Modern Urban Planning in The Life and Death of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs

Literature Review
“Architecture needs to understand what people’s needs are and incorporate those needs into the home,”
In a developing country like Pakistan, the growth of urban poor is increasing rapidly. Consequently, the need for shelter is increasing to accommodate the growing urban poor. The housing provided by the public sector is based on modern conventional zoning practices which do not respond to the housing needs of the lower income group in the third world countries. In the absence of appropriate low income housing, the lower income group are left with no other choice but to live in squatter settlements which are termed as illegal. However, these settlements present ideas that help to develop a sense of community and flexibility that caters to the needs of the lower income group,
The book, "The Life and Death of Great American Cities" by Jane Jacobs talk on similar lines and is an attack on the modern urban planning. Jacob favours the idea of mixed used zoning, higher densities and bottom up planning which involves the residents, leading to a vibrant and lively community. In such an environment, people of different ages and backgrounds use different parts of the city at different times of the day, making the city vital and healthy around the clock, not just during business hours. Generally it is accepted that densely populated neighborhoods lead to crime and squalor, Jacobs believes that diverse and highly concentrated populations of people, including residents, promote visible city life and help to combat the homogeneity that ultimately leads to dullness.
The analysis of this book suggests that the presence of people makes a neighbourhood safe. This is one the characteristics that contributes to the sense of place ...

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...le to low income groups is either of unsuitable type or is too far from employment areas to be tolerable. Therefore, the concept of user control is important in this case. Where it is suggested that the housing should not be completely open to the users nor authoritarian because otherwise it will be frustrating for a growing family without capital investment. The analysis of this suggests that housing process must be treated as a verbal activity rather than a manufactured and packaged product. The ideal situation would be one in which the users are the principle actors throughout the process of planning and execution. This is to say that the settlements that poor build may lack proper physical infrastructure but the authoritarian systems that are used to house the poor and their limitation do not allow the variety and flexibility needed by the lower income group