Staring at the sidewalk
Pulled from the highly informational novel The Death and the Life of American Cities written by Jane Jacobs, lies an augment about the roles citizens as well as strangers play in the safety of their city streets. This argument is placed in chapter two of the book with the heading of “The uses of sidewalk: safety.” Jane writes clearly and explicitly of her research as well as her opinion on the topic. To analyze the text further I did my own observations of LOVE Park, located in center city Philadelphia, and documented my findings. I took time and related this portion of her book to my own sightings of the park to see if her argument held true in this metropolitan area. Through carful observation and well trained thought …show more content…
My observations on the topic add validity to this argument by noting that not once in my hour of sitting in LOVE Park did I see any person of legal authority walk through the park to check to see if things were under control. This could be because the authorities know that it is a safe area or because they don’t have enough officers. But even with lack of police authority in LOVE Park, the area was indeed safe because of the people that it held. Although it included people of all races, ages, and walks of life the hour went by almost peacefully. There were street performers present, families, couples and a few people just walking through. There was even a local women shelter set up and selling baked good right in the corner of the park. Throughout my entire hour at LOVE Park there was always a constant flow of people coming in and out the park. A community and even a single street is protected by those who are a part of it. Jacobs specifically says that, “A well-used city street is apt to be a safe street. A deserted city street is apt to be unsafe” (Jacobs, 34). And after developing my own options on the topic I have to agree with her …show more content…
A fellow classmate of mine, Andrew Bailey, did his observations at the Philadelphia Art Museum. He observed that most people didn’t speak to one another but kept to their groups. He also states that the security inside as well as outside of the museum played an active role in safety by making sure people kept their hands to themselves and their bags to their sides (Bailey). This combination of observations adds to Jacobs’s argument because of the fact that although the police played an active role in the art museum, a government funded building, they still lacked presence in the park as well as other places where a police force could definitely be needed. And with the lack of law enforcement present it has been up to citizens to step up to the task of efficiently protecting their
Pulled from the highly informational novel The Death and the Life of American Cities written by Jane Jacobs, lies an augment about the roles citizens as well as strangers play in the safety of their city streets. This argument is placed in chapter two of the book with the heading of “The uses of sidewalk: safety.” Jane writes clearly and explicitly of her research as well as her opinion on the topic. To analyze the text further I did my own observations of LOVE Park, located in center city Philadelphia, and documented my findings. I took time and related this portion of her book to my own sightings of the park to see if her argument held true in this metropolitan area. Through carful observation and well trained thought …show more content…
My observations on the topic add validity to this argument by noting that not once in my hour of sitting in LOVE Park did I see any person of legal authority walk through the park to check to see if things were under control. This could be because the authorities know that it is a safe area or because they don’t have enough officers. But even with lack of police authority in LOVE Park, the area was indeed safe because of the people that it held. Although it included people of all races, ages, and walks of life the hour went by almost peacefully. There were street performers present, families, couples and a few people just walking through. There was even a local women shelter set up and selling baked good right in the corner of the park. Throughout my entire hour at LOVE Park there was always a constant flow of people coming in and out the park. A community and even a single street is protected by those who are a part of it. Jacobs specifically says that, “A well-used city street is apt to be a safe street. A deserted city street is apt to be unsafe” (Jacobs, 34). And after developing my own options on the topic I have to agree with her …show more content…
A fellow classmate of mine, Andrew Bailey, did his observations at the Philadelphia Art Museum. He observed that most people didn’t speak to one another but kept to their groups. He also states that the security inside as well as outside of the museum played an active role in safety by making sure people kept their hands to themselves and their bags to their sides (Bailey). This combination of observations adds to Jacobs’s argument because of the fact that although the police played an active role in the art museum, a government funded building, they still lacked presence in the park as well as other places where a police force could definitely be needed. And with the lack of law enforcement present it has been up to citizens to step up to the task of efficiently protecting their