death and life of great american cities

8/10/2019 Death and Life of Great American Cities

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DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN

CITIES

Jane Jacob


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WHO WAS JANE JACOBS?

Jane Jacobs has no professional training as a cityplanner.She used her own observations about cities toformulate her philosophy about them.Even though some of her views go against thestandards of urban planning, her work is wellrespected.Jacobs was born in 1916 in the coal mining town ofScranton, PA. She left Scranton for New York City.During her first several years in the city, she held manydifferent types of jobs, and was even subject to periodsof unemployment.Her first real writing position was at a metals tradepaper. While working there, she also held free-lancewriting positions at The New York Herald Tribune andVogue.

Jacobs based The Death and Life of Great AmericanCities on her observations in the cities that she notes in


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PURPOSE OF THE BOOK?

Jacobs saw the principles that underlie city planning aserroneous and detrimental to cities.Small businesses are ruined and families becomeuprooted Jacobs cites expressway construction as onefactor.

A banker may consider a particular area to be a slum;however, it may actually be a thriving neighborhood.Banks refuse to give out loans to such areas, so thevibrancy of the neighborhood is a result of communityinteraction.Planners are more concerned with automobiles they seecars as both a cause of city decay and a neededcommodity. Jacobs see cars as a symptom of cityproblems, not the source


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INTENTIONS OF THE TEXT

Jacobs wants to introduce new principles in cityplanning.Part 1 examines city problems, using sidewalks andparks as metaphors.Part 2 studies the economics behind city problems.Part 3 emphasizes decay along with regeneration(Slumming and Unslumming a term Jacobsinvents).Part 4 is where Jacobs makes suggestions forchange in existing cities and different planning fornew ones.

Jacobs looks to inner-cities for her mainobservations.


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VARIOUS THEMES IN THE TEXT

City Planning ErrorsSuccessful Neighborhoods vs. UnsuccessfulNeighborhoods (We also have to look at Jacobs criteriafor success.)

Diversity a necessary component for successful cities,but what does the term mean?Change is necessary planners need to rethink theirdefinition of cities, look at what Jacobs sees as factorsthat tell more about cities.

Slumming/Unslumming city planners tore down slums,including landmark buildings. They built housing projectsthat made problems worse. Planners need to think abouta congenial area where people will want to stay, not beforced to stay


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SIDEWALKS: SAFETY

Three factors contribute to street A clear line between public andprivate space.

I. The eyes of the neighborhoodmust be on the street/sidewalks

II. The sidewalks and streets mustbe in constant useSmall business must flourish inneighborhood as it attractspeople. More people meansmore safety.Streets need lights. Street needintersections. This attractspeople and safety.

Three ways to deal with citysafety: insecurityI. Ignore the situation and allow it to

continueII. Spend time in vehicles instead of

walking on sidewalksIII. Territory or Turf: developed by

gangs, the aim is to keep rivalgangs to enter theirneighborhood.

City planners use the concept totacitly enforce segregation and lackof diversity.Fear keeps people out ofneighborhood. Fear also keeppeople leaving from theneighborhood. The quality ofeveryday life diminishes rapidly.


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SIDEWALKS: CONTACT

Sidewalks are social. People meet on sidewalks.Stores, movie theaters, restaurants increase positivesocial contact.Sidewalks create a public character. Think of T.nagar and

the diverse group of people who travel down thesidewalks.Trust is crucial for sidewalks to be safe places for contact.Sidewalk travel ensures that people know each other-from shopping, from the bus stops, from windows.

Suspicion and fear of neighbors will make sidewalksunsafe- compare the difference between oldneighborhoods and new high rise.How can people in high rises get to know their neighbors?


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SIDEWALKS : CHILDREN

The thought s always to get children off the streetsand into playground.Yet children often stafer when playing on sidewalksbecause adults are there.

Jacobs notes that most city planners are ment andthey dont think needs of woment or children. Bothhave a far different replationship to sidewalks.Children prefer sidewalks because they are moreintreseting.Children can play jumping rope, chalk drawings,hopscotch, races.They by ice cream and candy near by.


