Citizen Jane: Battle for the City

Name: Citizen Jane: Battle for the City
Genre: Biography, History, Documentary
Released: April 21, 2017
Duration: 92 min
Rating: 70

2017

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Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews

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Citizen Jane: Battle For The City

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Movie Details & Credits

Sundance Selects | Release Date: April 21, 2017 | Not Rated

Summary: In 1960 Jane Jacobs’s book The Death and Life of Great American Cities sent shockwaves through the architecture and planning worlds, with its exploration of the consequences of modern planners’ and architects’ reconfiguration of cities. Jacobs was also an activist, who was involved in many fights in mid-century New York, to stop “masterIn 1960 Jane Jacobs’s book The Death and Life of Great American Cities sent shockwaves through the architecture and planning worlds, with its exploration of the consequences of modern planners’ and architects’ reconfiguration of cities. Jacobs was also an activist, who was involved in many fights in mid-century New York, to stop “master builder” Robert Moses from running roughshod over the city. This film retraces the battles for the city as personified by Jacobs and Moses, as urbanization moves to the very front of the global agenda. Many of the clues for formulating solutions to the dizzying array of urban issues can be found in Jacobs’s prescient text, and a close second look at her thinking and writing about cities is very much in order. This film sets out to examine the city of today though the lens of one of its greatest champions.… Expand

Director: Matt Tyrnauer

Genre(s): Biography, History, Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 92 min

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Critic Reviews

Owen Gleiberman

Apr 20, 2017

The movie just about pulses with contemporary resonance. Read full review

Alex Bozilovic

Apr 20, 2017

As a history of this war of ideas and as an introduction to Jacobs, the film is essential. But it also pivots toward a great challenge: today’s global urbanization. Read full review

The Film Stage Jared Mobarak

May 18, 2017

While there’s the underlying notion of it telling us a captivating story from the annals of American history, it’s his depiction of the adversarial relationship between those making decisions and those affected by them that hits home. Read full review

Walter Addiego

Apr 27, 2017

It’s a complicated tale, and at 92 minutes, the film is a very brief summary. Read full review

Kenneth Turan

Apr 27, 2017

The film delineates the rise and fall of conventional urban planning, but also lets us know that the battle is not completely over. Read full review

April Wolfe

Apr 20, 2017

Tyrnauer transforms what could be a staid profile film into an urgent story about the dangers of “urban renewal,” something Jacobs herself would admire. Read full review

Joe Morgenstern

Apr 20, 2017

Unfortunately, the climax comes with more than a half hour to go, and the film, losing its focus on Jane Jacobs, turns its attention to the urban-renewal plague that devastated cities across America. Read full review

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Beecee

May 9, 2017

This is a good summary of the impact of Jane Jacobs, citizen planner, giving us a history of the soulless "Radiant City" theory of planning, the damage it has done , and the damage it may yet do (in places like China). Although we are out of the era of massive U.S. expressway and housingThis is a good summary of the impact of Jane Jacobs, citizen planner, giving us a history of the soulless "Radiant City" theory of planning, the damage it has done , and the damage it may yet do (in places like China). Although we are out of the era of massive U.S. expressway and housing project construction, it is important to know how we got there. I somehow wish there was more biographical detail on Jane herself and an illustration on how her theories worked in New York City neighborhoods. Yet this is a timely illustration on how citizen activism works and how it can change history.… Expand

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