Jane Jacobs began her involvement in urban planning as a community activist and organizer. Today, public participation remains a critical element of the planning process. Work on this topic will highlight Jane Jacobs' work as a community activist and her ideas on the importance of "urban governance" to neighborhood revitalization through research of newspaper articles published about her activism in Greenwich Village, New York in the early 1960s, particularly with regard to her protest against the West Village public housing project. Students gathered newspaper articles that chronicle her role as a community activist, and discussed her ideas, strategies and achievements (both short-term and long-term).