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Life And Death Of Great Term Paper

Cities are described in terms of chessboards, in which every player has a different function, from health food stores to cultural meccas, but the diversity leads to community strength. Quite sensibly, Jacobs points out that if residential areas are 'decontaminated' and cultural sites are shifted to other city areas, residents of the city will cease to frequently use these locations, the institutions' living cultural uses will decline, and tourists and museum-piece events will take over to target one-time users (168-169). Jacobs wrote her work as a challenge to the stultifying ethos of urban planning of her day, which attempted to predict the movements of people, and create a cohesive appearance rather than to let the natural, discursive nature of urban life to work its magic. Highly regimented urban planning also isolates lower-income individuals within their own enclaves, removing them from the vibrant opportunities and enrichment of the commerce...

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Urban planners tend to have a hostile view of cities, seeing them as ugly places, or places that should resemble towns or suburbs.
Jacobs wrote before the 'Disneyfication' of Times Square, and before there was a Starbucks on every corner of Manhattan. Her work seems prescient in this regard. Although she may not, in some readers' views, give sufficient attention to the impact of drugs upon community destruction, or to examine how social factors like race create segregation, her analysis of how community 'spaces' can either limit or facilitate connections and cultural life remains relevant today -- in an era where admission to museums is often in excess of $20, and poorer areas are fenced in, lack playgrounds, and have bodegas and fast food stores rather than markets and locally owned restaurants.

Works Cited

Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Vintage, 1992.

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Works Cited

Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Vintage, 1992.
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