The Sociology Book

109

Jane Jacobs’ vision of what a city
street should be like is exemplified by
this New York scene of vibrant urban
life, with residential apartments, street-
level businesses, and sidewalk bustle.

See also: Ferdinand Tönnies 32–33 ■ Michel Foucault 52–55 ■ Georg Simmel 104–05 ■ Henri Lefebvre 106–07 ■
Robert D. Putnam 124–25 ■ Sharon Zukin 128–31 ■ Saskia Sassen 164–65

MODERN LIVING

evolve—are the local residents
themselves. Jacobs argues that
urban communities are best
placed to understand how their
city functions, because city life
is created and sustained through
their various interactions.

Ballet of the sidewalk
Jacobs notes that the built form
of a city is crucial to the life of
an urban community. Of prime
importance are the sidewalks. The
streets in which people live should
be a tight pattern of intersecting
sidewalks, which allow people
to meet, bump into each other,
converse, and get to know one
another. She calls this the “ballet
of the sidewalk,” a complex
but ultimately enriching set of
encounters that help individuals
become acquainted with their
neighbors and neighborhood.

Diversity and mixed-use of space

are also, for Jacobs, key elements

of this urban form. The commercial,

business, and residential elements

of a city should not be separated

out but instead be side by side,

to allow for greater integration

of people. There should also be a

diversity of old and new buildings,

and people’s interactions should

determine how buildings get

used and reused.

Jane Jacobs Jane Jacobs was a passionate

writer and urbanist. She left

Scranton, Pennsylvania for New

York in 1935, during the Great

Depression. After seeing the

Greenwich Village area for the

first time, she relocated there from

Brooklyn—her interest in urban

communities had begun. In 1944

she married, and moved into

a house on Hudson Street.

It was when Jacobs was

working as a writer for the

magazine Architectural Forum

that she first began to be

critical of large top-down urban

regeneration schemes. Throughout

her life she was an activist and

campaigner for her community-

based vision of the city.

In 2007 the Rockefeller

Foundation created the Jane

Jacobs Medal in her honor

to celebrate urban visionaries

whose actions in New York City

affirm her principles.

Key works

1961 The Death and Life

of Great American Cities

1969 The Economy of Cities

1984 Cities and the Wealth

of Nations

Finally, urban communities flourish

better in places where a critical

mass of people live, work, and

interact. Such high-density—

but not overcrowded—spaces are,

she feels, engines of creativity and

vibrancy. They are also safe places

to be, because the higher density

means that there are more “eyes on

the street”: shopkeepers and locals

who know their area and provide

a natural form of surveillance. ■