1. BME
Faculty
of
Architecture
–
Urban
Design
1
–
Fall
2015
Ilaria
Riva
PCFN6Y
The
Uses
of
Sidewalks:
Contact
from
The
Death
and
Life
of
Great
American
Ci4es
(1961)
JANE
JACOBS
(1916-‐2006)
2. -‐
BME
Faculty
of
Architecture
–
Urban
Design
1
–
Fall
2015
–
Ilaria
Riva
PCFN6Y
P.
1
Context
Boston
renewal,
early
1950s
NY,
West
Side
Urban
Renewal,
1959
The
Housing
Act
of
1949
gave
funds
to
ciTes
to
cover
the
cost
of
acquiring
"slums”
areas
kick-‐started
the
"urban
renewal"
program
that
would
reshape
American
ciTes.
“By
the
1950s,
the
well-‐inten4oned
but
misguided
efforts
ot
American
city
planners
to
create
more
healthful
and
efficient
living
environments
was
manifes4ng
itself
in
large-‐
scale
urban
renewal
schemes
and
central
city
freeway
construc4on
project.”
-‐
PiZsburgh
was
the
first
major
city
to
aZempt
a
modern
urban-‐renewal
(
05/1950)
-‐
In
Boston
almost
a
third
of
the
old
city
was
demolished
(including
the
historic
West
End)
to
make
way
for
a
new
highway
-‐
New
York
was
subjected
to
many
changes
3. short
blocks
and
connected
street
systems
mulTfuncTonal
neighborhoods
high
concentraTon
of
people
BME
Faculty
of
Architecture
–
Urban
Design
1
–
Fall
2015
–
Ilaria
Riva
PCFN6Y
P.
2
Introduc@on
Jacobs
(1916-‐2006)
lived
in
Greenwich
Village,
where
she
was
and
engaging
in
neighborhood
protests
against
local
renewal
projects
and
freeways,
she
also
wrote
for
the
magazine
Architectural
Forum,
without
training
or
college
degree.
In
The
Death
and
Life
of
Great
American
Ci4es
wrote
that
ciTes
are
living
organisms
in
which
streets
are
the
"lifeblood”,
the
everyday
life
is
a
"sidewalk
ballet"
and
the
dense
residenTal
buildings
mixed
with
small-‐
scale
local
commercial
shops
provide
"eyes
on
the
street"
that
keep
the
city
safe.
In
The
Uses
ot
Sidewalks:
Contact
Jacobs
describes
how
casual
interac@on
with
others
on
everyday
urban
streets
leads
to
social
cohesion
and
a
sense
of
belonging.
Four
necessary
condiTons
for
dynamic
urban
life,
The
Death
and
Life
of
Great
American
Ci4es
(1961)
JANE
JACOBS
varied
age
residenTal
areas
4. BME
Faculty
of
Architecture
–
Urban
Design
1
–
Fall
2015
–
Ilaria
Riva
PCFN6Y
P.
3
Introduc@on
Jacobs
tryed
to
introduce
new
principles
of
city
planning
and
rebuilding,
different
and
even
those
taught
in
universiTes
and
based
on
real
life
experience.
A
lot
of
people
criTcized
her
but
even
more
were
inspired.
“There
is
a
wisful
myth
that
if
only
we
had
enough
money
to
spend
we
could
wipe
out
all
our
slums
in
ten
years”
but
the
reality
is
different,
with
the
first
several
billions
ciTes
changed
poorly.
The
city
rebuilding
fundings
are
not
only
based
on
public
tax
subsidies
but
also
on
subsidies
wrung
out
of
helpless
site
vicTms.
Automobiles
are
ogen
conveniently
tagged
as
the
villains
responsible
for
the
ills
of
ciTes
but
they
are
much
less
a
cause
than
a
symptom
of
incompetence.
TYPICAL
URBAN
RENEWALS
IN
THE
1950s
–
listed
by
J.Jacobs
-‐
HosTle
islands
are
juxtaposed
and
the
result
is
called
”a
balanced
neighborhood”
-‐
MonopolisTc
shopping
centers
and
monumental
cultural
centers
-‐
People
who
get
marked
with
the
planners'
hex
signs
are
expropriated
-‐
Thousands
upon
thousands
of
small
businesses
destroyed
-‐
Highways
built
cukng
the
ciTes
-‐
Whole
communiTes
are
torn
apart
MORNINGSIDE
HEIGHTS
AREA
in
NYC
It
had
parkland,
campus,
playground
and
other
open
spaces;
yet
in
the
1950s
was
becoming
a
slum.
