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TORONTO, Apr 25, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Jane Jacobs, who based the iconoclastic "Death and Life of the Great American Cities" on experience as an activist and New York City dweller, died Tuesday.
A cousin told The New York Times she died at a hospital in Toronto, where she had lived for years. Jacobs was 89.
Jacobs moved to New York in 1934 after growing up in Scranton, Pa. Ten years later, she married Robert Jacobs, an architect.
The couple lived on Hudson Street in Greenwich Village where Jacobs, an editor at Architectural Forum, became involved in community battles.
Her first book grew out of an article for Fortune on city downtowns. Using her own observations of New York and other cities, she argued that high densities and mixed uses are necessary for cities while parks are not.
The family moved to Toronto in 1968 to keep their sons out of the military during the Vietnam era. Jacobs immediately became involved in an anti-highway battle.
She wrote a total of seven books between 1961, when her first and most famous book appeared, and 2004. Her other works included "The Economy of Cities," "Cities and the Wealth of Nations" and, most recently, "Dark Age Ahead."
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
