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
There is a quality even meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this meaner quality is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the danger of false appearances of order that hide underlying chaos and truth.
Jane Jacobs argues that a superficial or dishonest semblance of order can be more detrimental than outright disorder. This is because such pretended order obscures the authentic order that strives to emerge and requires acknowledgment and care. By prioritizing appearances over reality, we risk ignoring the essential truths that need to be addressed.
Themes
OrderChaosTruthDishonestyAppearance
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on urban planning, one might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of transparency and genuine development.
More from Jane Jacobs
All quotes →It 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.
Jane JacobsRead
(The psuedoscience of planning seems almost neurotic in its determination to imitate empiric failure and ignore empiric success.)
Jane JacobsRead
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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