It was really interesting to read your blog post and the Vanity Fair article you posted Miriam! I understand your point when you wrote “Obviously it never hurt anyone to live in an aesthetically pleasing environment, but the city government is supposed to help it’s citizens; wouldn’t money spent on these starchitects have been put to much better use funding, say, schools or other public services?”, and I think it is a valid point. I think she was a little too fixated on the way things looked, especially when it got to the point where benches had to be a certain size and be at certain angles. At the same time, I do appreciate the fact that she wanted the city to look nice. When I was reading about the little plaza areas and her ideas regarding their design, it reminded me of a plaza near W 52 St, I believe. It’s small, but I think it’s a nice little place to sit and eat halal food, for example. Like Burden wanted, it has benches that face each other, trees and plants, and is an open place. But I digress.

Even though I agree with your point that I quoted above Miriam, I disagree with your claim that she “is little more than the female, modern-day version of Robert Moses”. The impression that I got from the reading is that she believed in using both Moses’ and Jacobs’ ideas. “She talked of building like Moses with Jacobs in mind” (Larson p 136) and argued that “Great architecture keeps the city young, vibrant, and competitive” (Larson p 134). I think she did care about the people. I’m sure she had her own agenda and hidden motivations, but I still think she focused so much on aesthetics because she believed it would make the city better and more vibrant, as Jacobs recommended. I think I even tend to agree with her point of view, although I do think she went too far in her fixation with starchitects and regulations. While I realize it is possible for someone to say one thing (such as she supports Jacobs’ ideas) and act in another way, I think she genuinely cared about the city and making it healthier. Professor Larson notes that although Burden “trumpeted Jacobs’ influence on contemporary planners and urban form…instead, her inspiration stemmed from…William ‘Holly’ Whyte” (Larson p 137). Jacobs’ ideas and Whyte’s ideas don’t seem all that different, but regardless of which of those two she leaned towards, I don’t think she leaned more towards Moses’ ideas.