane Jacobs! (He would have destroyed the cast iron district; how anyone can look at those buildings and want them gone is just unbelievable. I love 19thc urban architecture so much, I guess I'm biased. But so be it! I also love cities, so much more to them than the BORING suburbs.) Now I'm going to check out what happened in Charleston, didn't know about that before.
Can you imagine if Moses had succeeded?? Thank goodness for Jane Jacobs and the voice of the people.
Sadly you don't need to imagine but can look at plenty of other US cities that were destroyed in the 60's and are now suffering the social and economic consequences.
Yes, there would be more high rises in Lower Manhattan housing regular people instead of old 4 story tenement buildings soley housing millionaires.
All of the immigrant communities that Jacobs romanticized moved to the suburbs as soon as they could, except for the Chinese.
Other than your text overlays, that was fantastic. Thank you Jane Jacobs
Yes, no need for those. We'll draw our own conclusions without the nudges.
Here after paradygm podcasts 👋❤️
Years ago cars in London were much smaller and the city was mainly four lanes or less. I remember the sense that one could look across the street and the eye would be struck by the people on the other side. Later the cars got bigger and faster and then the people on the other side fell out of focus. It was much better before.
This was masterfully done! It really helped me with my anthropology assignment on Urban Planning.
Thanks for posting this up
I believe that Seattle would be a better city without I-5 dividing the city in half. At least Vancouver, British Columbia has their highway on the end of the city instead of bisecting a city. Today, Seattle does have distinct neighborhoods but it does have an issue with traffic. I found it frustrating living in a city divided by a freeway. (I left Seattle in 2007).
I've never been to NYC but I think that keeping neighborhoods intact was a smart move.
Thank u so much for uploading thos and your effort!
Jane Jacob's sister, Betty (Elizabeth) Butzner, later marrying Julius Mason, had a vision for a peaceful world. It involved the easy, neutral second language Esperanto.To this purpose she headed the office at 777 UN Plaza with her husband in the 1980's into the 1990's. I knew them both well.
the orchestral music is so sentimental..
"Ideologies are blinders. (...) I respect observation." Love it!
Thanks for uploading , I had seen this and wanted to watch it again
Thank-you for posting
I doubt anyone who was moved from a bustling thriving and interesting neighborhood to a set of large, bland and identical buildings where you might get stabbed in the hallways and there's no one to help you and you have to walk over a mile to the nearest convenience store, through abandoned parks with colossal concrete pillars where you might get mugged and there's no one to help you, I doubt anyone of those people came back to Moses to say they were for it all along.
From suggestion of Srinkhala Didi
The Cross Bronx expressway was one of his more infamous disasters It split the borough in half The rest is history
Until now I didn't realize this event in history inspired The Lucy Show's 1967 episode Main Street USA
An Eight Lane Expressway across Lower Manhattan... might as well call it the Cross Lower Manhattan Expressway because it would have "crucified" Lower Manhattan like his Cross Bronx Expressway "crucified" the South Bronx. And we all know what happened to the Bronx.
+PfctvsPontivsPilatvs It was to be called the "The Cross Village" Expressway. It would have dissected Greenwich Village.
I Flick Ouch!
Mises Street? Looks like a typo. It should be Moses Street! Now *that's* an interesting intersection!
God Bless this woman Robert Mose s never drove a car but he knew what was best for everyone He was so powerful it was unbelievable His connections had no end and couldn't be unraveled
read Bob Caro's book
Ms Jacobs makes some very good points about neighborhoods and the interaction of the people who live there. Let's not forget the original slum clearance projects. Some of the houses they originally replaced were in no way reparable. Those who lived in these neighborhoods didn't need autos. Owning a car for the average working stiff was more trouble than it was worth. Might add Philadelphia wanted to expand the Be Franklin Bridge which would have cut right thru Chinatown and destroy the Church of the Redeemer the "Chinese Catholic Church" the only one of it's kind in the world. They moved the church and were able to keep Chinatown intact. What Mr Moses failed to do "gentrification" has accomplished. Manhattan is unaffordable for the working stiff. Prices are out of sight.
Here from Shrinkhala's insights
this is a really good doc!!!
Remarkable the semblance of this story with the story of the Amsterdam Nieuwmarktbuurt.
A true hero, Jane Jacobs. Look what Moses did to the wonderful Bronx.
New York: A Documentary Film by Ric Burns. It is an eight-part documentary, and if I recall correctly, the excerpt in this video is from the 6th or 7th part.
I'm sorry, but Robert Moses was absolutely bonkers!
