The “Death and Life of Great American Cities” by Jane Jacobs centers around the problems of city planning and the strategies that planners followed throughout most of the twentieth century. The current expenditures based on these current strategies for rebuilding for the most part have been unsuccessful and have led to the decay of the cities.They have not accomplished anything in eliminating slums or stopping the decay of city neighborhoods. I agree with Jacobs in that I think that city planning should not just involve tearing down and simply rebuilding, the proper way is to analyze neighborhoods and see what is it that makes a city successful and what is it that makes it unsuccessful. Planners should encourage factors that promote success and discourage those that do not. If we continue with the current city planning of only looking into a quick, easy outer impression that cities give, there is probably little hope for such cities. However, sometimes planning based on theory might work for the expansion of a city as Robert Moses had planned out for an efficient city. The building of bridges and highways did make the city accessible to many, however, it led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of residents in New York City, destroying traditional neighborhoods by building expressways through them. So, what exactly is the point of building or expanding a city in a way that largely leaves the residents of the city dissatisfied and displaced.City planning should not just be based on sole theory it needs to account for what exactly people that inhabit them want.

Discussion Question: Why do we continue with such urban renewal policies if they largely lead to destroyed communities and isolated urban spaces? Are we looking for an efficient, isolated city that is based on theory or a vibrant urban city community that is based on the needs of most city-dwellers?