Jane Jacobs passes away

Jane's most influential book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, is likely what launched me on my voyage to being a Green.

I first read it while in university back in 1987. Already interested in urban planning and design, the contents of that book knocked my brain out of first gear -- heck, it broke my gear box -- and taught me the enduring lesson that the best solutions to our environment are often happy accidents caused by local actors (no, not the Shakespeare kind) acting upon local interest. Often, it's the outside interests who ruin things (for basic examples: smog is not caused locally, and look at how Regent Park was conceived of and built).

I've read it several times since.

Jane's been an inspiration for many. Jane was not a professor, yet she turned the entire urban planning world on it's ear with her analysis of how people interact with their surroundings, and how it's a huge mistake to try to drive people using form.

She passed away today, in Toronto, at the age of 89.

The Globe and Mail has more, as does this Wiki page.