Mcdonough And Jane Jacobs Essay

In a well-constructed essay of 5 pages, compare and contrast Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities and William McDonough & Michael Braungart’s Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, in terms of larger definitions of “sustainability.” Put each book in its historical context and relate it to themes in the course as well as to modern and contemporary issues of architecture, cities, and the environment. On the last day of class, Wednesday, December 9, we will discuss these two books. Your essays are due in the Drop Box the end of exam week on Friday, December 18. The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs and Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough & Michael Braungart are two distinct novels that grapple with issues regarding the lives we live, the things we use every day, the
One of the authors is William McDonough who is an architect. He is the founder of McDonough + Partners and has no shortage of awards for his environmentally savvy designs. One of his most notable projects was when he was hired by the Ford Motor Company to turn the firm’s original manufacturing plant into a green automobile factory, a task which took two million dollars to come to fruition. Braungart on the other hand is a German with a Ph.D. in chemistry., At one point he led Greenpeace’s chemical division, then went on to found the German Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency. This organization helps companies design products with an eye to their entire life cycle. This is where Jacobs and the duo are set apart. Cradle to Cradle’s greatest message is the sustainability of cities. They believe in modernism in architecture and for things to be used again and again for the greater good of mankind. Emphasis is placed on what humans can do and the roles we play in the creation of cities in order to leave things behind for future generations, the thinking is nonlinear and