Eyes on the Street

Jane Jacob’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities is a classic in urban development. 50+ years later it is still quoted in many articles about urban planning. This is part of a chapter by chapter summary of this 450+page book.

Chapter 2: The uses of sidewalks: safety

In Chapter 2 of her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs advocates that the key to safe cities is more eyes on the street. And the best way to get more eyes on the street is to have neighborhoods that have lots of reasons for people to be in the street: stores, restaurants and bars where people live.

Great cities are not like towns, only larger. They are not like suburbs, only denser.

For the health of a city, it is important that people feel safe on the streets. She describes 3 ways to make city streets feel safe.

1. Eyes on the street. In a city there are a lot of people living in close proximity. Because you can’t know everybody, there will necessarily be a lot of strangers. In order to create a safe feeling environment, you need eyes on the street. If you are out in a city at night, a place with a vibrant night life feels safer than a deserted street. In order to get eyes on the street, you need a reason for people to be on the street. You need things like stores, bars and restaurants.
2. Clearly public. There must be a clear demarcation of what’s public versus what’s private. Safe private or semi-private spaces like courtyards do not make up for non-safe streets. Publicly accessible hallways and elevators must also feel safe.
3. Pedestrian traffic. There must be a lot of people on the street all the time. This will help with “eyes on the street” both from because all those people will be eyes on the street but also because people like to people watch. They won’t watch the street if there’s nothing going on. Plus more people attracts more people.

In order for a city to be healthy, it’s streets must feel safe and that means that there must be a lot of people with eyes on the streets.

You can read more summaries of Jane Jacob’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities:

• Chapter 1: Introduction: Learn about Cities the Easy Way!

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