Jane’s Walk: Seeing Hoboken through Jane Jacobs’ Eyes

In her seminal book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs writes about her West Village neighborhood in Manhattan. But she could have been describing densely populated Hoboken, with its rows of walk-up residential buildings built more than 100 years ago, interspersed with ground-floor shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. Hoboken’s traditional urban street grid, with 200-foot wide blocks and small lots, makes for walkable, lively streets. Jane Jacobs was also a vocal critic of the sterile housing developments that replaced these diverse, vital neighborhoods. Hoboken also has examples of these failed 1960s-era projects. We will take a look at the good and the bad starting at the south end of town and making our way up for a final stop at the Hoboken Historical Museum.