The Jane Jacobs Urban Communication Book Award recognizes an outstanding book that exhibits excellence in addressing issues of urban communication.  It is presented by Urban Communication Foundation, a non-profit that promotes and supports research in urban communication. The book award brings with it a $500 prize.

This year’s winner was announced on  November 15 at the National Communication Association annual conference in San Francisco. The prize went to  New Village Press Director Lynne Elizabeth and Director of the Center for the Living City Stephan A. Goldsmith for What We See: Advancing the Observations of Jane Jacobs. Elizabeth co-edited the work, and Goldsmith lead-edited as well as initially conceiving the book to honor the late Jane Jacobs.

The honor is well deserved.  What We See introduces a new generation of urban thinkers, who use Jacobs’ meditation on the urban environment as a springboard to develop their own observations and strategies to cope with contemporary urban issues. (See my full review here.) It is a fantastic read  and on my list of 10 Books every Urbanist Should Read.