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NEIGHBORHOOD PARKS

It takes a wide functionalmixture of needs to populateand enliven a neighborhoodpark through the day.The main problem of

neighborhood park planningboils down to the problem ofnurturing diversifiedneighborhoods capable ofusing and supporting parks.Hence dullness is the result.Cetrain qualities in designcan apparently make adifference too.

Four elements of design :I. Intricacy : variety of reasons

for which people come to theparkII. Centering: A climax, pausing

point, crossroad.III. Sun: Shaded to be sure in

summer.IV. Enclosure : Location.


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CITY NEIGHBORHOODS

City neighborhoods as mundaneorgans of self-government: inbroadest sense meaning both theinformal and formal self-management of society.Three kinds of city neighborhoods:

I. The city as whole: From whichmost money flows, where mostadministrative and policydecisions

II. Street neighborhoods:overlapping interweaving turningthe corners.

III. Districts of large. Subcity size.Districts: meditate between theindispensable. But inherentlypolitically powerless, streetneighborhoods and the inherently

powerful city as whole.

Cities should aim for:I. To foster lively and interesting

streets.II. To make these streets as a

network as possiblethroughout the district.

III. To use parks and squares andpublic building as part of thisstreet fabric and knit togetherthe fabrics complexity andmultiple use.

IV. To emphasize the functionalidentity of areas large enoughto work as district.


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TO GENERATE DIVERSITY IN CITYS STREET AND DISTRICTS

I. The district and indeed as many of its internal parts aspossible, must serve more than one primary function;preferably more than two. These must insure thepresence of people who go outdoors on differentschedules and are in the place for different purposes,but who are able to use many facilities in common

II. Most blocks must be short; that is, the streetsopportunities to turn corners more frequently.

III. Have mingled buildings that vary by age and condition,including good proportion of old ones.

IV. There must be sufficiently dense concentration ofpeople, for whatever purposes they may be there.Includes people who are there for residence as well.


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CITY CONCENTRATION: THE OPPOSITE OF SPRAWL

Population density can guarantee successful cities. Why?Destiny doesn't mean overcrowdingHigh concentration mans visitors as well as residents.It isn't about color or ethnicity alone. It involves economic class,the intentions of each individual for visiting or living in a specificareaSlums often have low population density as people with meansget out. Those who remain may not have much choice as theymay be too poor to move. If they are elder; they may be on alimited income.

Concentration is necessary for diversity.

All of this depend on the neighborhood-what works for one wontwork for another.


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SOME MYTHS ABOUT CITY DIVERSITY

Myth 1 : diversity is uglyMyth 2: diversity causes trafficcongestion.Myth 3: diversity invites ruinoususes. It allows for permissivepolicies.Fact: uses are not absolute.Planners believe bars,manufacturing, theatres, clinicsand small business can beharmful- preferring big corporatelots to ensure order. However,choice means growth and withgrowth comes protection on thepart of the community.

Fact:Anything done badly can beugly. Sameness seems orderlybut betrays a deep disorder, as itdoesnt allow for change orexpression.Fact: Traffic causes congestion,not diversity. lack of wide rangesof concetrated diversit can putinto automobile for almost all theirneeds


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SLUMMING AND UNSLUMMING

SlummingSlums are vicious circle; slumareas are both perpetrators andvictims.Urban renewal programs generallyfail to stop slums.People move in and out tooquickly: slums have low population.Stagnation and dullness are thefirst symptoms of slumming.Ethnicity Is seen as a cause, but

that is a smokescreen. Relocationand tearing down buildings is aslum shift.The term perpetual slum ,is aplace with no economic and or

social improvement- it can also bean area that worsens with time.

Unslumming An area can unslum if the followingtake place:

1. The population that remains takean interest in improving the area.

2. Sidewalks become safe anduninteresting

3. A decline in overcoming amongcertain low rent buildings.

4. Diversity is key to unslumming;business growth, variety ofeconomic class and professions-more families with children whotake interest in the school andparks.The area needs to be seen as

useful to city growth, instead of ascene of urban blight,


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EXAMPLE OF UNSLUMMING.

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