The book that this report is about is Jane Jacobs’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities. This title was published by Vintage books, which is a division of the publisher Random House inc in 1961. This is a work of nonfiction on the subject of urban design. Although given that, some parts of it do read out like an autobiography or a long essay. The title itself does read better with some background on urban planning though. In a short sense, urban planners are the city officials that decide things like where roads and rail will go as well as what is allowed to be built along them, they also will work out how the city will grow to accommodate a bigger population in the future. Urban planning/design is perhaps one of the greatest influences on daily life in metropolitan areas. All walks of life in our cities and towns will have their growth and development, time in the workforce, and retirement shaped by the decision of urban planners. Most everyone will go to the store to buy food, go to work, and go visit friends. The time it takes to do these things, how safe it will be, and how enjoyable these will be. The Death and Life of Great American Cities is much like that of an argumentative essay. Chapters will sometimes start out with a hook and then have blocks of words and various studies, statistics, and firsthand accounts. Though some of the statistics such as those relating to crime have changed a lot since the 1960s but many still hold reasonably true. The grand thesis of this work is that we need to stop designing our urban areas around automotive transportation and focus on making them better places to live and get around. This can be achieved through practices such as mixed use zoning, prioritizing better modes of transportation better suited for urban areas, and much more things in the pages of this book. After the introduction in The Uses Sidewalks: Safety, Jane Jacobs writes that “If a city’s streets are safe from barbarism and fear, the city is thereby safe from barbarism and fear.” This is a great quote about living in these places. Think of it this way, we consider The Village to be one of if not the safest places in Carlsbad even at night. This is because this is a popular spot where families will go and friendly local shopkeepers. It is well lit and because it's in the heart of the city, will have better response time from emergency services. Compare this to wandering under an overpass at night, there are many people just like The Village yes, but they are in their cars focused on getting from point A-B. At night this is a place where we would think things like drug deals and muggings would happen. Most of the book plays out loosely like this but in much greater detail with all the firsthand accounts and sources in a short sense. I personally feel this book is meant to be read with a cause, a cause like a grand magnum opus of an essay or a fiery presentation on the matter. The reason I give a ⅗ is because it does not really generate a “motive to read” in me personally even though I'm interested in the subject. A book generating a motive to pick it up and keep reading is important in our busy high schooler lives as if we’re interested then the time can pass faster and we might even pick up on important things better if we’re really focused. I do much agree with the author's opinions presented in this book, that's why I chose it after all and I mean there are few popular books that don't agree with Jane Jacobs. Another point of criticism arises though and that is that the book is hyper focused on the United States. It must be made clear that yes, the book is about the life and death of the great American cities but many of these ideas are already being done in parts of Europe and Asia, and the fact that a lot of these problems are not really unique to American cities. This is not Jane Jones’s only book on cities so my complaints might be addressed in one of the other titles. This book can be related a lot to New York urban planner Robert Moses, although his name is not mentioned once in the text, was most likely thought of. His most controversial work was the Cross Bronx Expressway. It was built straight through disproportionately impoverished and minority neighborhoods and while the direct way was avoided. Some say because of land value but a few say because of Moses’s “feelings” about minorities. All this is on top of being one of the most congested roads in the continental United States. Going into this book I expected it to have good information but be long and wordy and that's really what I got. Now drawing things to a close, It's a great book to use for a resource or if you're really really into the topic. As much as I like and agree with this book I don't think something like everyone should read it because truth be told they would just get bored. If they're bored they really will not pick up on its ideas nor understand why urban planning is so important to our lives. If it were to be something I could recommend to my peers it would need to be more digestible to a general audience. It's a title about urban design, smart growth, modern urbanism but isn't afraid to drift to things like inequality and poverty.
Mariano R.
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