 Jacobs was communitarian, according to Zukin, looking to the community rather than the state for solutions to social problems.Zukin, on the other hand, is a strong believer in the need for government to promote and protect equity measures, saying, “I can’t emphasize enough how important laws are, zoning laws, rent controls, commercial rent controls”.Zukin faults Jacobs for not using her writing and activism to demand “stronger zoning laws to encourage a mix of housing, factories, stores and schools," noting that "she did not support more permanent rent controls to ensure a mix of poorer and richer tenants, of successful businesses and start-ups.”

Zukin disagrees with Richard Florida's influential and controversial theory on the role of the "creative class" in the economic growth of post-industrial cities.