Jane Jacobs was right: empirical verification in Seoul

Hyungun Sung & Sugie Lee & SangHyun Cheon, "Operationalizing Jane Jacobs’s Urban Design Theory Empirical Verification from the Great City of Seoul, Korea," Journal of Planning Education and Research 35 (2015): 2

The take-away: In applying Jane Jacobs’ theories from The Death and Life of Great American Cities to Seoul, this study confirms her claims that “mixed use, old buildings, high building concentrations, and border vacuums contribute to a vital urban life.”

Abstract: Jane Jacobs’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) had an enormous influence on urban design theories and practices. This study aims to operationalize Jacobs’s conditions for a vital urban life. These are (1) mixed use, (2) small blocks, (3) aged buildings, and (4) a sufficient concentration of buildings. Jacobs suggested that a vital urban life could be sustained by an urban realm that promotes pedestrian activity for various purposes at various times. Employing multilevel binomial models, we empirically verified that Jacobs’s conditions for urban diversity play a significant role with regard to pedestrian activity.

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