--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Reformers have long observed city people…" description: "\"Reformers have long observed city people loitering on busy corners, hanging around in candy stores and bars and drinking soda popon stoops, and have pa..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c47/jane-jacobs-1991_banquets_reformers-have-long-observed-city-people_241892.png" --- # Reformers have long observed city people loitering on busy… ![“Reformers have long observed city people loitering on busy corners, hanging around in candy stores and bars and drinking soda popon stoops, and have passed a judgment, the gist of which is: "This is deplorable! If these people had decent homes and a more private or bosky outdoor place, they…” quote by Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c47/jane-jacobs-1991_banquets_reformers-have-long-observed-city-people_241892.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c47/jane-jacobs-1991_banquets_reformers-have-long-observed-city-people_241892.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c47/jane-jacobs-1991_banquets_reformers-have-long-observed-city-people_241892.png) > “Reformers have long observed city people loitering on busy corners, hanging around in candy stores and bars and drinking soda popon stoops, and have passed a judgment, the gist of which is: "This is deplorable! If these people had decent homes and a more private or bosky outdoor place, they wouldn't be on the street!" That judgment represents a profound misunderstanding of cities. It makes no more sense than to drop in at a testimonial banquet in a hotel and conclude that if these people had wives who could cook, they would give their parties at home.” [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. City problems stem from blaming individuals instead of addressing systemic design flaws. **In simple terms:** Blaming people ignores deeper urban issues. Key Takeaway Focus on better public spaces. Themes urban planning social equity community Mood critical analytical Type urban sociological When to use this quote - neighborhood revitalization - housing policy - public space design - social services Key Concepts environmental design public policy social dynamics Questions to Reflect On - How can design improve street life? - What policies address both space and social needs? A Different Perspective May underestimate individual responsibility. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Candy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/candy/) [Candy stores](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/candy-stores/) [Cities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cities/) [City life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/city-life/) [Drinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drinking/) [Gist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gist/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/home/) [Hotel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hotel/) [Judgment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/judgment/) [Party](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/party/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Profound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/profound/) [Reformers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reformers/) [Soda pop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soda-pop/) [Street life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/street-life/) [Streets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/streets/) [Testimonial](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/testimonial/) [Wife](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wife/) ## Related quotes > [Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, Alone and palely loitering?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keats/oh-what-can-ail-thee-knight-at-arms-alone-and-palely-loitering/) [John Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keats/) > [“loitering under the shady lee of yonder warehouses”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/loitering-under-the-shady-lee-of-yonder-warehouses/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [I'm in East L.A., like Mount Washington, Highland Park. There's a little strip that they're gentrifying, trying to make a hip spot, but you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/king-tuff/i-m-in-east-l-a-like-mount-washington-highland-park-there-s-a-little/) [King Tuff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/king-tuff/) > [Experience must be guidence,It hould not use for loitering .Then experience wiil be a burden.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sumesh-nair/experience-must-be-guidence-it-hould-not-use-for-loitering-then/) [Sumesh Nair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sumesh-nair/) > [For summer there, bear in mind, is a loitering gossip, that only begins to talk of leaving when September rises to go.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington-cable/for-summer-there-bear-in-mind-is-a-loitering-gossip-that-only-begins/) [George Washington Cable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington-cable/) > [The foundation of all civilization is loitering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-renoir/the-foundation-of-all-civilization-is-loitering/) [Jean Renoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-renoir/) > [“No sooner were these shared resources up and running before people were pulling up chairs, watching YouTube or pornography, and loitering for hours.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-dannen/no-sooner-were-these-shared-resources-up-and-running-before-people/) [Chris Dannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-dannen/) > [“To look out the window, it might be the 1980s still, the height of the heroin plague, the police doing nothing, the politicians doing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-murray/to-look-out-the-window-it-might-be-the-1980s-still-the-height-of-the/) [Paul Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-murray/) > [“I am not loitering" said the Major. "I am simply indulging in a few moments of pastoral solitude"...