Jane Jacobs: The Life and Death of Great American Cities

- Urban Redevelopments fail because they fail to understand what urban neighborhoods really are

problem with suburbanizaiton-focused redevelopment is that urban vitality does not have same needs as suburban vitality
- a successful neighborhood:
  - one in which a community can keep on top of its problems so it is not overwhelmed by them; must be able to deal with problems emerging from within
  - must be able to rise to challenge of dealing with threats from much more powerful outside interests
- Purposefully planned areas are dull, monotonous neighborhoods that are more like streets put together by a set boundary
view of city neighborhoods as self-sufficient, cozy, inward looking communities
- This only makes sense: smaller communities can be self-governing because people know each other. In a town of 7,000 you almost could not help but bump into people you know
- Lively neighborhoods are able to come together better during redevelopment threats since the people within a lively neighborhood are more connected with their community and are therefore more likely to come together and work as one against a common evil, in their case redevelopment
Case of Greenwich Village: ability of the neighborhood to come together at a local level, with strong self-governing principles was what allowed for such a small and seemingly insignificant force to become one of the strongest forces against redevelopment, and ultimately allowed Greenwich Village to keep its neighborhood in tact

- Admiration of the North End

small streets: short blocks and narrow streets (H increases human interaction)
mixed use neighborhood
likes strangers— strangers keep area safe, because people’s eyes are on the streets, more attentive to our surroundings

- Vision of the BEST kind of neighborhood

best kind of street: clear demarcation of public and private space ( we cant see everything, but we can work together to monitor what happens in public
eyes on the street: primarily belong to residents, wants them to be on toes visually
continuous/ mixed use: every street should have a bar on it— bars stay open late at night, bartenders and employees, take a sort of “night shift”
Ideal street: coffee shop/ bakery, bar, apartments, lunch spot, school;
- Neighborhoods should be demographically diverse, similarity not good, age/ economic heterogeneity is beneficial because it keeps eyes on the street at all times
“sidewalk ballet” — when a street/ sidewalk functioning well, everyone will know their role and perform a dance to keep the neighborhood alive: a sort of harmony, many people all with own role, work together to make noise

Smajda and Gerteis, "A Sauce-Scented Neighborhood"

- explain the different forces affecting the authenticity of the North End through gentrification

- unifying forces in the North End as gentrification pushes further during the “Big Dig”

BIG DIG:
- able to ensure no buildings would be destroyed, and that businesses could maintain foot traffic even during construction
- “the committee organized and became one of the most successful examples of neighborhood activism in recent history, winning many protections and concessions from the Big Dig project and gaining a significant amount of input into the decision-making process for the project”(635)

community’s liveliness before the Big Dig and its large local political efficacy is what allowed the North End to survive and be its own force against the forces of redevelopment.

- turnover: strong tourist economy/ no stability: young people move out (no strong ties to community), has become a transient place-- TOO transient

Jacobs, Gerteis and North End