Planners
wiped
out
a
big
area
and
built
a
cooperaTve
project
with
shopping
center,
and
apublic
housing.
Ager
that,
Momingside
Heights
went
downhill
even
faster.
5. BME
Faculty
of
Architecture
–
Urban
Design
1
–
Fall
2015
–
Ilaria
Riva
PCFN6Y
P.
4
Sidewalk
Contact
CiTes
are
full
of
people
with
whom
a
certain
degree
of
contact
is
useful
or
enjoyable;
but
you
don’t
want
them
too
much
close
to
you.
The
trust
of
a
city
street
is
formed
over
Tme
from
many
liZle
public
sidewalk
contacts.
The
sum
of
such
casual,
public
contact
at
a
local
level
is
a
feeling
for
the
public
iden@ty
of
people,
a
web
of
public
respect
and
trust,
and
a
resource
in
Tme
of
personal
or
neighborhood
need.
“The
absence
of
this
trust
is
a
disaster
to
a
city
street.”
A
good
city
street
neighborhood
achieves
a
balance
between
its
people's
determinaTon
to
have
essenTal
privacy
and
their
simultaneous
wishes
for
differing
degrees
of
contact,
enjoyment
or
help
from
the
people
around.
Anthropologist
Elena
Padilla
describing
Puerto
Rican
life
in
a
poor
and
squalid
district
of
New
York,
tells
how
much
people
know
about
each
other
from
the
public
life
of
the
sidewalk
it
is
not
considered
dignified
for
everyone
to
know
one's
affairs.,
nor
is
it
considered
dignified
to
snoop
on
others
beyond
the
face
presented
in
public.
The
same
problem
can
be
explained
in
terms
of
the
stores
where
people
leave
keys
for
their
friends
(a
common
custom
in
NY),
the
proprietor
has
to
combine
a
feeling
of
good
will
with
a
feeling
of
no
personal
responsibility
about
our
private
affairs.
It
is
possible
to
be
on
excellent
sidewalk
terms
with
people
who
are
very
different
from
oneself,
and
even,
as
Tme
passes,
on
familiar
public
terms
with
them.
6. BME
Faculty
of
Architecture
–
Urban
Design
1
–
Fall
2015
–
Ilaria
Riva
PCFN6Y
P.
5
Different
Contacts
When
an
area
of
a
city
lacks
a
sidewalk
life,
the
people
of
the
place
must
enlarge
their
private
lives.
They
must
seZle
for
some
form
of
"togetherness,"
in
which
more
is
shared
with
one
another
than
in
the
life
of
the
sidewalks,
or
else
they
must
seZle
for
lack
of
contact.
Where
people
do
share
much,
they
become
exceedingly
choosy
as
to
who
their
neighbors
are,
or
with
whom
they
associate
at
all.
The
sidewalk
life
is
important
but
only
if
in
the
right
context.
A
huge,
wide
and
paved
sidewalk
with
sculptures
and
near
a
park
is
a
beauTful
place
but
without
stores
it
doesn’t
possess
th
right
elements,
because
only
in
stores
you
are
forced
to
have
a
contact
with
someone
else.
In
Chatham
Village
(Garden
City)
in
PiZsburgh
the
houses
were
grouped
in
colonies
around
shared
interior
lawns
and
play
yards,
and
the
whole
development
is
equipped
with
devices
for
close
sharing.
There
is
no
public
life
here,
in
any
city
sense.
There
are
differing
degrees
of
extended
private
life,
and
in
these
situaTons
the
common
outcome,
is
“nothing”,
because
residents
isolate
themselves
from
the
surrounding
ciTes
and
from
each
other.
Chatham
Village
-‐
Plan
of
Landscape
Development
7. BME
Faculty
of
Architecture
–
Urban
Design
1
–
Fall
2015
–
Ilaria
Riva
PCFN6Y
P.
6
Public
Characters
“Togetherness"
itself
is
one
of
the
factors
that
make
organizaTon
so
difficult.
The
problem
is
that
usually
these
society
contain
amazing
leaders
with
real
ability
but
in
the
course
of
organizaTon
leaders
find
each
other
and
isolate
themselves
from
the
others,
everything
tends
to
degenerate
into
ineffecTve
cliques.