No need to be sorry - you're 100 per cent right!
put the cap on the CBE !
use new land from cap project to build affordable housing.
put a cap on RR park ave,north , line - bronx, 132 st -190 st.
use land for affordable housing.
build on the long island sound " A florida keys style
overseas highway " . this will relieve the CBE
Extend I-287 to Long Island and build an Oyster Bay Rye Bridge to connect the Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135) with the Cross Westchester Expressway. Build a 10 mile cable-stayed bridge from Oyster Bay, Nassau County, Long Island, NY to Rye, Westchester County, NY and I-287 to alleviate traffic on the I-95 Cross Bronx Expressway, Trans Manhattan Expressway, New England Thruway, Connecticut Turnpike, I-87 Major Deegan Expressway, New York State Thruway, I-278 Bruckner Expressway, BQE, I-295 Throggs Neck Bridge and Clearview Expressway, I-695 Throggs Neck Expressway, I-895 Sheridan Expressway, NY 135 Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway, and all other roads in the Greater New York Metropolitan Area. This would help trucks and cars get around the NYC and Long Island area easier and help relieve traffic.
New York: a documentary episode 7
Why the uploader doesn't allowed to people translate this video? Please, i want to translate to portuguese
God Bless strong, smart women.
so suprised by the comment @3:57; "Think about how I-26 and the Crosstown tore through Charleston". I live near there! Was this for a local school?
Excellent! I decided to get an urban planning masters to help bring back cities to what they used to be and I find that most of what I learn is theory and models - instead of what she calls "experiments and observation." It's quite disheartening to know this still goes on. There is still such a "need" to appease the damn automobile (though they are important for certain things - like camping). Where did you find those interviews with Jane Jacobs?
Takin' notes for my city in Cities Skylines
The crusade led by Jane Jacobs was certainly a victory for citizens of of lower Manhattan, and the romanized story portrayed here is noted. However, in the final analysis one must realize why this expressway was never built- it was not vital as a through route. One can travel by car from New Jersey to Long Island using the perimeter expressways of Manhattan.The Cross Bronx Expressway is another story. That highway was absolutely vital and continues to be today. It is interstate 95, the most important highway up the east coast of the United States. That needed to be built.
Can you please provide the reference for the Ric Burns video you have here?
The sound in this Moses-bashing mashup of the Burns mini series is as out of sync with the lips as the video is with the stellar achievements of this unique visionary. We Long Islanders have a different view of New York's Man who got things done. Check out my RUclips video, "Robert Moses: Long Island's Master Builder."
The man never drove a car, yet was willing to destroy America's greatest city on behalf of a two-ton prosthetic device.
Google Jan Gehl - he also is against new urbanism and he made my city the most livable city in the world
he would be for "new urbanism"(since new urbanism promotes transit-oriented mixed use cities) but against the 60s orthodoxy.
I like his idea have you played GTA 4 this would ease traffic so much
In Atlanta we have a 16 lane free way going through (8 lanes in one direction) and it helps alot
Stick with your computer games, son. You're not helping.
@@LucasFernandez-fk8se Atlanta has a very low density, below 4000/sq mile within city boundary. The sprawl almost demanded that there would be huge highways since the city is insanely auto-dependent. Nowadays, many planners see urban sprawl as something that's unsustainable and hard to overturn.
could someone provide subtitles?, french or even in english please
FROM PARADYGM PODCAST.
He was wrong by prioritizing automobiles ,but he also did a lot of good,around 500 playgrounds,parks,beaches,pools,bridges...Transportation in and out of the city needs to be improved,without destroying the whole place.
Get rid of the background noise
but your regional planners still believe in "Robert Moses"
Manhattan's to fucking dense for driving. They should limit traffic to taxis, buses ,and emergency buildings. Then turn the Bronx into the world's largest parking garage. :P
More people live and work in the city than commute into the city from suburbs.
Shrinkhala Khatiwada brought me here... WOW...
alguem aqui e brasileiro ? kkkkk povo tudo com ligua inglesa ai e foda para fazer trabalho
Olha que coisa mais lindaMais cheia de graçae ela, meninaque vem e que passaNum doce balançoa caminho do mar. Moça do corpo douradodo sol de Ipanemao seu balançado é mais que um poemae a coisa mais linda que eu já vi passar. Ah, por que estou tão sozinho?Ah, por que tudo é tão triste?Ah, a beleza que existea beleza que não é só minhaque também passa sozinha. Ah, se ela soubesseque quando ela passao mundo inteirinho se enche de graçaE fica mais lindo por causa do amor.
Thank you Vince for everything! Here’s a little something for you: ruclips.net/video/Y7ggw365lYI/видео.html
A pretty harsh diatribe of Moses..
Pretty justified in the light of the threat that his madcap schemes posed.
It's hardly harsh, when it's TRUE. Robert Moses, did some very vile things that displaced people.
The problem with public spaces and public transportation is that you're sharing space with drug addicts, criminals, the mentally ill, the homeless. These people are erratic, unpleasant, bizarre, and sometimes dangerous to be around. If the authorities could somehow prevent these people from occupying public spaces, then I would have no trouble, for instance, riding a metro. This is a show-stopping problem that must be solved before Jane Jacobs' vision can come to fruition.
to damm many cars
Perhaps in Ms. Jacob's time crime wasn't as bad as it is now in parts of the inner city. However, I do not agree with the upper class and poor living together 'UNLESS' they freely choose too.
