A Macat Analysis of The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The post-World War II era philosophy of urban renewal valued the efficient movement of cars more than it valued the lives of people and wiped out entire neighborhoods dismissed by bureaucrats as slums. Published in 1961, Jacob's book examines the short-sightedness and failure of this philosophy. She rejects strict statistical study and abstract planning theory in favor of observations of city life as it actually occurs in thriving neighborhoods—and her own Greenwich Village in particular. Jacobs led a grassroots movement that successfully stopped a typical urban renewal project—the construction of the Lower Manhattan Expressway—and many urban planners have since gone on to apply her innovative ideas.