This open access book connects Jane Jacobs's celebrated urban analysis to her ideas on
economics and social theory. While Jacobs is a legend in the field of urbanism and famous for
challenging and profoundly influencing urban planning and design her theoretical contributions
- although central to her criticisms of and proposals for public policy - are frequently
overlooked even by her most enthusiastic admirers. This book argues that Jacobs's insight that
a city cannot be a work of art underlies both her ideas on planning and her understanding of
economic development and social cooperation. It shows how the theory of the market process and
Jacobs's theory of urban processes are useful complements - an example of what economists and
urbanists can learn from each other. This Jacobs-cum-market-process perspective offers new
theoretical historical and policy analyses of cities more realistic and coherent than
standard accounts by either economists or urbanists.