Read my entire post before attacking me; I am not against poor living near upper class if it's something the upper-class chooses to do. However, I do not agree with Government forcing upper class/wealthier people to live near poor people should they chose to live in areas that are beyond reach for other income levels.
I live in a neighborhood that's been almost completely gentrified, and I'm sure some of you reading my comment are against gentrification. However, my point is the gentrification that has taken place in my neighborhood has been totally privately funded. Therefore, no Government official has a right to come into our community we've worked so hard to create, and say we're going to build a complex of section-8/low income housing on a stretch of vacant land.
They call it revitalization, I do not agree with revitalization because most of the time it means the Government is paying for it AKA my tax dollars.
I grew up in a small town of only 75,000 people, but we had a grand downtown for a city so small, and I still miss when visiting all the department stores and small shops locally owned. There were a lot of specialty stores, and they all did a booming business until the mall was built, and once the large department stores left downtown, the mom and pop shops couldn't survive because people stopped going to that part of town. Therefore, eventually, it became an area where people committed more crime causing the rest of the small shops to close.
I no longer live there because it was a town I grew up in and there were no jobs for me when I completed my education. So I like so many young people of my generation left to pursue careers in larger cities.
The town I grew up in is having somewhat of a revitalization on the river where a lot of factories are being converted to condos and apartments.
The apartments and condos are only affordable for a certain income level, and while it's not fair everyone cannot afford to live there it is part of life.
I think a lot of people today are forgetting what America was founded on and it wasn't just freedom of religion. It was also so the poor person could move up in society because he/she pursued an education or was just naturally talented at making money in whatever his/her chosen profession.
Yes, I realize I'm wandering, but we as American's need to think of what America is really all about and embrace it even though there are flaws because it's still the best place in the world to live. If it weren't the best place in the world to live why are there so many immigrants trying to come here legally and illegally?
I love urban life, but I also like to feel safe. I like to be able to walk to the local restaurant down the street for dinner and if I run into a neighbor and stay later than planned not to have to worry about being robbed on my walk home. We have achieved that to a degree where I currently live, and I do not think any Government agency has a right to interrupt our way of life.
The neighborhood I live in was threatened with a massive development just six blocks from my grand house, and the development was for section-8/low income residents.Well, there is a development just like it twelve blocks from me, and people are shot almost every day for something, robbed, stores are robbed houses are burgled with the people home called a home invasion. I have no desire to have that sort of thing any closer to my house.
The deal didn't come to fruition, and the property has now been sold to someone who's building high-end condos, and townhouses.
I am 45 years old the same age as the woman in the video, and while I agree with her idea of urban life. I love the city, but I do not like being told by the Government who can live near me based on their income. The people in the video were horrified about so many houses and small apartment buildings being torn down to build this monstrous highway. I am entitled to feel the same way about keeping lower income people at arm's length.
I'll type it again; it's not fair everyone can't afford to live in my neighborhood anymore. However, life isn't fair, and I have worked hard in life to get where I am. The only thing that's been handed to me is the fact I married money, but my inlaws are still quite tight fisted with the money. My parents are poor, and so I know what it's like to be poor.
Yes, I've gotten somewhat away from the topic of the video, but I make a lot of sense. However, I'm sure I'll be attacked so have at it because that's one of the great things about the internet is the anonymity in attacking one another. Isn't it? :-)
Duke Dude, it's clear you don't understand what gentrification is. But anyways I'll agree with you for the moment and say your right. Upper Class should have a say in who lives next to them. Wouldn't it be only fair that poor people have a right to say who lives next to them? Or have the the right to say what vacant land next to them can be used for?
Developers have came into low income areas, raised property rent and taxes to the point where it's unaffordable for the residents who many have lived in these neighborhoods for generations.
They should’ve build that goddamn expressway
nah
24:00
Nothing about Jane Jacobs matters because of the following bible principle: "For there is no lasting memory either of the wise one or of the stupid one. In the days to come, everyone will be forgotten. And how will the wise one die? Along with the stupid one."(Ecclesiastes 2:16)
Creation of Created this.................fill it in ‼😐👀🙈
The white savior huh?
so now it is gentrified what in the end was accomplished?
+robert alpert
You're right.
Ultimately these areas gentrify because they function better for people than the "renewed" areas. Renewal invariably decreased densities thereby increasing property scarcity and harmed accessibility for those who couldn't afford to drive. The gentrification of older areas is a sign that what was preserved was worthy of preservation.
we are all now dumber for reading that.
+bjkjoseph LOL im thinking the same thing
That was another battle, albeit one that was lost.
So a few activists halt improvement of public works helping poor get to parks work etc....
Enough
He ruined more lives than he helped by building freeways and beaches. Rasist, corrupted, ruthless.
@@slouberiee not accurate or true....
Helping poor? Ha! You're delusional!
@@ianhomerpura8937 So all welfare all social program s such as: social security, Medicare, unemployment, compensation, labor laws safety are "bad"..
Ok..🤔
Go back into you cave..