The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Jacobs)

Details

Photo

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Name

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Field

Urban studies / planning

Year

1961

Core idea

Argues for dense, mixed-use, sidewalk-rich neighborhoods over utopian top-down planning and empty plazas.

Why it stuck

Once you read it, a random Brooklyn corner with a deli, a playground, and people at all hours looks like a very coherent argument.

Read where

Used paperback from a West Village shop, read on the A train and on park benches all over the city.