Redefining Our Urban Landscape

An influential writer and activist, Jane Jacobs viewed the world around her from a set of critical, yet visionary eyes. In The Death and Life of Great American Cities, she argues that recent and ongoing efforts to build up our cities have fallen significantly short of expectations. For the most part, a sense of negligence and ignorance has given rise to the problematic physical and social landscapes we see today. Jacobs specifically points to the fundamental cause of the common issues found in cities. She explains that urban planners, government officials, and other influential actors in the development process lack a general understanding of the intricate nature in which cities function. Oftentimes, issues are addressed from a backwards stance, and thus no real progress is made.

Elaborating on this notion, she says that, “The simple needs of automobiles are more easily understood and satisfied than the complex needs of cities, and a growing number of planners and designers have come to believe that if they can only solve the problems of traffic, they will thereby have solved the major problem of cities. Cities have much more intricate economic and social concerns than automobile traffic. How can you know what to try with traffic until you know how the city itself works, and what else it needs to do with its streets? You can’t” (7). In other words, the leadership has been misguided and has adopted a one-dimensional approach to tackle a far more difficult task.

Peter Calthorpe touches on many of the concepts discussed by Jacobs in his TED talk, “7 Principles for Building Better Cities.” Calthorpe argues that our urban landscape is a direct reflection of the way we live, and what we value. He says that, “Fundamentally, the way we shape cities is a manifestation of the kind of humanity we bring to bear. And so getting it right is, I think, the order of the day. The problem isn’t free-floating. It’s us; how we live.” In particular, Calthorpe identifies urban sprawl as a driving force of socioeconomic disparity, air pollution, and general low qualities of life. But there is a remedy to this crisis. Using California as a case study, Calthorpe argues that by shifting toward more compact development (through the creation of walkable/transit friendly and mixed-used environments), we will be able to reduce our carbon footprint, promote healthier lifestyles, and stimulate interaction across our societally imposed boundaries. As Calthorpe and Jacobs both suggest, the key to a more sustainable and prosperous future rests in our willingness to take the first step toward change.