Spark Reaction, 2/6

The most interesting of the three readings was definitely the Five Points. However, this is only because it is narrated as if telling a story; information is revealed using real documented conversations and interactions. I found the other two readings to be informative and interesting as well–though to a lesser to degree, as tends to be the case with straight non-fiction.
The Five Points reading displayed a different type of lifestyle and environment than I have lived in, seeing as I am not from a city. Besides this, it also tells the story of how a city grows and evolves, where the main character of the book is a society and culture of people, rather than one person. I found this to be interesting, especially when it is clearly depicts how one person (or one small group of people) can tremendously influence an entire city.
The Death and Life of Great American Cities is pessimistic–as pointed out by Jackie. Unlike her, though, I appreciated the pessimism. We understand how cities are supposed to work and function and how we fix them, however, we very rarely understand why they don’t work. “Taxes or too high, too few jobs, social security, welfare” and such one word answers are spouted out as explanations, but do not really suffice as an answer. As Jacobs articulates, cities often don’t function as expected. This, in itself, is not a problem. In every field of study, nothing occurs in the real world exactly as it does in the laboratory. Shooting a gun in a gallery and in a battle are extremely different; performing a piece of music by yourself in your room and playing on a stage for hundreds of people are not equal experiences; Regents physics (where everything is assumed to be on a two dimensional plane) and real world physics differ greatly. So why is it that modern day scientists who enter the field of city planning utilize data that is clearly not applicable to the real world? Jacobs explanation is both plausible, intriguing, and concerning. How can we change this? How long will it take? Is it even a realistic expectation to think that this will change?