Downtown Is for People

Writing as American cities prepared large clearance projects, Jacobs warns that orderly, parklike superblocks will drain the life from downtown rather than restore it. She urges planners to walk the city and observe how people use it, showing that streets, mixed old and new buildings, focal points, and activity at all hours are what keep a center alive. She closes by asking ordinary citizens to judge plans by whether the city will be enjoyable.

• Redevelopment projects of the 1950s were uniform, monumental, and isolated from the surrounding streets.
• Planners should study how people use downtown on foot instead of relying on maps and scale models.
• The street, not the block, is the basic unit of city life, carrying commerce, communication, and character.
• A mix of old and new buildings supports small, specialized businesses that cannot afford new construction.
• Lively downtowns need focal points and activities that draw people both during the day and at night.
• Citizens, as observant walkers, are well placed to judge whether redevelopment plans will make a city enjoyable.

Jacobs argues through direct observation, short declarative sentences, and vivid lists of real places. Retyping her teaches emphatic repetition, a confident second-person voice that tells the reader to go and look, and sharp contrasts between planners' abstractions and street-level life.

These excerpts are short quotations for practice and commentary. All rights stay with the author; read the whole essay at the original source.