Allan B. Jacobs (December 29, 1928 – February 18, 2025) was an urban designer, renowned for his publications and research on

urban design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes based on geographical location. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, city, ...

. His well-known paper ''"Toward an Urban Design Manifesto"'', written with

Donald Appleyard Donald Sidney Appleyard (July 26, 1928 – September 23, 1982) was an English-American urban designer and theorist, teaching at the University of California, Berkeley.University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, and worked on planning projects in the City of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

and for the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

in Calcutta, India, and spent eight years as Director of the

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Department of City Planning. In 1978 Jacobs presented his ‘Making City Planning Work’ that offered reflections on his experiences as the San Francisco planning director from 1967 to 1975 and guided on bureaucratic and political processes navigation that often hamper the realization of desired planning policies and outcomes. His other books include ‘Looking at Cities’ (1985); ‘Great Streets’ (1993) and ‘The Boulevard Book: History, Evolution, Design of Multiway Boulevards’ (with Elizabeth Macdonald and Yodan Rofé, 2003), which both offer case studies that reveal the key elements of successful streets; and ‘The Good City: Reflections and Imaginations’ (2011), a compendium of his career and thinking about cities. Honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Berkeley Citation, and the Kevin Lynch Award from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jacobs taught in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

from 1975 until 2001, teaching courses in city planning and urban design and serving twice as the department's chair. He then became a

Professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

and a consultant in city planning and urban design with projects in California, Oregon, and Brazil, among others.

Education

Jacobs earned a Bachelor of Architecture,

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

, from

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in city planning from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1954. He then attended the

Harvard Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urba ...

. From 1954 to 1955, Jacobs was studying city planning as a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

Death

Jacobs died February 18, 2025, at the age of 96.

Notable works

* The

Urban Design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes based on geographical location. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, city, ...

Element of the

General Plan * Allan Jacobs and

Donald Appleyard Donald Sidney Appleyard (July 26, 1928 – September 23, 1982) was an English-American urban designer and theorist, teaching at the University of California, Berkeley.Journal of the American Planning Association A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

, 1987. * ''Making City Planning Work'' (1980) * ''Looking at Cities'' (1985) * ''Great Streets'' (1995) * ''The Boulevard Book'' (2003) with Elizabeth MacDonald and Yodan Rofe * ''The Good City: Reflections and Imaginations'' (2011)

Honors

* Athena Medal from the

Congress for the New Urbanism New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually in ...

, 2008.
Kevin Lynch Award
presented at MIT's "Imaging the City" symposium, 1999. *

AIA AIA or A.I.A. or Aia may refer to: Aia * Aia, a small town in the province of Gipuzkoa, Spain * Peñas de Aya, small mountain range in Oiartzun, Gipuzkoa * Aia, current Kutaisi, ancient capital of Colchis * Aia, another name for Aea (Malis), an ...

Excellence in Education Award, California Chapter, 1994 * Resident in Architecture,

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome, Italy. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History 19th century In 1893, a group of American architect ...

, 1996 *

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

awarded in 1981John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellows, Humanities, Field of Study: Architecture, Planning and Design, Competition: US & Canada
/ref> *

References

Allan B. Jacobs
Project for Public Spaces.

Bruner Foundation.

City of Calgary (Alberta, Canada).
Allan Jacobs
University of California, Berkeley.

External links

University of California, Berkeley. *Barry, Sean
"Speakers Envision Downtown's Future"
''The Daily Californian'', January 19, 2006. *Pollack, Theo Mackey
"What Makes a Great Street?"
New Urbs,''The American Conservative'', April 13, 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobs, Allan 1928 births 2025 deaths Urban theorists Miami University alumni Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni University of Pennsylvania School of Design alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design faculty Urban designers American urban planners