Cities were something to be near and go to, not to live in. Like many people in my generation (particularly in my social class), I grew up in the suburbs. 'Perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning. The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs I have a complicated reaction to cities, a reaction that I think is common in the United States. It is only when we appreciate such fundamental realities that we can hope to create cities that are safe, interesting and economically viable, as well as places that people want to live in. The real vitality of cities, argues Jacobs, lies in their diversity, architectural variety, teeming street life and human scale. Yet they seldom stop to look at what actually works on the ground. Inspired by the ideals of the Garden City or Le Corbusier's Radiant City, they have dreamt up ambitious projects based on self-contained neighbourhoods, super-blocks, rigid 'scientific' plans and endless acres of grass. Throughout the post-war period, planners temperamentally unsympathetic to cities have been let loose on our urban environment. The result is one of the most stimulating books on cities ever written. Jane Jacobs sets the record straight and shows what does and does not work, for creating a successful city. In this classic text, Jane Jacobs set out to produce an attack on current city planning and rebuilding and to introduce new principles by which these should be governed. The Death and Life of Great American Cities did for urban planning, similar to what Thomas Sowell’s Knowledge and Decisions did for economics.
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