Blog 4 : Context and Building 2 - Planning of a proper lifestyle ( Dinnesh Shaun )

When confronted with the question of what make a city great, one would describe its many landmarks, iconic plazas or even monumental and antiques structures but not many raises the important question, how good is city in terms of its operation or in other words the city's environment and its feasible living conduciveness. One would even glorify their city and its abundance of amenities or parks but are they likely to have visited all of them or even utilized it at all in their daily lives?

When the mysteries of how a city is planned is questioned by Jane Jacobs, an American-Canadian journalist, author, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics, she unravels it in her own understanding through her work known as the "The Death and Life of Great American Cities". In these excerpts she expresses her dismay towards city planning without any form of understanding and the petty trials and experiments that happens in city planning. Down to secularization and segregation of class to the monopolization of commercialized centers in the city scope.

In this she spoke of the re occurring problems faced by cities and great cities alike where in the name of planning they would rather neglect certain drawbacks to create spaces such as the locations of commercial districts and residential ones. With such drawbacks that could even lead to the sacking of a city. Improper distribution of amenities as well as public are also a fatal blow towards such planning where the adjacent spaces were not improved or even utilizing it properly. She wrote of complications such as this are due to negligence and several factors including economically and individual needs that also is dependent in the formation of a city. 

In here Jane Jacobs also indicates the improper uses of automobile and the selection of roadways throughout the cities. Where the misguided attention towards forming a roadway through the cities greatly impacts the uses of automobiles where if its strays could disrupt peace and the automobiles being the culprit and causing cities to be immobile. She interjected the notion of that and blames the city planning of delirious roadways and improper road systems which are usually the cause for traffic congestion in cities.