jane jacobs

(demolition of Cabrini Green)

(security footage of a disturbance at Cabrini Green)

Revolt of the Urbs

This was a more captivating reading to me. The information that Robert Moses was using to streamline transportation and then trying to implicate with getting the middle class out to be able to use the highways for an escape is well thought. These streets were made when the middle class and poor didn’t go much anywhere. Now (more like the 50’s…) these tiny streets were getting more packed with cars and traffic. Moses was attempting to modernize and move New York forward. But because of old spaces of recreation, he was unsuccessful at getting past his plan of the highway through Washington Square Park.  
In the end though- I feel the park being left alone is a positive thing. Too often do people hustle and rush to get to work, back home, here and there- but rarely do we slow down and enjoy things. 


Jane Jacobs introduction to The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jacobs makes the point of how slums stay slums and some depressed areas regenerate. Cabrini Green is an excellent example of how a slum stays a depressed suction and doesn’t necessarily “turn around” like developers hope for.


In chapter 2o Jane Jacobs writes about that projects seem that they are stuck in a perpetual state of un-kept depression. They can never be “improved” because they’re isolated from the districts they are in. reweaving the projects back is vital to turn them over from what they are. Planners need to recognize what’s missing in this equation and then supply it.

She goes on to point out that projects and low-income housing is poorly planned that lack diversity or lack conditions that generate diversity. Salvaging them requires specific attention. That the problems are more evident in low-income housing and affect the residents there.

“The silliest conception of salvage is to build a duplicate of the first failure and move the people from the first failure into the second while trying to salvage the first.”

She touches back on the importance of small blocks, public parks and streets that allow proper traffic flow.

The new streets need to tie into the streets beyond the project edges as well as tying into fixed features. The streets need to not be narrow, dark and dank. This will prompt the strong fight to not go there and maybe the quote from page 399 “Where can we go? Not to a project! I have children. I have young daughters.”

Children are also a big factor in this chapter. The projects have to be safe for them. There has to be a play-areas far enough from the streets for them. High-rise buildings don’t assure proper supervision for them. Apparently they pee in elevators in the projects. There are no doormen or guards to protect children from random predators.

There also needs to be cooperation from the people who live closest to the projects. They tend to be afraid of the projects and start border vacuums. Projects need to be reintegrated into the fabric of the city- be it “civic” areas or low-income or middle-income housing.