About Death, Life & Rebirth

March 17^th, 2016

The Death & Life of Great American Cities

                                            

Lecture by Prof. Rutul Joshi

The Death & Life of Great American Cities written by part-time journalist and housewife Jane Jacobs and published in 1961 is a revolutionary book that effectively criticizes the modernist principles and objectives on which post war American cities were planned and rebuilt. Jacobs’ take on the rigid urban renewal is more sensitive and heartfelt, as the strong critique stems out of her sentimental attachments to the places that were once vibrant and accommodating.

Jane Jacobs strongly opposed the vision of the city portrayed by the American bureaucrat and  ‘master builder’ Robert Moses. Moses was responsible in constructing 658 playgrounds during his tenure of 40 years. This was the time when automobiles were being mass-produced. Moses believed that wide road networks had to be created to link these parks to the people. He thus sanctioned the construction of endless, wide roads, which he called ‘parkways’ connecting the many ‘parks’ that were built by unceremoniously uprooting trees and poor neighborhoods, alike. He despised public transport and felt that it posed a great threat to national security. He used that as an excuse to destroy the efficient public transportation and instead build more roads. Robert Moses shared his good friend Le Corbusier’s vision of a city with streets and roads full of fast moving cars. Moses left behind a mixed bag legacy. His development was not inclusive and led to marginalization and expansion of ghettos.

According to Jane Jacobs, “life of a city is in its streets. Destroying traditional arrangements of streets and buildings disrupts the lives of several city dwellers by creating sterile environments.” She discusses the idea of developing mixed-use neighborhoods thereby instilling a sense of community where residences, shops, cafes and bars allow for a lively surrounding at most times of the day, discouraging crime and enabling a safe environment for its users. She makes a case against exclusive public housing while promoting integrated housing. Diversity is natural to cities and essential for its growth as it allows for an exchange of ideas and creates an enriching existence. Therefore, keeping the people’s interest in mind development could be more participatory and comprehensive.

A revolutionary text of its time, The Death and Life gives today’s architects and planners some food for thought. Jane Jacobs feels that conventional planning approach towards slums and slum-dwellers is “paternalistic”, as planners aim to make “impossibly profound changes with impossibly superficial means”. Looking for an example close to home, the global city of Mumbai also known as the city of slums, comes to one’s mind. People living outside of Mumbai; look at it as a place of countless opportunities and venture in to try their luck. Mumbai is in a constant state of flux with its steady growth and regeneration and half of its population comprises of the urban poor. It is important to note that slums are places where often people are in transition before planting roots and settling into a permanent residence. One aligns with Ms Jacobs' belief that to overcome slums, urban planners and architects “must regard slum-dwellers as people capable of understanding and acting upon their self-interests, which they certainly are.” In light of the current scenario in Mumbai, resonating the same thought, Kalpana Sharma in her book ‘Rediscovering Dharavi’ states that the men and women of Dharavi and other slums of Mumbai also know what they want and have survived on their own devising realistic and workable solutions to their problems without any assistance from the State.  It is necessary to alter the attitude of the city towards slums by moving away from the elitist town planning concepts and offer assistance, which does not stifle the spirit of enterprise that so dominates urban settlements like Dharavi.

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