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-simonson/i-am-not-loitering-said-the-major-i-am-simply-indulging-in-a-few/) [Helen Simonson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-simonson/) > [Pardon me for loitering in front of an orchestra.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-goodman/pardon-me-for-loitering-in-front-of-an-orchestra/) [John Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-goodman/) > [To rove about, musing, that is to say loitering, is, for a philosopher, a good way of spending time, especially in that kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/to-rove-about-musing-that-is-to-say-loitering-is-for-a-philosopher-a/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [You’re loitering, citizen.” “Actually, I was hesitating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-erikson/you-re-loitering-citizen-actually-i-was-hesitating/) [Steven Erikson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-erikson/) > [ In fact, he \[George Michael\] was loitering in public loos like some pre-war homosexual. It's one thing to keep quiet. It's another to pretend… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boy-george/in-fact-he-george-michael-was-loitering-in-public-loos-like-some-pre/) [Boy George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boy-george/) > [The consumption of alcohol is increasing among youth. Targeting young audiences, advertisers portray beer and wine as joyful, socially desirable, and harmless. Producers are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dallin-h-oaks/the-consumption-of-alcohol-is-increasing-among-youth-targeting-young/) [Dallin H. Oaks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dallin-h-oaks/) > [You know that everyone thinks that in order to do South Park we must be wild, crazy, rock and roll stars. But the truth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trey-parker/you-know-that-everyone-thinks-that-in-order-to-do-south-park-we-must/) [Trey Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trey-parker/) ## More by Jane Jacobs > [People who try to predict the future by extrapolating in a line of more of what exists - they are always wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/people-who-try-to-predict-the-future-by-extrapolating-in-a-line-of/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [My mother used to say when we were children, 'When a boy gets a stick in his hand, his brains run out the other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/my-mother-used-to-say-when-we-were-children-when-a-boy-gets-a-stick/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [Design is people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/design-is-people/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [To approach a city, or even a city neighborhood, as if it were a larger architectural problem, capable of being given order by converting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/to-approach-a-city-or-even-a-city-neighborhood-as-if-it-were-a-larger/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them… for really new ideas of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/cities-need-old-buildings-so-badly-it-is-probably-impossible-for/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [The notion that you could discard the old world and now make a new one. This is what was so bad about Modernism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/the-notion-that-you-could-discard-the-old-world-and-now-make-a-new/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [Cities are an immense laboratory of trial and error, failure and success, in city building and city design.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/cities-are-an-immense-laboratory-of-trial-and-error-failure-and/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [“Development isn't a collection of things but rather a process that yields things. Not knowing this, governments, their development and aid agencies, the World…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/development-isn-t-a-collection-of-things-but-rather-a-process-that/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [“Most sentimental ideas imply, at bottom, a deep if unacknowledged disrespect.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/most-sentimental-ideas-imply-at-bottom-a-deep-if-unacknowledged/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [Beneficent spirals, operating by benign feedback, mean that everything needful is not required at once: each individual improvement is beneficial for the whole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/beneficent-spirals-operating-by-benign-feedback-mean-that-everything/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [Automobiles are often conveniently tagged as the villains responsible for the ills of cities and the disappointments and futilities of city planning. But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/automobiles-are-often-conveniently-tagged-as-the-villains-responsible/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [“I tis hopeless to try to convert some borders into seams. Expressways and their ramps are examples. Moreover, even in the case of large…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/i-tis-hopeless-to-try-to-convert-some-borders-into-seams-expressways/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [“Probably the most important element in intricacy is centering. Good small parks typically have a place somewhere within them commonly understood to be the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/probably-the-most-important-element-in-intricacy-is-centering-good/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [Throughout the world Dark Ages have scrawled finis to successions of cultures receding far into the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/throughout-the-world-dark-ages-have-scrawled-finis-to-successions-of/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) > [“Privacy is precious in cities. It is indispensable. Perhaps it is precious and indispensable everywhere, but in most places you cannot get it. