The Death and Life of Great American Forests
Excerpted from Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities:
"The two sorts of ecosystems-one created by nature, the other by human beings-have fundamental principles in common. For instance, both types of ecosystems-assuming they are not barren-require much diversity to sustain themselves. In both cases, the diversity develops organically over time, and the varied components are interdependent in complex ways. The more niches for diversity of life and livelihoods in either kind of ecosystem, the greater its carrying capacity for life. In both types of ecosystems, many small and obscure components-easily overlooked by superficial observation can be vital to the whole, far out of proportion to their own tininess of scale or aggregate quantities. In natural ecosystems, gene pools are fundamental treasures. In city ecosystems, kinds of work are fundamental treasures; furthermore, forms of work not only reproduce themselves in newly created proliferating organizations, they also hybridize, and even mutate into unprecedented kinds of work. And because of their complex interdependencies of components, both kinds of ecosystems are vulnerable and fragile, easily disrupted or destroyed."
What an amazing woman, especially considering the era she succeeded in. I got the chance to hear her speak in Portland in a sardine-packed lecture room with throngs of people relegated to the hallways trying to listen to her meager, aged voice. She died about a year later in 2006. But her principles live on in many ways, in many people. Her signature book, The Death and Life... remains a vital read after almost 50 years.
The Death and Life of Great American Forests
Excerpted from Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities:
"The two sorts of ecosystems-one created by nature, the other by human beings-have fundamental principles in common. For instance, both types of ecosystems-assuming they are not barren-require much diversity to sustain themselves. In both cases, the diversity develops organically over time, and the varied components are interdependent in complex ways. The more niches for diversity of life and livelihoods in either kind of ecosystem, the greater its carrying capacity for life. In both types of ecosystems, many small and obscure components-easily overlooked by superficial observation can be vital to the whole, far out of proportion to their own tininess of scale or aggregate quantities. In natural ecosystems, gene pools are fundamental treasures. In city ecosystems, kinds of work are fundamental treasures; furthermore, forms of work not only reproduce themselves in newly created proliferating organizations, they also hybridize, and even mutate into unprecedented kinds of work. And because of their complex interdependencies of components, both kinds of ecosystems are vulnerable and fragile, easily disrupted or destroyed."
What an amazing woman, especially considering the era she succeeded in. I got the chance to hear her speak in Portland in a sardine-packed lecture room with throngs of people relegated to the hallways trying to listen to her meager, aged voice. She died about a year later in 2006. But her principles live on in many ways, in many people. Her signature book, The Death and Life... remains a vital read after almost 50 years.