The Nature of Economies (Jane Jacobs)

Jane Jacobs major points in the book:

(coming soon)

(Photo courtesy of Streetsblog.org)

And my thought: if rural areas--and Detroit--act like arid regions in their failure to hold and find multiple uses for energy (or imports), and thus energy leaves the system almost as quickly as it enters (as exports), and thus economies are poorly developed (or poorly expanded), how does this notion of "capturing and holding energy" and "producing surplus" (to borrow from permaculture) apply to the individual home? To home economics?

A house imports everything: building materials, energy, water, decoration, tools, dishes, furniture, home electronics, appliances, clothing, communications, etc. It exports a person, or people - productive economic participants. How might it capture and use more of this energy and become more of a unit of production itself?

For reflection: this interview with the authors of "The Urban Homestead" by The Survival Podcast's Jack Spirko. Jack's got a great notion of converting the home from a consumer to a producer.