This week on pplpod, we dive into the life of Jane Jacobs, the journalist and activist who revolutionized our understanding of how cities work without ever earning a college degree. We explore how her seminal 1961 book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, challenged the "pseudoscience" of mid-century urban planning and introduced enduring concepts like "mixed primary uses" and "eyes on the street".

In this episode, we cover:

• The Battle for Greenwich Village: How Jacobs organized grassroots efforts to stop "Master Builder" Robert Moses from destroying her neighborhood and the area now known as SoHo with the Lower Manhattan Expressway.

• Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up: Why Jacobs believed that "urban renewal" and "slum clearance" destroyed essential social capital and community network ...