fuckingold asked: If you're interested in cities william whyte (for social etiquette) and robert putnam (for 'social capital') have similar views to Jacobs. Like Glaeser, Richard Florida also talks about the 'creative class;' glaeser ripped him off basically. Florida represents a location to people shift in urban design. Michel de Certeau's walking in the city is a kind of response to Focault's ideas about expanding control; he responds with a brilliant linguistic analogy about how streets aren't used as intended
Thanks for the references. I have only just now started on Glaeser’s book, so I can’t speak to it in any detail, but it strikes me as rather different from Putnam’s social capital ideas and somewhat different from Florida’s thesis. I have to admit that I have a visceral dislike of Florida’s work, and have criticized it elsewhere (I can’t remember where exactly).
Jacobs, for all her shortcomings, strikes me as immeasurably superior to these more recent writers.
I am not familiar with either William Whyte or Michel de Certeau, so I will look into these writers. Since I have been writing about Foucault and bio-power recently, the latter’s response to Foucault will be very interesting.
Best wishes,
Nick
