In 1968 American writer and activist, Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) emigrated from New York, USA, to Canada, making her new home in Toronto. For two decades she had opposed the plans of New York’s master builder Robert Moses, who advocated razing so-called slum neighbourhoods and building vast housing schemes. Jacobs had also been instrumental in the cancelation of the construction of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, an elevated freeway that would have wiped out hundreds of local businesses and homes. Jacobs moved to Toronto to get out of the spotlight but she soon found herself campaigning again; this time to stop the Spadina Expressway.