Dean Sonia Hirt Lectures at MIT

Dean Sonia Hirt recently joined an Urban Design class at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to give a presentation on the 60th anniversary of Jane Jacobs’s “The Death and Life of Great American Cities”—one of the most influential texts on urbanism written during the 20th century. Jane Jacobs powerfully challenged the dominant ideas on good city form that prevailed in the mid-20th century. She almost single-handedly changed the urban design paradigm by advocating for the benefits of common-sense urban features such as vibrant streets, mixed uses, and the co-existence of buildings of different styles and ages. The lecture discussed the enduring relevance of Jacobs’s ideas. It also posed some questions about the possible limitations of her ideas when applied to 21st-century urban realities. For example, Jacobs favored small-scale, incremental reforms, but is this approach still feasible in an era of global challenges such as climate change and a pandemic? She advertised the historic areas of cities, but did her advocacy contribute to the gentrification of these historic areas? She argued against “one-size-fits-all” approaches to urban design, but her ideas are so widely used today that one could argue they have become the new “one-size-fits-all.”

Hirt first engaged with Jacobs’s writings and practice about a decade ago. This led to her 2012/2014 edited volume entitled “The Urban Wisdom of Jane Jacobs.” Scholarly and public interest in Jacobs’s work and activism has persisted for sixty years and has resulted in other recent compilations such as “The Modernity of Work and Place: Jane Jacobs and the Design of the 21^st Century City”, which was published last year by the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture and edited by UVA Professors Susanne Moomaw and Shannon McKay.

 

Hirt’s next engagement on the topic will be as an invited panelist at a symposium co-sponsored by George Mason University and the State University of New York to be held this November.

Book collage by 2nd year MUPD Student Saba Serkhel

Revisiting Jane Jacobs… 2021 marks the 60th anniversary of Jacobs’ “The Death and Life of Great American Cities”—one of the most influential texts on urbanism written during the 20th century. Read about Dean @SoniaHirt's recent presentation at MIT. https://t.co/j8acB92ul7pic.twitter.com/4FKeKVSRlz

— UGA CED (@UGACED) October 11, 2020