Why cities matter

I don't remember much from my University (Poly) days - not because of the usual student excesses, but because I was actually a pretty rubbish student and was far busier running round doing union and Labour Party work than I was studying.

I remember very few of the books I had to read during my three year Urban Studies degree (sorry no link, they closed the programme down the year after I graduated), but I do remember 'Cities and the Wealth of Nations' by Jane Jacobs, who sadly died earlier this week. You can read her Guardian obituary here.

From what I remember of her work she was a passionate believer in the city as a crucial economic and social entity - an idea which has been (partially) revived in the emerging interest in 'city regions' in the UK.

However, I suspect that most of the recent urban 'regeneration' we've seen in the UK (which seems to be based on the holy trinity of faux loft/warehouse apartments, new build office space which looks dated and tired before the concretes even set and making stag nights and hen parties the focal point of your economic strategy) would have profoundly depressed her. It profoundly depresses me anyway.