AR 616 Urbanism: Theory and Practice

Assignment 01
Introducing Cities: Publication Review

A Discourse on Allan Jacob’s book; “Looking at Cities”

Submitted by: Maria Sajid Zaheer
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Allan Jacobs, a prominent Urban Planner in his book ‘Looking at Cities’ has made an
attempt to catch attention of any one with keen interest and passion for understanding
urban environments.

The summarized idea of the book is the fact that people making changes in the cities,
often times are faulty, but are based on their own decisions which are altered by what
they see around them, their actions and visions they keep for the city and in turn, these
decisions affect lives of millions of people. The book provides a discourse on how to look
at cities and understand the overall urban environment.

In my view (after all the knowledge gained by the course: Methods in Urban Planning
Research) the book adopts an interpretive methodology of research, which is a part of
qualitative research but relies on observation. The researcher in this case steps on-
ground and collects data through critical observation and adopts a sampling strategy
thereby relating to a context.

According to Jacobs, in order to be able to plan a city with sensitivity, a planner must walk
in the city, look at it and ponder upon cities. Careful and critical insight for observation is
deemed as a necessary tool for analysis which along with questioning, is crucial for a
good planning; by Jacobs.

He further states that just by observation, an urban planner or activist can comprehend
when the specific area was built, who was it built for, who lives in it, how has it changed
over a period of time and how it can be improved for both the present as well as the future
inhabitants.

Jacobs reveals the methodology of data collection by stating that looking, observing and
taking notes form the urban environments can effectively be used as a diagnostic tool by
the professionals of urban planning for carrying out the research or planning exercise.

Regarding the data collection methodology, he states that a series of case study
experiments for the neighborhoods in large urban areas was devised whereby walking
field trips were made by the observers. Those areas were chosen for which data was
available and known by the local planning agency. The notes gathered during the field
trip of three hours were then concluded by the observers which were then matched with
the history and available data of that particular neighborhood to verify the diagnoses
made by the observers.

For Jacobs, the details are merely clues to understand an urban area. These clues,
according to him, can be people, buildings, their architectural styles, size, age, material
quality, condition, level of maintenance, land uses, landscape, and other details such as;
doorbells, mailboxes, grilles, furniture, and meters etc. Besides this, street patterns,
topography, lot sizes, walks, curbs, and trees and other natural features can also be
termed as clues. Jacobs states that these clues help gain an understanding of the
dynamics of a neighborhood or an area. In light of this, it is right to say that walking allows
the researcher to experience with all his senses i.e. allows him to live in the moment and
experience the noises, smells, and even the feel of what’s present around besides looking
at things.

The concept of clues is something which no one can deny and for me, it is the most
interesting part of this compilation. What catches my attention is the sensitivity to details
when he states that diagnosis through observation is nothing but a series of constant
‘why’ and ‘how’ questions i.e. when he explains the use of why and how questions by
giving examples such as;

“What might a large number of older people with fewer younger people in newly
rehabilitated housing suggest for the future” or “What might a new residential building in
an old area mean?”

Looking at Cities by Allan Jacobs, presents case studies of American and European cities
such as; San Francisco, San Jose, Cincinnati, Bologna, and Rome. Interestingly, the
author take support of photographs, maps and drawings to enrich the quality of his
observation and findings and helps the readers pass through the same visual experience
just by sitting at one place. The author concludes by stating that even though urban
researchers and urban planners observe what is around them but since the findings are
not quantifiable they remain shy of utilizing it in the decision making process or at times
they deliberately avoid sharing personal experiences, which according to him should be
a part of making conscious decisions related to urban planning.

In my view of what the author states in his work, most of the knowledge given is agreeable
and makes sense. However, I am of the view that to be able to understand a
neighborhood just by looking at clues, one must first of all, be well-versed with the
psychology of a space. Furthermore, observation in isolation may not prove to be a
guaranteed tool to generate conclusions about a neighborhood as there may be many
other layers of underlying facts and truth which may be explored by communicating with
the residents of a neighborhood and also by referring to available records of the area.