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
This is something everyone knows: A well-used city street is apt to be a safe street. A deserted city street is apt to be unsafe.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A bustling city street fosters safety through community presence, while deserted streets tend to harbor danger.
Jane Jacobs emphasizes the importance of active urban spaces in promoting safety. When a street is busy with people, it creates a sense of community and vigilance that naturally deters crime. Conversely, a deserted street lacks this dynamic social interaction, making it more susceptible to unsafe behaviors and events. The underlying argument suggests that urban design and human presence are critical in ensuring safety in cities.
Themes
SafetyUrbanCommunityCrimeDesign
In practice
Example use cases
In a neighborhood watch meeting, this quote could be used to highlight the importance of community engagement.
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.
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
Similar quotes
The only people who are obsessed with food are anorexics and the morbidly obese. That, in erotic terms, is the Catholic church, in a nutshell.
Stephen FryRead
The most prudent thing any intelligent animal can do, if it would prefer its descendents not to spend a lot of time on a slab with electrodes clamped to their brains or sticking mines on the bottom of ships, or being patronised by zoologists, is to make bloody certain humans don't find out about it.
Terry PratchettRead
Wouldst thou know thyself, observe the actions of others._x000D_ _x000D_ Wouldst thou other men know, look thou within thine own heart.
Friedrich SchillerRead
Without doubt, the Lord grants all favors which are asked of Him in Mass, provided they be fitting for us.
St. JeromeRead
A man is rational in proportion as his intelligence informs and controls his desires.
Bertrand RussellRead
She [Alice] went on "And how do you know that you're mad?" "To begin with," said the Cat, "a dog's not mad. You grant that?" "I suppose so," said Alice. "Well, then," the Cat went on, "you see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags it's tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad."
Lewis CarrollRead