This seed included a field-trip to the exhibition at the Municipal Art Society of New York, called ‘Jane Jacobs and the Future of NY’. It was suggested and accompanied by Liz Slagus, Events Programme and Education Lab coordinator at Eyebeam.
http://www.futureofny.org/ | http://mas.org/
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Here was a display of texts, images, video clips, and archival materials related to the urban planning activism of Jane Jacobs, and her work in New York. However it was also offered a question to the contemporary citizen: “Can one person change a city?”, inciting the role not only that 1 individual can make, but what a collective of people can do. Many of the large-scale texts presented in one section of the exhibition encouraged the reader to reflect upon their own neighbourhood, and the relationship between the concentration, diversity and everyday living habits of people, to quality of urban life.
The following statements are transcribed from the accompanying exhibition leaflet ‘Can one person change the city/The City Is You’..
“Jane Jacobs believed in big cities like New York; she believed in their ability to be the engines of creativity, economic diversity and strength, and social transformation. She believed in big cities even at a time when others were saying that big cities were ungovernable. She believed in the power of neighbourhoods, and the power of neighours to build them, and in the strength and permanence of neighbourhoods that are diverse, mixed, and well-loved and well-maintained by the people who live in them.
This guide to getting involved in your neighbourhood is dedicated to the life and work of Jane Jacobs and to the people who have followed in her footsteps – some of whome probably live in your neighbourhood. Like Jane Jacobs, you can become an advocate – a fighter – for your neighbourhood. This guide [below] lays out the basic steps for you to follow. Each step will help you become more involved in your neighbourhood; each progressive step draws you further into the process.
“Walk around and really look at your neighbourhood. Look cloesly at teh buildings, the people, the streets, the bridges, the sidewalks, the open spaces, the businesses, and the traffic, among other things. Look at how people use these spaces; look at the rhythm of your neighbourhood. Talk to your neighbours. Become a neighbourhood-watcher. Take notes of your observations if you’re inclined.
“What can you think about the place where you live? What connects you to your neighbourhood? What places and buildings do you use the most? What things do you value? What things would like to change?
Are there things that are diminishing the value of your neighbourhood to you? For example, are there noticeable environmental hazards such as illegal dumping or rat infestations that pose threats to neighbourhood health? Is there a new development that doesn’t seem to fit neighbourhood need and context? Conversely, area there opportunities for improvement? Is ther a vacant lot that would be perfect for a community garden? Is a neighbourhood institution planning an expansion that might be able to include a community facility? Is there underutilixed property in the neighbourhood that could be used for neighbourhood development needs?
Gather information about your neighbourhood. Plenty exists, in different forms, no matter what neighbourhood you live in. If you don’t have access to the internet, try visiting the library, a local historical society, or the borough president’s office (more about that later). Many neighbourhoods have local newspapers. If you do have access to the internet, try a general search using the name of your neighbourhood (for example a recent search for Port Morris in the Bronx led to over 600,000 entries). For basic land-use information about your block and neighbourhood, you can use www.myciti.org You can also visit www.futureofNY.org for a list of additional online resources, categorised by theme.
Find like-minded people where you live who care about tthe same things that you do, and talk to them.. Share your concerns and opinions. Even Jane Jacobs realised that she couldn’t do it alone and turned to her neighbours to fight the Lower Manhattan Expressway that would have wiped out her neighbourhood. There are block associations (doesn’t matter if you rent or own), tenant associations, and co-op boards. If you’re a merchant, there are merchants associations and business improvement districts.
The first step in participating in governance is, of course, to vote. Make sure that these officials represent you and your interests. The second step is to communicate with your elected officials, making them aware of your concerns, opinions, and priotities. Letters, faxes, emails, and attendance at town-hall meetings will assure that your voice is documented (if not heard). New Yorkers area represented at the city level by a mayor, a public advocate, a ‘comptroller’, a city council-person, and a borough president. You can find a list of your local elected officials at www.myciti.org.
The work of city administration is divided up among agencies: the Department of City Planning is responsible for planning, zoning, and development; the Department of Parks and Recreation is responsible for the city’s open space; the Department of Sanitation is responsible for trash collection etc. The work of each department is further divided up by borough and neighbourhood; most city agencies have an office in each borough and staff assigned to different neighbourhoods. City agencies are also important places to voice your concerns; you can use the internet or your borough president’s office to find out whom to contact. The City of New York website – www.nyc.org – also contains enormous amounts of useful information.
Your local community board is your first interface with, and the best connection to, city government. This is one of the best places to become proactive.
A key way to get involved in your neighbourhood is to participate in the process that leads up to the decisions made by elected officials about what gets built in your neihbourhood. Unless the development proposals are as-of-right (meaning alloed by the regulations that govern the use of land) or controlled by the state (such as Atlantic Yards), they must go through a process that ensures that the public has had a chance to voice its concerns or support. The community board, the borough president, the city planning commission, the mayor, and the city council all have a role to play in the process (called the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure – ULLURP). You can voice your opinion – in writing, or in person, at a public hearing. Your community board is the best place to go for information about what is in the ULURP pipeline. People who came before you (like Jane Jacobs) fought long and hard to make sure there was a system in place that would allow the public a right to participate in land-use decisions that affected them, and event to proactively plan for a neighbourhood’s future. The best way to ensure that we continue to have these rights is to use them (and to advocate for their improvement).
Go outside the process and the system. If you’ve done everything by the book – contacted city agencies and local officials, gone to community board meetings, used all of your rights to participate – and you feel that your voice hasn’t been heard, engage the media, or create your own website or blog. Sponsor a neighbourhood event to raise awareness.
The Jane Jacobs website contains many more resources related to each of these steps. Visit www.futureofNY.org for more information about what you can do to get your voice heard
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From Wikipedia:
Jane Jacobs, OC, O.Ont (May 4, 1916 – April 25, 2006) was an American-born Canadian urbanist, writer and activist. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States. The book has been credited with reaching beyond planning issues to influence the spirit of the times. “Jacobs came down firmly on the side of spontaneous inventiveness of individuals, as against abstract plans imposed by governments and corporations,” wrote Canadian critic Robert Fulford. “She was an unlikely intellectual warrior, a theorist who opposed most theories, a teacher with no teaching job and no university degree, a writer who wrote well but infrequently.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs
http://bss.sfsu.edu/pamuk/urban/
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