On International Women’s Day, we acknowledge the work and influence Jane Jacobs has had on our modern day approach to citizen engagement, particularly in relation to urban planning.

Jane Jacobs was an American-Canadian author, activist and mother. She was not a trained urban planner. As a concerned citizen she was able to see the devastatingly negative impacts modern planning was having on communities and neighbourhoods in New York City.

She believed that a city was like an ecosystem that depended on a mix of uses and planning based on community needs. This fundamental belief made her a tough critic of slum clearing and high-rise housing, both practices that were becoming popular in New York in the 1950s.

She was an instrumental catalyst in ground-up protest and activism, which undoubtedly saved many of the most loved parts of Manhattan today.

Today, every urban project must have elements of active public involvement and consultation, with the belief that a plan is only as strong as the community that it serves. Buy-in from the public is perhaps one of the most sought after elements in urban planning. While this might seem quite normal in the profession today, this would have been revolutionary to Jane and her coalition.

Because Jane stepped outside her gender role at a time, where society dictated that she was supposed to be simply cooking for her family and raising her children, and because she was a woman who never gave up on what she knew was right, she serves as a daily inspiration for so many of us that have come after her.