THE DEATH AND LIFE OF

GREAT AMERICAN CITIES 1961

JANE JACOBS
Reporter, Freelance writer,
Assistant editor of Architecture
forum responsible for reporting
urban renewal.
Slowly became skeptical about
the traditional concept of City
planning.
PRESENTED BY
Kalungi Emmanuel
Kalyango Mousa
Ssegane Henry
Luwemba Paul Vincent
Nimusiima Trust Ezra
A CITY
Vibrant cities have the following features;
1. Mixed primary uses of districts
2. Short and uninterrupted Streets
3. New buildings mixed with Old buildings
4. High Density population
PART ONE: Characteristics of and Diversity
within Big cities
i. Sidewalks
ii. Neighbourhood Gardens
iii. City Neighbourhoods
SIDEWALKS; safety
Sidewalks offer more than just space for the passage function. They
maintain safety, Social contact and assimilating Children to social
norms.
Unlike suburbs, big cities have numerous strangers every single day and
one should feel safe while using the City street.
Safety on a street isn’t a job of the Police but the Public Surveillance.
SIDEWALKS; contact
Different people meet on
the streets and this
continuous meeting creates
a trust between these
people. This in turn
improves on the security.
SIDEWALKS; assimilating children into
society
Here assimilating means that
children learn public
responsibility from Adults.

Children learn and imitate every

move they experience from
adults. This can be through
Offering directions, where to
park to avoid being fined.
NEIGHBOURHOOD GARDENS
These offer one main
purpose which is to collect
all kinds of people no matter
who they are.
Improves on social contact
and general well being of
people
PART THREE
THE FORCES OF
DECLINE AND
REGENERATIO
N
THE SELF DESTRUCTION OF
DIVERSITY
Decline can be caused by crippling of one or four of the fore mentioned
factors

• Tendency of outstanding success in the city causes it to destroy itself

1. In commercial areas
2. In residential areas

• Rich businesses buy out the smaller businesses

Solutions
• zoning for diversity eg
a. height restriction
b. Protection of historical buildings
• Staunchness of public buildings
THE CURSE OF BORDER VACUUMS
• Single use cities usually form borders making distinctive
neighborhoods. Borders are usually shown by railways, highways and
shorelines.
• Borders tend to have very low population and aren’t lively. Therefore
even the few people there tend to leave.
• As a result there is high crime rate and therefore more decay
• Borders are harmless for big cities, they can even be use to map out
cities.
• But for small blocks, they aren’t preferred.
How to Improve this
• Encourage day and night use
• Should not be too big
• Parks can include chess and checkers for fun
• Skating can be added on parks near restaurants
• Bicycle renting can also be added to parks
• For shorelines, activities eg off loading boats should not be hidden

All in all we aim to create a seam and not a barrier.

For highways, it might be hopeless to remove this barrier but we may
counterforce with very big populations
UNSLUMMING AND SLUMMING
SLUMMING
• Dull neighborhoods make people to leave the areas giving opportunity for
slum growth
• People blamed slum development on presence of nearby slums, negros,
Italians, and lack of parks
• Rooms being rented to whites also contributed
• Real estate agents played a role
• Improved transport made it more rampant
• Abandoned slums were ripe for relocation
• Incase of differences in communities, rivalries are formed and therefore
chaos follows
UNSLUMMING AND SLUMMING
UNSLUMMING
• The fact the people aim towards leaving the slums has to be eliminated
• People that gain money in a slum tend need to stay in the slums
• Incase they leave, they are replaced by poor people
• There is a general issue of no development in these areas
• Creation of lively environment with sidewalk safety helps to keep people
around
• When they stay, community, strength, trust and familyhood grows
• Welcoming outsiders is good because they can be middle income earners
improving the community, especially those that come willingly, hence
population diversification
GRADUAL MONEY AND CATACLYSMIC
MONEY
FORMS OF MONEY

1) Credit extended by the conventional non governmental lending

institutions
2) Money provided from government
3) Money from investors
GRADUAL MONEY AND CATACLYSMIC
MONEY
• Gradual money is good for unslumming and diversification
• Savings are preferred when unslumming
• Credit blacklisting caused by influence from city planning maps
• Investor tend to take the houses of the people
• Government is usually funds clearing the slums