A pioneering New York-based journalist and urban activist, Jane Jacobs overcame naysayers who dismissed her as a housewife without a college education, to become an influential writer and thinker in urban studies, sociology and economics.
Tomorrow at 7pm, Citizen Jane: Battle for the City will screen at Linking Bookhouse (聯經書房). The 2017 documentary by American filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer depicts the battle of wills between Jacobs and Robert Moses, known as the “master builder” of mid-century New York City.
Jacobs’ humanistic critiques of urban renewal plans that ignored the needs and lives of ordinary residents helped to change the course of urban development in New York City, and show what is possible when just one engaged citizen dares to stand up to the system.
Photo courtesy of atmovies.com
The screening, organized by online streaming service Giloo, will be followed by an hour-long discussion of Jacobs’ seminal 1961 work The Death and Life of Great American Cities and her biography Eyes on the Street: The Life of Jane Jacobs.
■ Citizen Jane: Battle for the City screens tomorrow, 7pm at Linking Bookhouse (聯經書房), 94, Xinsheng S Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市新生南路三段94號). Register online at: bit.ly/2S0k4ow
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