Seeing Hoboken through Jane Jacobs’ Eyes

Ron Hine  |  FBW | April 28, 2026

The opening line of Jane Jacobs’ seminal book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities sets the tone: “This book is an attack on current city planning and rebuilding.” She continues, describing her neighborhood on Hudson Street in Manhattan’s West Village as “the scene of an intricate sidewalk ballet,” where shopkeepers, residents, and passersby create a constant rhythm of activity. This mix of people — the “eyes on the street” — fosters both safety and community.

I read The Death and Life of Great American Cities about eight years after its publication in 1961. Like many who study city planning and urban issues, it had a profound impact on me. In 1990, I helped found the Fund for a Better Waterfront (FBW), which developed a Plan for the Hoboken Waterfront.

Although Jacobs wrote her book more than six decades ago, she articulated principles that continue to define successful urban communities. Her insights guided our planning process. Our goal was to extend the city’s best qualities to the water’s edge. Working with planners, architects, and landscape architects who deeply understood Jacobs’ ideas — and through 36 years of FBW advocacy — Hoboken’s waterfront has become an exceptional example of sound planning and urban design.

In celebration of her May 4 birthday, more than 500 communities around the world host Jane’s Walks each year. On Saturday, May 2, I will lead a Hoboken walk titled Seeing Hoboken Through Jane Jacobs’ Eyes. This tour will share lessons from decades of planning and development. Jacobs would have appreciated Hoboken’s older, densely populated neighborhoods, with their mix of residential and commercial uses and varied architectural styles. She also would have sharply criticized the mid-20th-century redevelopment that reflected the failed planning practices of that era.