The Death and Life of Great American Cities, (Hardcover)

from rachelv

Anyone at all interested in cities and urbanism should read this book. It's fantastic. A surprisingly easy read considering how packed with information it is.

from AlexEpstein

Written in 1961, this awesome book pretty much explains why the big city projects of the 50's and 60's didn't work, why tearing down grand old buildings and decaying low-density neighborhoods can be equally bad, and how cities work. It sort of predicts how cities have bounced back in the 50 years...

from jasonli

Jacobs' "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" is a classic primer on urban planning, specifically geared towards cities in North America. It answers the question why do some areas in cities thrive while others dwindle? Jacobs leaves no stone unturned in her analysis and dedicates a good p...

from gypsysmom

It took me a long time to read this book but at no time did I feel like stopping. It's just that I had to take my time to digest all the important messages Jacobs gave in the book and then think about how they applied today. In 1961 when Jacobs wrote this book she was living in Greenwich Village ...

from bezoar44

What an astounding book. Published fifty years ago, in 1961, the Death and Life of Great American Cities challenged planning orthodoxy and the then widespread practice of leveling 'blighted' neighborhoods to replace them with big housing projects. Jacobs, an architectural journalist, is a pragmat...