Two primary ideals of city development have dominated the world. The Greek model considers a number of different parts that exist together. The Chinese model focuses on the whole environment, with different areas fulfilling the function of the whole. The United States, alas, took the Greek model to the extreme.
The discussion of cities in the US is quite depressing. There was a great degree of self-inflicted harm. Zoning began in New York as an attempt to improve the quality of life of residents by allowing some distance from noisy factories and to provide light for residents. However, it soon was adopted as a way to segregate functions, leaving people in isolated residential pockets of single family homes. This produced traffic and ironically more noise and pollution. The federal government heavily subsidized highways, and tore through cities to build them. "Urban renewel" would often rip apart functional neighborhoods and lead to their decline. Housing policy heavily subsidized loans for single family houses, while neglecting multi-family rentals. The government insisted that subsidized multifamily housing only be allocated to the poor, rather than mixed income. This along with restrictive covenants (meant to improve single-family home values) resulted in the drastic decline of cities and the growth of sprawl.
The book then goes on the explore the people in the city. Social programs and diversity help make a good city. However, incomes should not be too diverse or else conflict starts to arise. Europe has created greater peace by supporting the common good (through parks and social programs) and thus narrowed the income gap. Third world cities often have very high inequality and plenty of conflict.
The discussion of social aspects of a city is important in understanding how cities work. However, it spreads the book too far. There are plenty of things to talk about, but it is difficult to tie everything together into one comprehensive thesis. The book would have been better chopping off some of the later chapters and just mentioning their key points in the discussion of city layout.
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