Sips & Scholars: Jane Jacobs, Greenwich Village, and the Life of the City with Andy Battle

Class is in session this summer! We’re partnering with the Brooklyn Institute of Social Research to offer the second annual Sips & Scholars series, free lectures set in bars, parks, cafes, and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled: "Jane Jacobs, Greenwich Village, and the Life of the City" will be led by Professor Andy Battle. 

Few writers have had as significant an impact on their subjects as Jane Jacobs, whose theories about urban space—“mixed-use,” “sidewalk ballet,” “organized complexity,” and “eyes on the street”—established the terms in which urban policy is still often discussed. In this lecture, we will explore Jacobs's ideas, situating them in the midcentury Greenwich Village from which she wrote in order to better understand what what those ideas are, what they capture, and what they miss.

Everyone is welcome! Come ready to learn and open to discuss interesting questions together. Advanced reading is not required, but we encourage you to check out the suggested booklist. 

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PARTICIPANT 

 

Andy Battle is a historian, editor, and teacher living in New York City. He has a PhD in History from the CUNY Graduate Center, where he specialized in US urban history, particularly the history of New York City, and the history of capitalism. His dissertation, “Runaway: A History of Postwar New York in Four Factories,” explored the deindustrialization of New York City through case studies of “runaway” plants, or factories that left New York for the American South or abroad between 1945 and 1975. In addition to his work at the Brooklyn Institute, he edits books for Common Notions.

 

 

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About The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research

The Brooklyn Institute for Social Researchis an interdisciplinary teaching and research institute that offers critical, community-based education in the humanities and social sciences. Working in partnership with local businesses and cultural organizations, we integrate rigorous but accessible scholarly study with the everyday lives of working adults and re-imagine scholarship for the 21st century.