Sidewalks-Public Enemy #1

Who knew sidewalks were one of the most dangerous places in America. We as Americans tend to blame many crimes on either the assailant or the lack of police in the area, but we never look upon a situation and think that if we as Americans put in the work to make our streets a safer environment, we could prevent many of the minor crimes that happen in our urban metropolitans i.e. Muggings, Robberies, Fights. Increasing the awareness of urban citizens as well as increasing the initiative for change on urban streets would go a long way in making everyone feel safe while traveling the sidewalks of cities no matter what time of day.

In Jane Jacobs novel, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jacobs makes many points of how she feels would help create a safer and much friendlier culture around both cities and the sidewalks that are within them. She states that, “Streets and their sidewalks, the main public places of a city, are its most vital organs. Think of city and what comes to mind? Its streets. If a city’s streets look interesting, the city looks interesting; if they look dull, the city looks dull…if a city’s streets are safe from barbarism and fear the city is thereby tolerably safe from barbarism and fear.”(Death and Life pg. 30) When you make the streets of urban cities safer and secure, people would more than likely attempt to travel or live in your city exponentially more.

Think of the city of Chicago. The city has two main urban areas, North side and South side. North Side is considered to be only the upper and upper middle class families who work in the business structure in the city. While they still have crime, it is relatively tame compared to other areas. South side on the other hand, is where over three fourths of the African-American population in the city resides and has the largest percentage of poverty stricken families in the city. The streets of South side Chicago are considered to be some of the most dangerous streets to travel on in America. Which streets would you choose to walk on? Many people would argue that the neighborhoods of South side Chicago are beyond repair but I believe that they don’t realize how much we can do to change the attitude and culture of the streets of urban areas.

Jane Jacobs' three main points which she believed would change the culture of city streets were, to clearly show a difference between public and private space, have “eyes” on the street at all times, and that there must be a consistent use of the sidewalks by users. When you combine these three things, you create the sense of safety and security for users of your streets. Think of how much safer you would feel on the streets of South side Chicago if there was always somebody examining what was going on around you and there were other users who were walking just as freely as you were. Those are things we need to have happen to our urban streets in order to make people feel as though they can walk anywhere without fear of any danger. I know these changes could not be made in an instant, but through strong leadership and initiative, the streets of urban areas could become vindicated from the ugly moniker they have today.

-Jared Thompson

Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. [New York]: Random House, 1961. Print.