Jane Jacobs Dies at 89

Urban planning activist Jane Jacobs died today in a Toronto hospital. A self-taught writer, Jacobs wrote some of the most formative books on planning and design, including The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Her quest to protect the public spaces in New York City became the mantra for modern preservationists around the world. This piece in the Seattle Times tells about her most famous battle: taking down city commissioner Robert Moses.