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The Death and Life of Great American Cities

From this passage I was mostly paying attention to the importance of a city.

Jane Jacobs knew how to city works not only because she lived there but she was watching the people behavior. She found it interested how a mixed of people interact in a complex way with one another. The city planners were trying to make living more comfortable but they weren’t looking at the city; they were looking in the future. They thought that having good neighborhoods with great school and parks without including the people that was living there will impact in a way of creating a great city; but they were wrong. A great neighborhood is where people with common interest in theater or music find one another and get together. A great neighborhood is where people with a specific concern exchange ideas. For Jane Jacobs this was a live city.

Citizen Jane

After watching Citizen Jane Battle for the City, I understand from what point Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs were coming from. They are many ways to build and rebuilt a city, but which one is the best or suitable techniques to use.

First, let’s look at an Urban Planner, Robert Moses ways of doing things. After the war he begins to amass power. He build thousands of apartment and destroyed thousands of apartments. We can call it mass destruction. He was locating and removing the slums. Urban planner, drawn new plan by looking up from planes and see how to make changes by sweeping everything and rebuilt the city. They thought that building new housing, better street and highway add up to a better city. But instead, by doing so, they get isolated communities, dead end and unsecured streets. Robert Moses built super highway for automobile to replace cities. By doing so, he separated any city where those highway passes through. They were separating residential, commercial and industrial area. They were doing it in the name of the people but not for the people, because it was an easy way for them to make money.

Second, Jane Jacobs. She was looking everything from a different approach. She understood what contributes into a city. She was observing people and opportunity that was in those cities. The first thing she understand was to build other city we have to work with the people that was living inside that city. She knew that a live city is where we have accessible public places for the people, constant connection between those people, and it is really complex to analyze. Comparably to a dead city which is predictable. Her definition of city was diverse place where many different type of people interact and help one another.

In conclusion, what I’ve learn from this movie is the best way to build city is having urban planners work together with people that understand what contribute to make a city a live city like Jane Jacobs.