Summary Of Chapter 3

In Chapter 3 Jane Jacobs explains how the sidewalks have an influence in a persons life. In city streets there is an invisible band that brings society together. This doesn’t necessarily mean everyone is acquainted with one another. It may seem that way because you see the same stranger every day on the bus or train. The city brings people together so to a certain extent there’s some type of “togetherness,” but in actuality everyone purposely isolates themselves from the public. Nobody would go out of their way to introduce themselves to a complete stranger. They feel for some bizarre reason everyone will know about their business at the end of the day, if they were to converse with someone they didn’t know. Privacy is probably the most valuable commodity in large cities. Something as small as a window has great advantages because you can choose to seclude yourself from the busy outside city life just by pulling the curtains down. People only engage in conversations with people they trust like the owner of a bodega. Other than that no one will go and acquaint him or herself to any of the people they see every day.