I enjoyed reading your response, Jalissa. I agree with your points that Jane Jacob’s ideal city is composed of a diverse population with various building structures. She did not agree with “orthodox urbanism,” or the classical teachings of how a successful city is run and thought that this would cause more harm than good in building a city.

I agree with you that many of Jacob’s initiatives are in place today. Like you said, today we have participatory budgeting in many communities where residents can input their views on how the taxpayers’ money should be effectively spent. This seems exactly like what Jacob’s vision was–to have the residents input on what they would like to see happening in their community. She is the one who fostered the participation of the community instead of city planners deciding how a community should best be built and run.

Jane Jacobs thought that “orthodox urbanism” was the wrong way to plan for a successful city because one cannot build a successful city using specific formulas of green-space and types of building because it does not take the population’s ideas into account. On page 15 of the introduction of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jacobs writes about her encounters with residents in East Harlem who hated the lawn because they had no input in making it. It was the city planners who thought it would be good for the people who lived there, so they added it without the input of the residents. The people she talked to proved her point in that building certain spaces will only work if the people living there have a say in what is being built. However, she thinks of her own formula for building a successful city, which is exactly what she was trying to prove is the wrong way to build (Jacobs 150-151). She does not know that the people living in the city necessarily want a diverse city containing different types of buildings until she asks them, and no where in her four points is asking the residents what they want to build in their complex.

Despite Jacobs’ slight inconsistencies, I agree with the points you make, Jalissa, about how Jane Jacob’s would compose a successful city. Many of her ideas are implemented today. She fostered community participation, which we have today and many of the communities within New York City are diverse with varying structures. I can now notice and appreciate varying structures and diversity more than I have in the past thanks to Jane Jacobs.