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    Book Summary

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    The document summarizes Jane Jacobs' book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" which criticizes 1950s-era urban planning policies. The book is divided into four parts that discuss problems with prevailing urban planning approaches. Part one discusses sidewalks and their importance for safety, visibility, and social networks. Part two examines how diversity in districts is supported by mixed uses, short blocks, and building age variation. Part three addresses how diversity can be depleted when districts become dominated by a single lucrative use. Part four criticizes the separation of incomes and preference for traffic infrastructure over sidewalks.

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    Book Summary

    Uploaded by

    alex
    121 views3 pages
    The document summarizes Jane Jacobs' book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" which criticizes 1950s-era urban planning policies. The book is divided into four parts that discuss problems with prevailing urban planning approaches. Part one discusses sidewalks and their importance for safety, visibility, and social networks. Part two examines how diversity in districts is supported by mixed uses, short blocks, and building age variation. Part three addresses how diversity can be depleted when districts become dominated by a single lucrative use. Part four criticizes the separation of incomes and preference for traffic infrastructure over sidewalks.

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    The document summarizes Jane Jacobs' book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" which criticizes 1950s-era urban planning policies. The book is divided into four parts that discuss problems with prevailing urban planning approaches. Part one discusses sidewalks and their importance for safety, visibility, and social networks. Part two examines how diversity in districts is supported by mixed uses, short blocks, and building age variation. Part three addresses how diversity can be depleted when districts become dominated by a single lucrative use. Part four criticizes the separation of incomes and preference for traffic infrastructure over sidewalks.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    121 views3 pages

    Book Summary

    Uploaded by

    alex
    The document summarizes Jane Jacobs' book "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" which criticizes 1950s-era urban planning policies. The book is divided into four parts that discuss problems with prevailing urban planning approaches. Part one discusses sidewalks and their importance for safety, visibility, and social networks. Part two examines how diversity in districts is supported by mixed uses, short blocks, and building age variation. Part three addresses how diversity can be depleted when districts become dominated by a single lucrative use. Part four criticizes the separation of incomes and preference for traffic infrastructure over sidewalks.

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    Book Summary

    Jane Jacobs in her book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” criticizes the

    urban planning policy that took shape back in the 1950s. She feels that there has been little

    success in the rebuilding strategy for it has failed to get rid of the slums and putting a stop to the

    deterioration of the urban neighborhoods. As this paper will show, the book constitutes of four

    parts that display the problems with the prevailing urban planning.

    In part one, Jacobs delves into the subject of sidewalks. She claims that their purpose is

    not restricted to being a platform through which the pedestrian use to walk from point A to Point

    B only, rather, they are also public spaces and for the success of the district their users ought to

    feel secure and safe while using them with strangers. Consequently, sidewalks should have three

    main characteristics: must have visible mark of public and private space, must have users

    walking on them continuously and must always be in close proximity to the street (30). Jacob

    also highlights the significance of the local public characters in strengthening the eyes on a

    footpath and forming some social networks, connecting the populace in a given urban setting and

    dispersing the neighborhood news.

    In the second part, the book delves on the conditions that facilitate diversity in an urban

    center. The author claims that a district should serve several functions to guarantee the presence

    of people making use of the very same facilities at some different times. She proceeds to state

    that the blocks must also be short to increase to amplify the route options from the point of
    Surname: 2

    departure to destination. Lastly, Jacob claims that due to the difference in rent amounts and

    affordability, the building should have varying ages to accommodate people from all walks of

    life and diverse businesses. Adhering to these recommendation facilitates the development of

    some small enterprises from lower rent rates.

    In the third part, the author’s talks of the self-destructive tendency of great diversity

    where some districts become known for a given use to the extent that the diversity is depleted

    due to the lucrativeness of such use. In such a case, the self-destruction is a product of a district

    ousting the less affluent business and populace and replacing them with the rich and lucrative

    ones. According to Jacobs the major single facilities comprising of college campuses, parks, and

    railroad tracks creates some vacuum in regions adjacent to their border for they are generalized

    use terminus. In reference to the instability of the population, Jacob states that the slums remain

    as such due to the instability and lack of the population willing and ready to move out of slums.

    As such, she claims that the elimination of slums can only be achieved through making the slum

    dweller yearn to live in developed neighborhoods.

    In the last part, Jacobs expresses her disgust for the idea of separation of individuals in

    the city by incomes. Rather than low-income housing, she suggests that the government should

    subsidize rent on the private dwelling for those who earns a below average salary, thereby

    dispersing the population of low-income across the city. She also expresses her displeasure with

    the traffic arteries, gas station and parking lots claiming they have eroded the sidewalks.
    Surname: 3

    Work Cited

    Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage Books,

    1992. Print.

    Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage

    Books/Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1992. Internet resource.

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