The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Note: Listened to this as an audiobook, so some of my comments may be due to distractions and me not able to pause and think. It’s very possible that if I read it as a book, my gripes wouldn’t be that bad.
This book had great commentary on the sociological necessities of a city and a lot of the poor assumptions and short sightedness that comes with modern planning and is still as relevant today as it was when it was written in 1961. A few things it commented on that I found interesting: The need for public characters in a city, the self-fulfilling prophecy of labeling a place as a slum and the finance behind it, how safety is dependent on {eyes-on-the street, density, local shops, activities for each hour of the day, etc.}, the importance of sidewalks not just as a means of transportation but as a place to be, how children yearn for adventure and not just within parks (and a nod to free range parenting), how there is an unfounded view that more open space and parks are inherently good, and more.
This book was much more technical and less political than I imagined it would be, not in a bad way, just in a surprising way. And as opposed to the macroscopic city planning commentary I’m used to, Jacobs provides a window into the little things that are necessary to make a city great and functional. Kind of like how you only need a small amount of vitamins to live, but if you have a deficiency, your body will begin to fail.
My issue is much less with the content as much as it was with the way the book was written. Jacobs tends to be more long winded than necessary and makes claims without explaining them, expecting them to be obvious to the reader. This book could have been more concise. My true rating would be 4.1 stars but I am inflating my rating just because I think more people should read it :)