I love Jane Jacob’s ideas on cities—and Death & Life is a masterwork of community activism and urban intelligence. I agree with many of the things she says about parks in this chapter, and I also differ with her on a few points.

With Death & Life being 50 years old, of course, our cities have changed and the challenges our cities and communities face have changed.

I’m going to start with what she got right on parks:

• She is very critical of the Radiant City model of towers in large open spaces – “people do not use city open space just because it is there.”Many of Toronto’s tower communities are victims of too much dead open space. There is a lot of park space but it is not the kind of spaces that serve the needs of community residents – they want basketball courts, community gardens, markets, activities, cricket pitches. Thankfully, there are efforts being coordinated by community groups and the City’s Tower Renewal office to animate these spaces.

  'Springing in Spring' by Hernan Seoane

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