Surname: 1

Name

Instructor

Course

Date of submission

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.