The Death and Life of Great American Cities

by Jane Jacobs

Anne Bogel listed this as one of her top three favorite books in an episode of her What Should I Read Next podcast, so I wanted to check it out. It was not available at our library, but I got it through the inter-library loan system – my first time to do that! This meant that I had to read the almost-600-page book in 3 weeks (since there are no renewals allowed for inter-library loan), which was probably a helpful constraint.

Cities are, by definition, full of strangers.

A city street is safer when there are people watching it – shopkeepers, residents, foot traffic. A quiet street, often strived for by planners, is actually more dangerous.

Turf: One way to deal with an unsafe neighborhood is for a gang to form and protect its turf against rival gangs. When new developments are surrounded by fenses to keep out the (less wealthy) neighbors, this is simply another form of turf.

Diverse use helps an area (street, district) of a city thrive. You want people using a street at all different times of the day. If it’s all offices, people only use it during work hours. If all restaurants, only during meal times. A mix of business types, parks, and residences works best.

And short blocks offer people (engaged in their various tasks) the chance to choose varied paths through a neighborhood and make use of more streets. The more people (strangers to one another) who make use of a street, the safer it will tend to become.

But, as a neighborhood becomes successful due to diversity, property values will increase, and certain types of businesses will move there. So, enlightened people (or city officies, or people setting zoning and tax policies) need to stand firm against homogeneity. Maintaining diversity in that situation is “penny-foolish but pound-wise.”

One thing I appreciated from this book was a frank look at privacy in city life. People need privacy, but some cities/districts/streets inadvertently encourage either extreme closeness or completely ignoring each other, with no middle ground. It’s okay not to be close friends with all of your neighbors, but it is good to be neighborly (look out for each other).