Anyway, how about this formula for creating vibrant urban areas:

1. Create local densities of at least 50K per square mile.
2. Restrict shopping areas to in-line stores, and in designated zones.
3. Forbid all interference with commerce from criminals and government (sorry if that appears redundant…)

That generally does the trick, no?

And that's sort of close to what Jane Jacobs said, isn't it?

Unrelated, is there any way to see a comment preview? We wouldn't want to see HTML tags-with-typos polluting the comment section…

I don't think the disqus comment system allow that, but I'll find out – that would be a nice feature.

Anyway, I really enjoy reading what Murray Rothbard had to say. If nothing else, he was exceptionally consistent, and uncompromisingly anti-government. My main criticism is that he tended to work backwards from the conclusion (i.e., the government is the problem) to the issue he was addressing. Not that he was wrong often, but there was sometimes a bit too much doctrine for my tastes.

Rothbard is truly elegant in his radical consistency. Before listening, I thought it was going to be a bunch of ranting and complaining – but I wrongly associated him the Lew Rockwell angry-types. If your haven't already, I recommend reading or listening to the whole book. I haven't read any other of his work yet, but know that I find his objection to fractional reserve banking inconsistent.

I never quite understood the appeal of Jane Jacobs amorphous ideas that she (as far as I know) never empirically tested. It would have been enlightening to see what would have happened if she actually had control (and even better, ownership) of a large tract of land. But with regard to “diversity”, “vibrancy”, and other relatively abstract notions, places are as diverse as the populations they serve.

From my understanding Jacobs was referring to diversity of use, so that people are using and area in different ways and at different times for different reasons.

I think it's somewhat subjective, but I agree that I'd like to see more rigorous research of Jacob's ideas. What type of empirical evidence would you want to see? I'd be interested in seeing research into real estate values.