
We should be building cities for people, not cars - devonzuegel
https://medium.com/@devonmarisa/walkable-cities-5b2d8766d0e2#.6ltzispjr
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gl338
Hi Devon, thanks for writing this. Have you spent much time reading Jane
Jacobs or "Seeing Like a State"? Both talk a bit about the lack of ability to
truly plan cities (and even make references to chaos theory), leading them
both to the conclusion that grassroots-oriented planning (i.e., making cities
walkable, focusing on localized communities, etc.) will lead to healthier and
better experiences for citizens.

Barcelona's superblocks[1] might be a good example of this, but we'll know in
a couple of years.

[1]
[https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/17/superblocks-r...](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/17/superblocks-
rescue-barcelona-spain-plan-give-streets-back-residents)

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devonzuegel
Yes! My interest in cities originated from a biography on Robert Moses, and in
my quest to learn more I quickly fell into the works of Jane Jacobs. Her ideas
are foundational to the way I think about urban planning.

I've read excerpts of "Seeing Like a State", but not the whole thing – thanks
for the reminder! I should go back and read through it further.

The superblocks project is fascinating. I'm excited to see how that pans out.
Hopefully I can get myself over to Barcelona to see it in person some time
soon. :)

~~~
MaysonL
The author (James C. Scott) seems to have a quite interesting career and
bibliography:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_C._Scott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_C._Scott)

