Being human is itself difficult, and therefore all kinds of settlements (except dream cities) have problems. Big cities have difficulties in abundance, because they have people in abundance.
Jane JacobsRead
To seek "causes" of poverty in this way is to enter an intellectual dead end because poverty has no causes. Only prosperity has causes.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Poverty cannot be traced to specific causes; instead, understanding the causes of prosperity is more valuable.
Jane Jacobs argues that looking for specific causes of poverty is futile since poverty itself is a state rather than a direct result of identifiable factors. Instead, the focus should be on understanding the conditions and causes that lead to prosperity, suggesting a more proactive approach to social issues and encouraging deeper economic analysis.
Themes
PovertyProsperityCausesEconomicsIntellectual
In practice
Example use cases
During a community meeting discussing local economic development, this quote can illustrate the importance of focusing on prosperity.
More from Jane Jacobs
All quotes βIt may be that we have become so feckless as a people that we no longer care how things do work, but only what kind of quick, easy outer impression they give. If so, there is little hope for our cities or probably for much else in our society. But I do not think this is so.
Jane JacobsRead
Streets and their sidewalks-the main public places of a city-are its most vital organs.
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(The psuedoscience of planning seems almost neurotic in its determination to imitate empiric failure and ignore empiric success.)
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Whenever and wherever societies have flourished and prospered rather than stagnated and decayed, creative and workable cities have been at the core of the phenomenon. Decaying cities, declining economies, and mounting social troubles travel together. The combination is not coincidental.
Jane JacobsRead
This is what a city is, bits and pieces that supplement each other and support each other.
Jane JacobsRead
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