The Death and Life of Great American Cities

by Jane Jacobs

June 16, 2020 — July 15, 2020

Los Angeles, CA

Recommended by William Anderson, Principal at Arup for City Economics & Planning, past President of the American Planning Association, and current President of the California Planning Roundtable. He recommended this book to me after our debate regarding urban renewal.

A great urban planning book, however, not the holy grail as deemed by most planners. I found the readings revolving around the uses of sidewalks, the planning of neighborhoods, and the contributions of different aspects of the city to be intriguing. While the same concepts are repeated throughout the book, I did not feel like it was repetitive, but more so, emphasizing the same points on different details. That being said, the book (published in 1961) seems slightly outdated, one needs to realize that urban planning and cultures have evolved rapidly between now and then. If I could summarize a single piece of advice based on the book, it would be to keep your city diverse, dynamic, and dense.
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Diversity is key, no matter what your vision or ambition is, diversity allows a city to both survive and thrive. I realized that as an urban planner, I never thought of the power of diversity aside from the social value of trying to make cities more equitable. Turns out, diversity also generates safety and economic activity! The book left me pondering on so many concepts and ideas related to policy and the economy. Diversity needs to be implemented in our planning, however, I also think we need to start brainstorming concepts about convertibility to figure out a way of constant economic activity throughout the city, and additionally, to figure out how policy and regulation can secure this. It’s very interesting how urban planners design people’s lives and actions by just designing their atmosphere and environment, and how independent movements of individuals can lead to unplanned circumstances.
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Throughout the book, I continuously noted on-page patterns that I personally experienced, thus all over the book, you’ll see “106,” which is where I’m from in Egypt. In brief, once a great town turned into a hood. It was already written.