Chapter IX

In Chapter nine the author explains her views on the size of city streets, how they affect the flow of pedestrian traffic and how the flow of traffic affects businesses on city streets traffic. Jane Jacobs has observed that New York City streets are too long. These long streets isolate and funnel pedestrian foot traffic away from the long side of streets towards the short side of streets. The flow of foot traffic is the livelihood of smaller businesses in the city. Businesses that are in the middle of these long streets are effectively isolated from the flow of foot traffic. Shorter streets allow foot traffic to flow more freely between both sides of the street. Jacobs explains blocks should be long enough to hold a diversity of businesses but short enough to give these businesses plenty of chances to turn corners and be exposed to foot traffic as much as possible.