Part 2, “The Conditions for City Diversity,” examines the various mechanisms that generate diversity, an essential component for successful cities. Jacobs describes neighborhoods as organs of self-government that require active participation from their dwellers for success.
Given their safety, it is preferable for children to play on sidewalks than to segregate them in parks and playgrounds, which lack the informal surveillance mechanisms of street environments. As primary points of contact and interaction, sidewalks are key to building community trust. Safety depends on a clear demarcation of the public and the private and the spontaneous protection afforded by pedestrians and casual onlookers inside buildings. Part 1, “The Peculiar Nature of Cities,” addresses the main uses of sidewalks: safety, contact, and assimilating children. She positions herself against orthodox city planners, whose harmful policies are rooted in three major urban movements: the Garden City, the Radiant City, and the City Beautiful. Jacobs opens her book with an attack on city planning as it is theorized and practiced in the United States.
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