The Death and Life of Great American Cities cover art

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

50th Anniversary Edition

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

By: Jane Jacobs, Jason Epstein - introduction
Narrated by: Donna Rawlins
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £18.49

Buy Now for £18.49

About this listen

 Thirty years after its publication, The Death and Life of Great American Cities was described by The New York Times as "perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning....[It] can also be seen in a much larger context. It is first of all a work of literature; the descriptions of street life as a kind of ballet and the bitingly satiric account of traditional planning theory can still be read for pleasure even by those who long ago absorbed and appropriated the book's arguments." Jane Jacobs, an editor and writer on architecture in New York City in the early sixties, argued that urban diversity and vitality were being destroyed by powerful architects and city planners. Rigorous, sane, and delightfully epigrammatic, Jacobs's small masterpiece is a blueprint for the humanistic management of cities. It is sensible, knowledgeable, readable, indispensable. The author has written a new foreword for this Modern Library edition. Politics & Government Sociology Urban Taxation New York Urban Planning

Critic reviews

"The most refreshing, provacative, stimulating and exciting study of this [great problem] which I have seen. It fairly crackles with bright honesty and common sense." —The New York Times

"Magnificent ... Describes with brilliant specificity what works and what doesn't in cities, in language that is fearless and crisp as a trumpet blast." —Rebecca Solnit

"Perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning... Jacobs has a powerful sense of narrative, a lively wit, a talent for surprise and the ability to touch the emotions as well as the mind" —The New York Times Book Review

"One of the most remarkable books ever written about the city ... a primary work. The research apparatus is not pretentious—it is the eye and the heart—but it has given us a magnificent study of what gives life and spirit to the city." —William H. Whyte, author of The Organization Man
All stars
Most relevant
Jane's treatment and understanding of the fundamentals of Planning makes for an absorbing read. Highly recommend!

Cities are complex organic organisms

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I respect this text for the fresh perspective that it was at the time. The excellent points this book makes about people being the special ingredient to baking good communities is so simple but is still even today so often missed by policy makers. Building communities around its people is critical to connecting people but…. I do have a few criticisms.

Jane was clearly very angry at the local leadership and the capitalists who were looking to pull down her community. I love that she came out fighting, inspirational! However, in doing so her argument dismisses good arguments made by the disciples of garden cities and fails to address housing shortage as an issue. The cities building plans are driven by need, need for new roads, homes etc and Jane offers no solution. Protect the existing communities by all means, build strong communities-yes but it’s not enough to say I have my little piece of geography and tough for everyone else. Local government has the challenging role of providing for all and sadly that sometimes comes at a cost. As a consultant, policy maker who often works for local government I have taken a housing application from the back Of someone’s car where they live with their children, Ive dealt with community safety and I’ve led large scale regeneration programmes when there are always those who will be against it no matter what. I suppose I’m seeing problems first hand in a growing population and this book offered few answers. Thankfully Jane won this one but the community she fought so hard to protect gentrified anyway and is ironically one of the most affluent areas which is unattainable for low to middle income earners. No doubt it’s a place people want to be which has driven property prices up -successful by someone’s measure. The success of communities is so subjective and it makes me wonder how successful Jane would think her community is now.

Conflicted

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narration is too boring. Too much text, could be told everything in fewer words. The concept is great in some points. Shouldn't the examples from 60s to be revised?

The experience should be revised same as the text

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.