Here’s another of a few influential people I’ve come across, in one way or another, that could be said to be advancing sustainability in the built environment. She was not without critics, and possibly did not use the term “sustainable”- all of which makes her that much more interesting…
Jane Jacobs 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.
Along with her well-known printed works, Jacobs is equally well known for organizing grass-roots efforts to block urban-renewal projects that would have destroyed local neighborhoods. She was instrumental in the eventual cancellation of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, and after moving to Canada in 1968, equally influential in canceling the Spadina Expressway and the associated network of highways under construction.
read more at Wikipedia- Jane Jacobs
Advancing Sustainability in the Built Environment 