But neither saw fit to dismiss, or even discuss, the following phase-the city as cemetery. Skip to main content Accessibility help We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Sternlieb foresaw the function of the inner city as approximating that of a child’s sandbox, while Long suggested the additional function of “Indian” reservation for the poor, the deviant, and the unwanted. The Life and Death of Ancient Cities: A Natural History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020, 528pp., 44 illustr., hbk, ISBN 9780199664733) - Volume 24 Issue 4.

Even such authorities as George Sternlieb and Norton Long, neither noted for urban optimism, stopped short of the ultimate answer to the question “Is the inner city doomed?” raised in this journal a few years ago (Number 25, Fall 1971). There is a refusal to admit that older cities or neighborhoods can die: They may be “sick” or “deteriorating,” but the belief is nevertheless held by expert and politician alike that with proper treatment these areas will recover to survive forever. Hence dying and death invite our hostility, repudiation, and denial, and assume taboo status.” This repudiation of natural death occurs in the urban realm as well as in personal life. As Herman Feifel has said, “In a society that emphasizes the future, the prospect of no future at all is an abomination. IT is often remarked that American culture attempts to repudiate old age and to deny natural death. The Death and Life of Great American Cities was described by The New York Times as perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning.

The life and death of cities