The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Jane Jacobs

Anna Grogan
February 12, 2019
 Jane Jacobs was an American-Canadian journalist, author, and activist who influenced

urban studies, sociology, and economics. On May 4, 1916, in Scranton, PA she was on and died

on April 25, 2006, at Toronto, Canada. She was a writer for the Office of War Information, and

then a reporter for Amerika. In 1956, she delivered a lecture at Harvard University where she

addressed leading architects, and urban planners speaking on the topic of East Harlem. During

her speech, she urged the audience to respect in the broadest sense of that have the wisdom of

their own not yet encompassed in our concept of urban order. After making the speech, William

H. Whyte invited her to write an article for the Fortune magazine. The resulting piece,

“Downtown is for People” was her first public criticism of Robert Moses. In 1962 she resigned

from the Architectural Forum to become a full-time author and mother. Jane Jacobs wrote seven

books: The Question of Separatism: Quebec and the Struggle over Sovereignty, Cities and the

Wealth of Nations, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Systems of Survival, and Dark

Age Ahead, The Economy of Cities. The Death and Life of Great American Cities remains one

of the most influential books in the history of American planning. The book was published in

1961 and was widely read by both planning professionals and the general public. She was against

the Vietnam War, marched on the Pentagon, and criticized the building of the World Trade

Center on Manhattan’s waterfront. She moved to Canada because she is afraid that the

government would draft two of her boys. She became a Canadian citizen because becoming duel

citizenship was not an option for her.

The Death and Life of Great American Cities were written in 1960, in the book she

claimed that urban renewal policies of the 1950s destroyed communities and created isolated,
unnatural urban spaces. The book is written into four different sections, the peculiar nature of

cities, the conditions for city diversity, forces of decline and regeneration, and different tactics.

Part one, covers three uses of sidewalks: safety, contact, and a gathering of children. She

refers the separation as eye protection, and there should be “an unconscious assumption of

general street support.” Street safety is promoted by pavements making the public and private

separation. Pavements lead to building trust among neighbors over time. She argues that trust

cannot be built in public places such as a game room. Sidewalk contact and safety thwart

segregation and racial discrimination. A function of sidewalks is to provide an environment for

children to play. She believed that safe city parks have severe challenges due to the lack of

surveillance in them. Successful parks are those under the use of companies and residents. All

parks should always have sun, shade in the summer, and a building to enclose parks.

Part two covers the conditions for city diversity covers diversity, the need for small

blocks, the need for old buildings, and the need for concentration. Districts serve more than one

primary function, people using the same facilities at different times. Blocks should be short, to

increase options between points of interest, and therefore increase social and economic

development. Buildings should vary in ages, accommodating different people, and be affordable

to rent. Residents and visitors need to promote city life. With all of these conditions it would

generate diversity, and without one or two of those, it would make the city dull. First, she argues

that diversity does not diminish visual order. Moreover, diversity is not the root of traffic

congestions, which is caused by cars and not people in them. Diverse areas encourage walking.

To make these areas successful and to dispose of dangerous areas, diversity should be enhanced.

A way to get rid of the dangerous areas some uses such as bars and theaters are a threat in the
grey areas, but not in the diverse city districts. The final area is parking lots, large or heavy truck

depots, and gigantic outdoor advertising should only be on certain streets.

Part three includes forces of decline and regeneration, the self-destruction of diversity,

the use of border vacuums, un-slumming and slumming, and gradual money and cataclysmic

money. The self-destruction of outstanding successful districts occurs when businesses that are

not profitable, and replace them with more profitable ones. She suggests that city officials

needed to figure out borderline cases, such as unique park uses, in order to blend the border and

the neighboring area and to keep the city as a city. The population is the third factor in the life

cycle of cities. The reason slums stay slums is the unstable population of people staying there.

She suggests that when planning is done, they increase money which makes improvements in the

lives of residents in low-income residents. Public and private money is the last factor. She argues

that money is not everything and has its limitations. She classifies money into three forms: credit

extended by traditional, non-governmental lending institutions, and money from the mob. They

shape a disastrous, rather than gradual changes in cities. They waste city districts which are

indeed fit for the city life and possess the potential for rapid improvements.

Part four, covers different tactics, subsidizing dwell, erosion of cities or attrition of

automobiles, salvaging projects, governing and planning districts, and the kind of problem a city

is. She dedicated this book to effective tactics to improve city performance. She suggested

subsidized dwellings be offered to those who can not afford regular housing. Residents pay

subsidized rents, calculated based on their income level, and the government pays the difference.

This way, tenant incomes increase, they are not forced to leave, and their rents would be

adjusted. It will allow them to remain if they choose. Tenants might stay by letting them own the

house over the years of paying rent. Cities offer multiple choices, but someone cannot take
advantage without being able to get around easy. The most critical part is city transportation, and

this should not destroy land use. She stresses that a high number of streets would make an

intense life. City parks need to be organized and put in the right area so the right people would

use them. She argued that cities are organized complexity. She thought horizontal structures in

planning was the best option because vertical planning has problems of complexity.

After reading this book, I would think it would help anyone in the city planning

department, landscapers, anyone constructing a highway or building a park. The book became

the most influential books of American city planning.

Bibliography
Company, S. F. (2003). The World Book Encyclopedia. In I. a. World Book, The World Book Encylopedia.
Chicago: World Book, Inc.

Jacobs, J. (1962). The Death and Life of a Great American Cities. In J. Jacobs, The Death and Life of the
Great American Cities. New York City: Random House Publisher.