Jane Holtz Kay (born Jane Holtz; July 7, 1938,

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

– died November 4, 2012) was an American

urban design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes based on geographical location. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, city, ...

and architecture critic. A columnist for ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'', ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', she authored three books on the conservation of natural and urban environments, most notably ''Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back''. Kay grew up in the Boston suburb of Brookline with her younger sister,

Ellen Ellen is a female given name, a diminutive of Elizabeth (given name), Elizabeth, Eleanor, Elena, and Helen (given name), Helen. Ellen was the 609th most popular name in the U.S. and the 17th in Sweden in 2004. People named Ellen include: * Elle ...

. After graduating from Buckingham School, she studied at

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

, majoring in American history. In 1960, she wrote her senior thesis on the historian and urban critic

Lewis Mumford Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a ...

. His writings became a big influence on hers, and she visited him several times in the following decades. Kay began her career in journalism as a reporter for ''

The Patriot Ledger ''The Patriot Ledger'' is a daily newspaper in Quincy, Massachusetts, that serves the South Shore. It publishes Monday through Saturday. History The paper was founded on , as the weekly ''Quincy Patriot'' by John Adams Green and Edmund Butl ...

'', based in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the Greater Boston area as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in ...

, but later worked primarily as a freelance writer and author. Kay wrote columns for ''

'' and ''

'', and contributed several articles to ''

'' "design notebook" column. Her first book, ''Lost Boston'', was published in 1980. It portrays buildings in Boston which had been demolished to build malls, roads or parking spaces. It was followed by ''Preserving New England'' (1986), which she had written with Pauline Chase Harrell. Her most influential book, however, is ''Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back'', a critique of the car's dominance on American culture published in 1997. In 1991, Kay had sold her car and moved to the

Back Bay Back Bay is an officially recognized Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on Land reclamation, reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the ...

neighborhood of Boston.

Death

Jane Holtz Kay died November 4, 2012, at the Springhouse Senior Community in

Jamaica Plain Jamaica Plain is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of Roxbury, Massachusetts, Roxbury. The community seceded from Roxbur ...

, aged 74, from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

Books

* 1980: ''Lost Boston''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; . * 1986: ''Preserving New England: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine''. New York: Pantheon Books; (with Pauline Chase Harrell) * 1997: ''Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back''. New York: Crown Publishers; .

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kay, Jane Holtz 1938 births 2012 deaths American architecture writers Writers from Brookline, Massachusetts Writers from Boston Radcliffe College alumni The Boston Globe people The Nation (U.S. magazine) people The New York Times columnists American women columnists Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Massachusetts Buckingham Browne & Nichols School alumni American women non-fiction writers People from Jamaica Plain 21st-century American women