A direct and fundamentally optimistic indictment of the short-sightedness and intellectual arrogance that has characterized much of urban planning in this century, The Death and Life of Great American Cities has, since its first publication in 1961, become the standard against which all endeavors in that field are measured. In prose of outstanding immediacy, Jane Jacobs writes about what makes streets safe or unsafe; about what constitutes a neighborhood, and what function it serves within the larger organism of the city; about why some neighborhoods remain impoverished while others regenerate themselves. She writes about the salutary role of funeral parlors and tenement windows, the dangers of too much development money and too little diversity. Compassionate, bracingly indignant, and always keenly detailed, Jane Jacobs's monumental work provides an essential framework for assessing the vitality of all cities.
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The most refreshing, provacative, stimulating and exciting study of this [great problem] which I have seen. It fairly crackles with bright honesty and common sense (Harrison Salisbury New York Times )
One of the most remarkable books ever written about the city... a primary work. The research apparatus is not pretentious it is the eye and the heart but it has given us a magnificent study of what gives life and spirit to the city (William H. Whyte, Author Of The Organization Man )
Perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning... Jacobs has a powerful sense of narrative, a lively wit, a talent for surprise and the ability to touch the emotions as well as the mind (New York Times Book Review )
An immensely provocative and rewarding book... It challenges comfortable assumptions...but it does so in a manner that is neither rancorous nor contentions (Jonathan Yardley Washington Post ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
One of the most remarkable books ever written about the city... a primary work. The research apparatus is not pretentious it is the eye and the heart but it has given us a magnificent study of what gives life and spirit to the city (William H. Whyte, Author Of The Organization Man )
Perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning... Jacobs has a powerful sense of narrative, a lively wit, a talent for surprise and the ability to touch the emotions as well as the mind (New York Times Book Review )
An immensely provocative and rewarding book... It challenges comfortable assumptions...but it does so in a manner that is neither rancorous nor contentions (Jonathan Yardley Washington Post ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
A groundbreaking critique of 20th-century urban planning and a classic of post-ware social thought. (19990322)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Streets in cities serve many purposes besides carrying vehicles, and city sidewalks-the pedestrian parts of the streets-serve many purposes besides carrying pedestrians. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Streets in cities serve many purposes besides carrying vehicles, and city sidewalks-the pedestrian parts of the streets-serve many purposes besides carrying pedestrians. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
52 of 54 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Even 35 years after it was written, The Death and Life of Great American
Cities remains the classic book on how cities work and
how urban planners and others have naively destroyed
functioning cities. It is widely known for its incisive
treatment of those who would tear down functioning neighborhoods
and destroy the lives and livelihoods of people for the sake of a
groundless but intellectually appealing daydream.
Cities remains the classic book on how cities work and
how urban planners and others have naively destroyed
functioning cities. It is widely known for its incisive
treatment of those who would tear down functioning neighborhoods
and destroy the lives and livelihoods of people for the sake of a
groundless but intellectually appealing daydream.
But although many see it as a polemic against urban planning,
the best parts of it, the parts that have endeared it to
many who love cities, are quite different. Death and Life
is, first of all, a work of observation. The illustrations
are all around us, she says, and we must go and look. She
shows us parts of the city that are alive -- the streets,
she says, are the city that we see, and it is the streets and
sidewalks that carry the most weight -- and find the patterns
that help us not merely see but understand. She shows us the city as
an ecology -- a system of interactions that is more than
merely the laying out of buildings as if they were a
child's wooden blocks.
But observation can mean simply the noting of objects.
Ms. Jacobs writes beautifully, lovingly, of New York
City and other urban places. Her piece "The Ballet of
Hudson Street" is both an observation of events on the
Greenwich Village street where she lived and a prose poem
describing the comings and goings of the people, the rhythms
of the shopkeepers and the commuters and others who use the
street.
In this day when "inner city" is a synonym for poverty
and hopelessness, it is important to be reminded that
cities are literally the centers of civilization, of
business, of culture. This is just as true today as it was
in the early 1960s when this was written. We in North
America owe Jane Jacobs a great debt for her insight and her
eloquence.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I found this book fascinating. I live and work in a country that has been badly planned since the war and that suffers from all the mistakes that Jane Jacobs describes. What astonishes me is that planning was not influenced by this book when it was written. Most if its lessons are self-evidently correct. Yet even today planners continue to zone for dead, empty streets and monopolistic commerce. It has opened my eyes and made me feel a little angry. I wasn't interested in planning or urbanisation before I read this book, but now I am.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Good: commonsensical (or does it just seem so in retrospect?), imaginative, solutions-focused, people-oriented and persuasively argued. Bad: evidence is mostly anecdotal (despite her enthusiasm for the scientific method) and she labours her points.
Her point about not forcing successful people out via income segregation is well made - especially as this is still regularly suggested in the name of 'fairness'; and her discussions about public transport and the alternative to a proliferation of cars even more so.
Interesting though to consider how many of the advantages of city life (as she understood them) may not now exist - or at any rate may not be so marked - in the Information Age. New ideas, niche products, a wide variety of people: they can all be had virtually.
Her point about not forcing successful people out via income segregation is well made - especially as this is still regularly suggested in the name of 'fairness'; and her discussions about public transport and the alternative to a proliferation of cars even more so.
Interesting though to consider how many of the advantages of city life (as she understood them) may not now exist - or at any rate may not be so marked - in the Information Age. New ideas, niche products, a wide variety of people: they can all be had virtually.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cities that work, and cities that don't
Jane Jacobs is the Edmund Burke of urban planning. I doubt there's any compliment higher than that. In Death and Life she takes on the modernist planners and their grand projects,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by J. Connolly
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent!
A great classic. A must read for anyone who wishes to understand how our cities operate and the small things that affect it. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Coco
5.0 out of 5 stars
a must for those in social and urban design spheres
A must read for those who think that the city is an unworkable mess and that sub-urban layouts are the best solution for the world populatioons. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Sammy Elaasar
5.0 out of 5 stars
Masterpiece
I couldn't actually put this book down, this book about urban planning from almost 50 years ago! But it contains so much sense, currency, intellect and elegance that it transcends... Read more
Published on 23 Dec 2009 by Marcia
4.0 out of 5 stars
I Developed Doubts About This Book: Is Jacobs the Chomsky of Urban...
I was introduced to this book in about 1970 by a girl who'd completed an M.A. on England's first council estate. Both she, and this book, impressed me. Read more
Published on 12 May 2009 by Rerevisionist
5.0 out of 5 stars
An extraordinary book
I first encountered this book in the early 1980s when I was a geography student taking an Urban studies' course at Manchester University. Read more
Published on 19 July 2007 by Rochelle
5.0 out of 5 stars
urban
A little slow, but then again, who else addresses the real conditions of city living without a load of fantasy academic nonsense? Read more
Published on 8 Oct 2004 by Paul Snell
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