What are the main ideas behind the concept of eyes on the street?
In public space, visibility has a function connected to the idea of surveillance with a simple logic of the more people in the streets, the safer they become. Their “eyes on the street” offer informal surveillance of the urban environment and the presence of people on the streets contributes to an atmosphere of safety.
What did Jacobs mean by having eyes on the street?
Jane Jacobs wrote that urban neighborhoods were safer when there were “eyes on the street”: that is, residents and shopkeepers who are naturally drawn to the life of the street, and who, in the course of their activities, monitor the street.
How can public eyes make our city streets safer?
Even among strangers, eyes on the street provide safety in public spaces. Both the quality of public spaces as well as the surrounding environment determine how people use them. If they are accessible, attractive, and safe, they can inspire a range of uses and activities.
What are the benefits of having eyes on the street?
“When there are people present in a public space such as city streets, it strengthens the space and inspires social cohesion.” This led Jacobs to advocate for mixed-use neighborhoods where she suggests that the “eyes” get stronger when there are a range of activities taking place on the street.
WHO SAID eyes on the street?
Kanigel’s biography of Jacobs is called Eyes on the Street, a phrase that Jacobs herself coined about the crucial importance of a vibrant street life to neighborhood safety and community.
Why is Jane Jacobs important?
Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urbanist and activist whose writings championed a fresh, community-based approach to city building. Jacobs helped derail the car-centered approach to urban planning in both New York and Toronto, invigorating neighborhood activism by helping stop the expansion of expressways and roads.
What was Jane Jacobs fighting to save and why?
Jacobs organized grassroots efforts to protect neighborhoods from urban renewal and slum clearance in particular, plans by Robert Moses to overhaul her own Greenwich Village neighborhood.
What did Jane Jacobs think about cities?
Jacobs saw cities as integrated systems that had their own logic and dynamism which would change over time according to how they were used. With an eye for detail, she wrote eloquently about sidewalks, parks, retail design and self-organization.
What was the main idea that Jane Jacobs advocated in the 1960s?
Jacobs advocated the abolition of zoning laws and restoration of free markets in land, which would result in dense, mixed-use neighborhoods and she frequently cited New York City’s Greenwich Village as an example of a vibrant urban community.
Are there eyes upon the street?
There must be eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street. The buildings on a street equipped to handle strangers and to insure the safety of both residents and strangers, must be oriented to the street.
What does Jacobs mean by eyes upon the street?
Jacobs wrote that in order for a street to be a safe place, “there must be eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street.” These words have been repeated countless times in the 50-plus years since Jacobs wrote them.
How safe are the streets in real life?
Safety on the streets by surveillance and mutual policing of one another sounds grim, but in real life it is not grim.
Should neighbors be the eyes and ears of the police?
Turning neighbors into the “eyes and ears of the police” can actually reinforce fear and violence. Even if you’ve never read The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs’s 1961 masterpiece of urban observation and theory, you probably are aware of one of its key concepts: the value of “eyes on the street.”