Check out the new exhibition at the Municipal Arts Center about the legendary urban activist, Jane Jacobs.

The Municipal Art Society of New York is delighted to present an interactive exhibit that highlights the relevance of activist and author Jane Jacobs and the urban-design principles introduced in her classic text The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which had an immediate impact on how cities are designed and used. Though raised in a small town and lacking the credentials of a trained planner, Jacobs quickly became one of the century’s most influential writers on urban planning. With the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, Jacobs described a “ballet of the sidewalks,” an unrehearsed choreography of urban dwellers going about their business that, in her view, created the vitality of city life.

The exhibit highlights the context in which Jacobs wrote The Death and Life of Great American Cities, while also illustrating the role of Jane Jacobs’s ideas in today’s New York. The exhibit is designed to prompt visitors to view the city through Jane Jacobs’s eyes and to empower them to take a more active role in advocating for a more livable city.

The exhibit will be on view at the Municipal Art Society’s Urban Center galleries at 457 Madison Avenue (at 51st Street) in New York City, from Sept. 25, 2007, through January 5, 2008.

During the exhibit, gallery hours will be extended to 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Wednesdays, and 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday