Jane Jacobs on Urban Development
Enduring Critique of Planning and Architecture in Cities
Sep 3, 2008
In Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jacobs excoriated the urban planning profession and embraced diversity in cities. Her four measures for creating liveable cities continue to be a source of debate and inspiration.
Jacobs’ list of urban planning issues sounds familiar to 21st century readers, and includes too much reliance on the automobile, suburban sprawl and how to house the poor. A passionate advocate of cities in all their messiness, she was incensed that more planners did not love the inner city as she did.
This is Jacobs’ big question: How can cities generate enough mixture among uses—enough diversity—throughout enough of their territories, to sustain their own civilization?
The Ideal Neighbourhood
Jacobs lived in Greenwich Village in New York City, a neighbourhood she regarded as a model worth emulating. Possessing a range of buildings, from three and four storey tenements to low-rise, more expensive residential buildings, the area had also a diversity of uses: a locksmith, laundry, bakery, etc.
An equally important aspect of her neighbourhood was the ability of residents and business people to have their voices heard. By banding together, and creating networks with adjacent areas, they succeeded in defeating civic attempts to undermine the wellbeing of their neighbourhood with misguided urban plans.
Four Conditions for Exuberant Diversity
Jacobs identified four conditions essential for diversity in cities:
- Every city street or district should serve a variety of functions, so that different people, for different purposes, are using the street at different times of day.
- City blocks must be short; long blocks produce monotony visually and functionally.
- Buildings should vary in age and condition, recognizing that visual diversity is also associated with variety in economic activity. This mingling of building types should be close-grained, i.e. without large empty spaces between buildings.
- Concentrations of population should be reasonably dense, from about 75 to 200 people per acre.
Short blocks and particular densities or building heights are debatable, but her point was that dense, finely-grained cities make for safer, more liveable environments.
Using Narrative Detail to Enrich the Debate about Cities
Part of the enduring appeal of the book is Jacobs’ skill with narrative. She takes the reader into her neighbourhood and describes a diurnal cycle, what she called the ballet of Hudson Street. Painting pictures of the street with stories of its residents’ life outdoors, she demonstrates the value of diversity.
With equally rich detail, Jacobs illustrates why urban areas decay or fail to thrive. She points a finger repeatedly at urban planners’ efforts to create perfect cities at the expense of viable neighbourhoods.
The book includes sections that appear dated in content and appeal, especially the latter chapters on funding mechanisms, zoning, civic administration, and addressing the problem of slums. Few today, for instance, would accept her outright rejection of zoning. Her relentless attacks on the urban planning profession begin to wear on the reader, although she gets full credit for her humorous eviscerations.
Jacobs died in Toronto, her adopted city, in 2006. Book clubs are still reading Death and Life of Great American Cities, and you would be hard put to find an urban planner who wasn’t familiar with this testament to a love affair with great cities.