A
real
public
character
is
different
from
a
mere
leader,
his
main
qualificaTon
is
that
he
is
public.
The
social
structure
of
sidewalk
life
bangs
partly
on
what
can
be
called
self-‐appointed
public
characters,
anyone
who
is
in
frequent
contact
with
a
wide
circle
of
people
and
who
is
interested
to
make
himself
a
“public”.
PUBLIC
CHARACTERS
-‐
Don’t
need
special
talents
or
wisdom
-‐
They
have
to
be
present
and
talk
with
people
(news
travels
through
them)
-‐
Usually
steadily
staToned
in
public
places
-‐
They
are
storekeepers
or
barkeepers
or
the
like
-‐
Secondary
public
characters
depend
on
the
primary
characters
EXAMPLE:
New
York's
Lower
East
Side,
A
person,
who
makes
a
regular
round
of
stores,
learns
from
the
cleaner
about
dope
pushers
in
the
neighborhood;
from
the
grocer
about
gangs;
from
the
candy
store
about
Sportsmen
and
their
girls.
One
of
his
most
important
informaTon
spots
is
an
unused
breadbox,
a
message
spoken
there
for
any
teen-‐ager
within
many
blocks
will
reach
his
ears
unerringly
and
surprisingly
quickly,
and
the
opposite
flow
brings
news
quickly
in
to
the
breadbox.
8. BME
Faculty
of
Architecture
–
Urban
Design
1
–
Fall
2015
–
Ilaria
Riva
PCFN6Y
P.
7
Public
Characters
Besides
the
anchored
public
characters
of
the
sidewalk,
and
the
well-‐recognized
roving
public
characters,
there
are
more
specialized
public
characters
on
a
city
sidewalk.
“One
need
not
have
either
the
ar4stry
or
the
personality
of
such
a
man
to
become
a
specialized
sidewalk
character,
but
only
a
per4nent
specialty
of
some
sort”
Public
characters
don’t
only
spread
the
news
and
learn
the
news
face
to
face
but
they
connect
with
each
other
creaTng
a
web
of
news.
The
sidewalk
life
arises
only
when
the
concrete,
tangible
facili@es
it
requires
are
present,
these
faciliTes
are
also
required
for
sidewalk
safety.
Presence
of
stores
is
important
but
someTmes,
if
these
stores
became
too
big,
the
efficiency
of
public
sidewalk
characters
declines
drasTcally
because
too
much
burden
is
put
upon
them.
A
store
can
reach
a
turnover
in
its
contacts,
or
potenTal
contacts
when
become
so
large
and
so
superficial
that
loses
its
socially
useless,
an
example
is
the
candy
and
newspaper
store
owned
by
the
housing
cooperaTve
of
Corlears
Hook
on
New
York's
Lower
East
Side.
NYC,
Amsterdam
Ave
(1956)
9. BME
Faculty
of
Architecture
–
Urban
Design
1
–
Fall
2015
–
Ilaria
Riva
PCFN6Y
P.
8
Diversity
Sidewalk
life
can
not
fight
alone
discrimina@on
but
to
build
and
to
rebuild
big
ciTes
whose
sidewalks
are
unsafe
and
whose
people
must
seZle
for
sharing
much
or
nothing,
can
make
it
much
harder
for
ciTes
to
overcome
discriminaTon
no
maZer
how
much
effort
is
expended.
The
tolerance,
the
room
for
great
differences
among
neighbors
(differences
that
ogen
go
far
deeper
than
differences
in
color)
which
are
possible
and
normal
in
intensely
urban
life,
but
which
are
so
foreign
to
suburbs
and
pseudosuburbs,
are
possible
and
normal
only
when
streets
of
great
ciTes
have
built
in
equipment
allowing
strangers
to
dwell
in
peace
together
on
civilized
but
essenTally
dignified
and
reserved
terms.
CiTes
need
means
for
bringing
together
necessary
ideas,
necessary
enthusiasms,
necessary
money
and
the
sidewalks
could
be
a
starTng
point.
10. BME
Faculty
of
Architecture
–
Urban
Design
1
–
Fall
2015
–
Ilaria
Riva
PCFN6Y
P.
9
THANK
YOU
FOR
YOUR
ATTENTION!
THE
END.
