Having funded Jane Jacobs' groundbreaking research in the late 1950s, the Rockefeller Foundation has created a $100,000 prize in her name.
"In 1958, a promising but obscure writer for an architectural magazine applied to the Rockefeller Foundation for a research grant.
"Most city planning and rebuilding today is based, fundamentally, on rejection of the city," she wrote. "I am convinced that any good that is going to come of planning for the city is going to have to foster the city's diversity instead of obstructing it."
The grant was approved, and ultimately grew to $18,000. The research helped produce Jane Jacobs's landmark book, "The Death and Life of Great American Cities."
Nearly a half-century later, the Rockefeller Foundation is inaugurating the Jane Jacobs Medals, accompanied by a $100,000 prize.
Barry Benepe, the 79-year-old founder of Greenmarket, will receive the first medal for "lifetime leadership." Omar Freilla, the 33-year-old founder of Green Worker Cooperatives in the Bronx, was named the winner of the first medal for "new ideas and activism.""
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