So in this book we shall start, if only in asmall way, adventuring in the real world, ourselves.
Perhapsthisshortandsimple phrasefrom the introductionof the bookThe Death and LifeofGreat American Cities, contains the deepest meaningof the thought ofJaneJacobs, wholivestodayinsome wayin theglobal movementJane's Walk.
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| Cover of the italian italian of the book |
The book was republished in italian by Einaudi in 2009 – with the title Life and death of great cities - subtitledEssay onAmerican cities-enriched bya preface byCarloOlmo, the directorof Il Giornale dell'Architettura.
I was very impressed to see an abstract painting (I really like it anyway!) - Suprematism (with eight red rectangles) of Kazimir Malevich - as the cover of a book that precisely fights against the application of abstract ideas to reality. Is it a sort of provocation?
I just read this amazing book, that I discovered only recently, certainly not during university studies and much less in my professional experiences.
We must point out immediately that the real world of Jane Jacobs is not the one that most of the people live, but the world of a very curious journalist, extremely well informed and able to translate into living and concrete thought the observationof reality.
I do not think she has much success among architects and urban planners, but not only because they are its main target, especially those who adhere to the thought arising from The Athens Charter and functionalism– as everybody can easily understand reading the introduction of the book.
It happened to me not long ago to meet an architect who works with urban planningin Rome (he is very well placed in the right circuits, as they say). I realized, if there were any need, that urban planning is made by technicianswhose great ability is to disentangle between a lot of rules and numbers - indexes, standard ... - but they don’t seem to have as its objective the quality of urban space. Unless someone does not think that having x square meters of green space and parking allows to obtain it… (Especially if, as happensin Romein residential zones built recently, the large areas forparking lotsarehalf-emptyandresidents' carsare parked just under the house, at the edgeof the street).
JaneJacobs,with his neighborhoodactivismanddespite all thecultural, social, geographicaland urban differencesthat separate us, described very well and in advancemany of the problemswe see todayin our cities, especiallyin lesscentral areas.
The most important thingis that she didn’t do itlunging atthe ideaofthe cityin the nameof a returnto thesimple lifeimmersed in the green of the countrysideor of a village, butin the nameandfor the sakeof the city itselfand the need tosave it. Sheexplains itvery well:
In the first partdedicated to the analysisof the city, applying an inductive approach, from the particular to the universal, she focuseson the key elementsof thecity life. Rightly she beginswithsidewalkswhich considersthe base unit, the most typical place, the one ofsocial exchangeandmeeting of the people. In fact analyzinga sidewalkyoumayalreadyunderstandmany thingsabout the life ofa neighborhood; the safety ofsidewalksdeterminessecurity andsocial and economic healthof adistrict, as well as itsability toconnect to therest of the city.
What can we say then of all those areas of the city where sidewalks are disconnectedfrom the streetandfrom public lifeandrelegatedtothe service ofone blockora building complex?
The analysis continueswithneighborhood parks, that instead of beingconsideredan absolute goodshouldberealisticallyanalyzedto see ifthey are appreciatedandfrequentedor if theybecomeabandoned, degradedandinsecure places. Needless to say,in the second caseit will be necessaryto understand the reasons, oftenrelated to theirwronglocation or thelack ofadequate functions, to try tomake them morepopularandvital.
Then she moves tourbanneighborhoods, which in her opinion are of three types: thecity as a whole, theneighborhoodstreetandthelargedistrictwithmore thanone hundred thousandinhabitants.
Here as wellthe authordebunksone of themyths the most typicalandmisusedby planners:
The second part of the book, entitled The conditions for city diversity, is undoubtedly the most interesting, because Jane Jacobs conducts his personal analysis of urban complexity coming to identify four conditions that defines the generators of diversity: the mixture of the primary functions - small blocks - aged buildings - concentration.
To generate exuberant diversity in a city’s streets and districts, four conditions are indispensabile:
1. The district, and indie as many of its internal parts as possible, must serve more than one primary function; preferably more than two. These must insure the presence of people who go outdoors on different schedules and are in the place for different purposes, but who are able to use many facilities in common.
2.Most blocks must be short; that is, streets and opportunities to turn corners must be frequent.
3. The district must mingle buildings that vary in age and condition, including a good proportion of old ones so that they vary in the economic yeld they must produce. This mingling must be fairly close-grained.
4. There must be a sufficiently dense concentration of people, for whatever purposes they may be there. This includes dense concentration in the case of people who are there because of residence.
Despite the accurate analysis of the author supported by the observation and by the research, we can not be sure that a neighborhood more or less endowed with these four conditions become city, but there is no doubt that these are very important elements to consider if we want to launch a new season of urban planning.
No coincidence that in the US - where there are not our old towns, don't forget it! - Jane Jacobs has been considered since long time one of the most important protagonists of contemporary urban thought and, as Olmo writes in the preface, the New Urbanists have written their manifesto recovering many arguments put forward in this book.
I think it would be quite wrong however to interpret it as a manifesto against modernity represented by cars and by expressways or even worse in favor of the project participated as an expression of the special and exclusive interests of a neighborhood in fight against the development of the city and its economy.
I prefer rather consider it as an important culturalcontribution to the analysis of the city, analysis that actually becomes almost a mindset and a desing scheme that can help to build the city of tomorrow, and why not even the city of today.