The Death And Life Of Great American Cities By Jane Jacobs

I recently read a book titled The Death and Life of Great American Cities written by Jane Jacobs (1962), which basically criticizes the focus and planning processes generally employed in planning the renovation and rebuilding of cities historically and today. In addition, she states that she has identified four criteria necessary to produce exuberant diversity in a city’s streets and districts. This tells me that in order for a city to realize its potential as a resilient, economic and socially viable city and be a place where people want to live and work, these elements should be present. If these elements are present could be an indicator of success for an urbanized environment. I propose to look at the downtown Phoenix area surrounding City Hall, which has and continues to undergo significant rebuilding and revitalization projects in the past several years, in an effort to try and identify the presence or absence of the four elements, all of which are designed to encourage people

I will the record the data of what I find and based on the results, have an idea of the direction development is taking with respect to creating a more sustainable city as we move forward. I reside and am employed by the City of Phoenix. Therefore, the impacts of revitalization activities on the city’s fabric will directly affect the quality of my life personally and professionally.

Discovering the presence or absence of the four elements defined by Jacob’s as necessary for a city to become resilient with a vitality that will aid to sustain its growth and success. This is not to oversimplify or downplay the complex and interwoven nature of Phoenix, or provide a