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The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities

50th Anniversary Edition

50th Anniversary Edition

By Jane Jacobs

By Jane Jacobs

By Jane Jacobs

By Jane Jacobs

By Jane Jacobs

By Jane Jacobs

By Jane Jacobs
Read by Donna Rawlins
Introduction by Jason Epstein

By Jane Jacobs
Read by Donna Rawlins
Introduction by Jason Epstein

Category: Nonfiction

Category: Classics

Category: Nonfiction

Category: Audiobooks

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Paperback $16.95

Dec 01, 1992 | 480 Pages

Hardcover $23.00

Sep 13, 2011 | 640 Pages

Ebook $12.99

Jul 20, 2016 | 480 Pages

Audiobook Download $27.50

Sep 13, 2011 | 1080 Minutes

All Formats
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    Paperback
    +

    • Paperback $16.95

      Dec 01, 1992 | 480 Pages

    Hardcover
    –

    • Hardcover $23.00

      Sep 13, 2011 | 640 Pages

    Ebook
    +

    • Ebook $12.99

      Jul 20, 2016 | 480 Pages

    Audio
    +

    Buy the Audiobook Download:

    About The Death and Life of Great American Cities

    A direct and fundamentally optimistic indictment of the short-sightedness and intellectual arrogance that has characterized much of urban planning in this century, The Death and Life of Great American Cities has, since its first publication in 1961, become the standard against which all endeavors in that field are measured. In prose of outstanding immediacy, Jane Jacobs writes about what makes streets safe or unsafe; about what constitutes a neighborhood, and what function it serves within the larger organism of the city; about why some neighborhoods remain impoverished while others regenerate themselves. She writes about the salutary role of funeral parlors and tenement windows, the dangers of too much development money and too little diversity. Compassionate, bracingly indignant, and always keenly detailed, Jane Jacobs’s monumental work provides an essential framework for assessing the vitality of all cities.

    About The Death and Life of Great American Cities

    Published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of its initial publication, this special edition of Jane Jacobs’s masterpiece, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, features a new Introduction by Jason Epstein, the book’s original editor, who provides an intimate perspective on Jacobs herself and unique insights into the creation and lasting influence of this classic.

    The Death and Life of Great American Cities was described by The New York Times as “perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning. . . . [It] can also be seen in a much larger context. It is first of all a work of literature; the descriptions of street life as a kind of ballet and the bitingly satiric account of traditional planning theory can still be read for pleasure even by those who long ago absorbed and appropriated the book’s arguments.” Jane Jacobs, an editor and writer on architecture in New York City in the early sixties, argued that urban diversity and vitality were being destroyed by powerful architects and city planners. Rigorous, sane, and delightfully epigrammatic, Jane Jacobs’s tour de force is a blueprint for the humanistic management of cities. It remains sensible, knowledgeable, readable, and indispensable.

    About The Death and Life of Great American Cities

    Thirty years after its publication, The Death and Life of Great American Cities was described by The New York Times as "perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning….[It] can also be seen in a much larger context.  It is first of all a work of literature; the descriptions of street life as a kind of ballet and the bitingly satiric account of traditional planning theory can still be read for pleasure even by those who long ago absorbed and appropriated the book’s arguments."  Jane Jacobs, an editor and writer on architecture in New York City in the early sixties, argued that urban diversity and vitality were being destroyed by powerful architects and city planners.  Rigorous, sane, and delightfully epigrammatic, Jacobs’s small masterpiece is a blueprint for the humanistic management of cities.  It is sensible, knowledgeable, readable, indispensable.  The author has written a new foreword for this Modern Library edition.

    About The Death and Life of Great American Cities

    Thirty years after its publication, The Death and Life of Great American Cities was described by The New York Times as "perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning….[It] can also be seen in a much larger context.  It is first of all a work of literature; the descriptions of street life as a kind of ballet and the bitingly satiric account of traditional planning theory can still be read for pleasure even by those who long ago absorbed and appropriated the book’s arguments."  Jane Jacobs, an editor and writer on architecture in New York City in the early sixties, argued that urban diversity and vitality were being destroyed by powerful architects and city planners.  Rigorous, sane, and delightfully epigrammatic, Jacobs’s small masterpiece is a blueprint for the humanistic management of cities.  It is sensible, knowledgeable, readable, indispensable.  The author has written a new foreword for this Modern Library edition.

    Also by Jane Jacobs

    The Question of Separatism
    Vital Little Plans
    Dark Age Ahead
    The Nature of Economies
    Systems of Survival
    See all books by Jane Jacobs

    Also by Jane Jacobs

    The Question of Separatism
    Vital Little Plans
    Dark Age Ahead
    The Nature of Economies
    Systems of Survival
    See all books by Jane Jacobs

    Also by Jane Jacobs

    The Question of Separatism
    Vital Little Plans
    Dark Age Ahead
    The Nature of Economies
    Systems of Survival
    See all books by Jane Jacobs

    Also by Jane Jacobs

    The Question of Separatism
    Vital Little Plans
    Dark Age Ahead
    The Nature of Economies
    Systems of Survival
    See all books by Jane Jacobs

    About Jane Jacobs

    Jane Jacobs (1916–2006) was a writer who for more than forty years championed innovative, community-based approaches to urban planning. Her 1961 treatise The Death and Life of Great American Cities became perhaps the most influential text about the inner workings and failings of… More about Jane Jacobs

    About Jane Jacobs

    Jane Jacobs (1916–2006) was a writer who for more than forty years championed innovative, community-based approaches to urban planning. Her 1961 treatise The Death and Life of Great American Cities became perhaps the most influential text about the inner workings and failings of… More about Jane Jacobs

    About Jane Jacobs

    Jane Jacobs (1916–2006) was a writer who for more than forty years championed innovative, community-based approaches to urban planning. Her 1961 treatise The Death and Life of Great American Cities became perhaps the most influential text about the inner workings and failings of… More about Jane Jacobs

    About Jane Jacobs

    Jane Jacobs (1916–2006) was a writer who for more than forty years championed innovative, community-based approaches to urban planning. Her 1961 treatise The Death and Life of Great American Cities became perhaps the most influential text about the inner workings and failings of… More about Jane Jacobs

    Product Details

    Paperback | $16.95
    Published by Vintage
    Dec 01, 1992 | 480 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780679741954

    Hardcover | $23.00
    Published by Modern Library
    Sep 13, 2011 | 640 Pages | 4-11/16 x 7-1/4 | ISBN 9780679644330

    Ebook | $12.99
    Published by Vintage
    Jul 20, 2016 | 480 Pages | ISBN 9780525432852

    Audiobook Download | $27.50
    Published by Random House Audio
    Sep 13, 2011 | 1080 Minutes | ISBN 9780307969651

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    Inspired by Your Browsing History

    Praise

    “Refreshing, provocative, stimulating and exciting . . . It fairly crackles with bright honesty and common sense.”—The New York Times
     
    “One of the most remarkable books ever written about the city . . . a primary work. The research apparatus is not pretentious—it is the eye and the heart—but it has given us a magnificent study of what gives life and spirit to the city.”—William H. Whyte, author of City: Rediscovering the Center

    Awards

    Sidney Hillman Prize WINNER 1961

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