The Economy of Cities, Jane Jacobs
The Economy of Cities, Jane Jacobs
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The Economy of Cities

Author: Jane Jacobs

Narrator: Rachel Fulginiti

Unabridged: 8 hr 59 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/18/2022

Synopsis

In this book, Jane Jacobs, building on the work of her debut, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, investigates the delicate way cities balance the interplay between the domestic production of goods and the ever-changing tide of imports. Using case studies of developing cities in the ancient, pre-agricultural world, and contemporary cities on the decline, like the financially irresponsible New York City of the mid-sixties, Jacobs identifies the main drivers of urban prosperity and growth, often via counterintuitive and revelatory lessons.

About Jane Jacobs

Jane Jacobs (1916–2006) was a writer and activist who championed new approaches to urban planning for more than forty years. Her 1961 treatise The Death and Life of Great American Cities became perhaps the most influential American text about the inner workings and failings of cities, inspiring generations of urban planners and activists. Her efforts to stop the building of downtown expressways and protect local neighborhoods invigorated community-based urban activism and helped end Parks Commissioner Robert Moses’ reign of power in New York City.

About Rachel Fulginiti

Rachel Fulginiti is an audiobook narrator and a voice-over artist who has worked with companies such as Chrysler, Target, McDonalds, and eHarmony. She is a graduate of the Meisner Program at the School for Film and Television in New York City.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Alice on August 25, 2016

"It blows cobwebs from the mind," wrote Christopher Lehmann-Haupt when he reviewed the book for the NY Times back in 1969. Forty-four years later (and just after completing a two-year masters program in urban planning), I would say that it made my brain explode (in spite of how un-academic that soun......more

Goodreads review by dell on March 05, 2024

An above-average analysis of the economies of cities, with a strong emphasis on the dialectical relationship between city and country, without Jacobs ever calling it dialectical of course. Her analyses on the division of labour, imports and exports, and an accessible but short explanation of the laws......more

Goodreads review by Luciano on October 02, 2024

An impressive deductive work from Jacobs, who, without any formal training in economics, derived many results that also popped up in Nobel-winning academic papers.......more

Goodreads review by Chris on January 24, 2013

Jane Jacobs has established herself as an accidental expert on urban theory. Her "Death and Life of Great American Cities," meant to be a defense of her Greenwich Village neighborhood from the designs of Robert Moses, over time revealed itself to be an anatomy book for the city as a being. Jacobs tak......more

Goodreads review by DW on December 06, 2023

Unsurprisingly, given when it was written, this book is a bit outdated, but it was very interesting as apparently the origin of some of the ideas on urban agglomeration economies that I've read more modern versions of in my academic and professional work. I was surprised, but maybe shouldn't have be......more

Quotes

“An astonishing book. It blows cobwebs from the mind, and challenges assumptions one hadn’t even realized one had made.” New York Times

“This book is radiant with ideas about what makes cities rich or poor, how cities grow, and how city growth affects national economies.” The New Yorker

“The book is…timely, and if it will irritate some of the experts it will also help bring some neglected issues and theories into public focus. This…has always been Mrs. Jacobs’ most notable talent and her most constructive contribution.” New York Times Book Review

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