Jane Jacobs is best known for her profound impact on urban studies. Jacob’s critique of 1950s urban planning in her book The Death and Life of American Cities has been one of the greatest influences on modern day city planning. While her ideas continue to live on in the design of modern cities, many of Jacobs’ characterizations of successful cities are overly theoretical and impractical. Because Jacob’s logic is flawed with hasty generalizations and fallacies of composition, city planners should be wary of implementing her recommendations in all cities.
One of Jacobs’ greatest logical flaws is that she puts a great amount of trust in strangers. Jacobs emphasizes the importance of well-used sidewalks in safe, successful cities. She writes, “a
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For instance, Jacobs cites North End, a once ‘slum’ in Boston as an example of a successful urban community. She describes North End as “an old, low-rent area merging into the heavy industry of the waterfront” that is “officially considered Boston’s worst slum and civic shame” (Jacobs 8). Though North End has always had “among the lowest delinquency, disease and infant mortality rates in the city”, it is considered “the worst slum in the city” because it has “two-hundred and seventy five dwelling units to the net acre” (10). Years down the line, Jacobs claims that North End heroically “unslummed itself” (185). Jacobs backs her logic for urban planning on successful case studies like North End. She believes that slums can turn into successful communities because of their short blocks, concentration and diverse ages of buildings. It appears that Jacobs has the recipe to turn a slum into thriving community; however, Jacobs’ definition of a slum is far different than many slums in global cities. Jacobs North End case study is impractical to the majority of the world’s cities for it is specifically applicable to the developed United States