The Death and Life of Great American Cities Study Guide consists of approx. 46 pages of summaries and analysis on The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs. Browse the literature study guide below:
The book opens stating that it is serving as an attack on city planning and rebuilding. The author is unhappy with the current state of city planning and wants new ideas introduced. The attack is not aimed at the practice of city planning, but rather at the principles, and what they are based upon. The author plans to propose different principles based on common everyday things like sidewalks and parks. The current practice is to lay all of the cause of the problems to a lack of money. If the products of monetary expenditures are examined, one can see that what the money has gone for has produced trappings for vandals and bums. The current expenditures based on the current principles of city planning have not done anything but rather lead to the decay of the cities. The current principles and expenditures are not helping the cities; they are helping cause the problems of the cities. (read more)
