4 Alb. Govt. L. Rev. 106 (2011)
Steven J. Eagle
The year 2011 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication
of Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities. This is an auspicious time to review the impact of Death and Life
on American land use regulation and eminent domain. It is also
a good time to examine the impact of Jacobs’ work on courts in
New York—where the ideas she proselytized seem taken into
account in ways that are paradoxical at best and perverse at
worst.
During the past century, states and localities have been
increasingly proactive in determining uses of land. Top-down
decision-making is more prevalent. Originally, the availability of allodial title, free from the lingering constraints of feudal tenure, was the lure attracting settlement in colonial America. Likewise, the role of government in the new nation was both
limited and largely designed to protect property, although, to be
sure, there was civic republican sentiment.