Chapter 13 Summary

In this chapter Jane Jacobs talks about how diversity, if not properly maintained, can destroy cities. Jacobs uses the example of when there is an area that has many uses and the area becomes popular as a whole. In time one of the uses starts to become more profitable than the others. Eventually one or two uses become the most popular causing the other uses to be pushed out because of lack of revenue. This then causes there to be a lack of diversity. Jacobs also believes that this can also happen in residential areas. For example if a certain neighborhood becomes popular and everybody wants to live there builders start to build in this area in excessive amounts. Eventually families get crowded out eliminating diversity and variety. Also younger people who start to make more money leave the area as well, according to Jacobs. She also says that banks, insurance companies, and offices are the most aggressive destructor of diversity in cities.