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-jacobs/privacy-is-precious-in-cities-it-is-indispensable-perhaps-it-is/) [Jane Jacobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) [Explore all 193 Jane Jacobs quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-jacobs/) ## More Banquets quotes > [Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/some-minds-corrode-and-grow-inactive-under-the-loss-of-personal/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [My dinners have never interfered with my business. They have been my recreation. . . A public banquet, if eaten with thought and care,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chauncey-depew/my-dinners-have-never-interfered-with-my-business-they-have-been-my/) [Chauncey Depew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chauncey-depew/) > [If you don't participate, you're just taking up oxygen. (Bunny) Life is a banquet. Approach it with hunger. (Chuck)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-caletti/if-you-don-t-participate-you-re-just-taking-up-oxygen-bunny-life-is-a/) [Deb Caletti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-caletti/) > [For you deal here above all with human life, and human life is sacred; no one may dare make an attempt upon it. Respect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-paul-vi/for-you-deal-here-above-all-with-human-life-and-human-life-is-sacred/) [Pope Paul VI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-paul-vi/) > [It needs only a good bottle of wine for a roast chicken to be transformed into a banquet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-asher/it-needs-only-a-good-bottle-of-wine-for-a-roast-chicken-to-be/) [Gerald Asher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-asher/) > [“This earth is a garden, this life a banquet, and it's time we realized that it was given to all life, animal and man,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-earth-is-a-garden-this-life-a-banquet-and-it-s-time-we-realized/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [... I was merely a disinterested spectator at the Banquet of Life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-dundy/i-was-merely-a-disinterested-spectator-at-the-banquet-of-life/) [Elaine Dundy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-dundy/) > [At banquets surfeit not, but fill; partake, and retire; and eat not again till you crave.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/at-banquets-surfeit-not-but-fill-partake-and-retire-and-eat-not-again/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [Unlike conventional jocks, who tend to sell aluminum siding and give canned speeches to parochial-school athletic banquets in the off-season, race drivers never shuck…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/unlike-conventional-jocks-who-tend-to-sell-aluminum-siding-and-give/) [Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/) > [We must admit that the divine banquet of the brain was, and still is, a feast with dishes that remain elusive in the blending,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/macdonald-critchley/we-must-admit-that-the-divine-banquet-of-the-brain-was-and-still-is-a/) Macdonald Critchley > [Avoid banquets which are given by strangers an ignorant persons. But if there is ever occasion to join them, let your attention be carefully…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/avoid-banquets-which-are-given-by-strangers-an-ignorant-persons-but/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [The neo-conservatives, who are closely linked to the neo-corporatists, are rather different. They claim to be conservatives, when everything they stand for is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ralston-saul/the-neo-conservatives-who-are-closely-linked-to-the-neo-corporatists/) [John Ralston Saul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ralston-saul/) > [Literature was not promulgated by a pale and emasculated critical priesthood singing their litanies in empty churches - nor is it a game for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/literature-was-not-promulgated-by-a-pale-and-emasculated-critical/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [The cabbage surpasses all other vegetables. If, at a banquet, you wish to dine a lot and enjoy your dinner, then eat as much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cato-the-younger/the-cabbage-surpasses-all-other-vegetables-if-at-a-banquet-you-wish/) [Cato the Younger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cato-the-younger/) > [With all your music, loud and lustily, With every dainty joy of sight and smell, Prepare a banquet meet to entertain The Lord of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hartley-coleridge/with-all-your-music-loud-and-lustily-with-every-dainty-joy-of-sight/) [Hartley Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hartley-coleridge/) Browse all 132 Banquets quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Reformers have long observed city people loitering on busy corners, hanging around in candy stores and bars and drinking soda popon stoops, and have passed a judgment, the gist of which is: \"This is deplorable! If these people had decent homes and a more private or bosky outdoor place, they wouldn't be on the street!\" That judgment represents a profound misunderstanding of cities. 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