Vital Little Plans: The Short Works of Jane Jacobs Tapa dura - 2016

Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was a writer who for more than forty years championed innovative, community-based approaches to urban planning. Her 1961 treatise The Death and Life of Great American Cities became perhaps the most influential text about the inner workings and failings of cities, inspiring generations of planners and activists.

Samuel Zipp is a writer and historian. He is the author of the award-winning Manhattan Projects: The Rise and Fall of Urban Renewal in Cold War New York, which tells the larger history of the battles over urban renewal that propelled Jane Jacobs to national fame. He has written articles and reviews on urbanism and culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Nation. He is currently associate professor of American studies and urban studies at Brown University.

Nathan Storring is a writer, curator, and designer who specializes in making contemporary urban design, planning, and policy accessible to the general public. He has served as acting curator of Urbanspace Gallery in Toronto (founded by colleagues of Jane Jacobs) and worked on permanent exhibits at the Chicago Architecture Foundation and the Boston Society of Architects. He has written for various outlets, including Canadian Architect, Next City, and the Metropolitan Revolution blog, and is a regular contributor to the Project for Public Spaces blog.