Being human is itself difficult, and therefore all kinds of settlements (except dream cities) have problems. Big cities have difficulties in abundance, because they have people in abundance.
Jane JacobsRead
Streets and their sidewalks-the main public places of a city-are its most vital organs.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Public spaces like streets and sidewalks are essential for the life of a city.
In this quote, Jane Jacobs emphasizes the critical role that streets and sidewalks play in the vibrancy and functionality of urban environments. She suggests that these public spaces are not just pathways for transportation but are vital organs that foster interaction, community, and the overall health of a city.
Themes
CityPublic SpacesStreetsSidewalksUrban Life
In practice
Example use cases
In a presentation about urban planning, this quote could illustrate the importance of pedestrian-friendly design.
More from Jane Jacobs
All quotes βIt may be that we have become so feckless as a people that we no longer care how things do work, but only what kind of quick, easy outer impression they give. If so, there is little hope for our cities or probably for much else in our society. But I do not think this is so.
Jane JacobsRead
(The psuedoscience of planning seems almost neurotic in its determination to imitate empiric failure and ignore empiric success.)
Jane JacobsRead
Whenever and wherever societies have flourished and prospered rather than stagnated and decayed, creative and workable cities have been at the core of the phenomenon. Decaying cities, declining economies, and mounting social troubles travel together. The combination is not coincidental.
Jane JacobsRead
This is what a city is, bits and pieces that supplement each other and support each other.
Jane JacobsRead
This is something everyone knows: A well-used city street is apt to be a safe street. A deserted city street is apt to be unsafe.
Jane JacobsRead
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Of all the peoples whom I have studied, from city dwellers to cliff dwellers, I always find that at least 50 percent would prefer to have at least one jungle between themselves and their mothers-in-law.
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We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
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The caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity.
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Each neighborhood of the city appeared to be made of a different substance, each seemed to have a different air pressure, a different psychic weight: the bright lights and shuttered shops, the housing projects and luxury hotels, the fire escapes and city parks.
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'Moonlight' is a story that hasn't been told. Whether placed as queer black cinema or urban male cinema, the lack of coming-of-age films featuring people like Chiron and set in places like inner-city Miami is pronounced and unfortunate.
Barry JenkinsRead