Review for the Final

 There was part of a line on the survey that shouldn’t have been there. If you haven’t already filled out the survey, please disregard it (just cross it out).  The exam – on Friday the 24 th, from 1 to 4 in Building 250, Room 125 – will consist of a mix of T/F, multiple choice, short answers (definitions, etc.), and essay questions. Most the points will come from the latter two categories.  How do the natural, social, economic and built environments interact?  Offer a definition of (urban) sustainability.

How are cities a major factor in exacerbating climate change and what can be done about it? What is peak oil and what are its implications for cities? What are the implications of the changing demographics for how we plan cities? What about the changing economic base? What about the increasingly important role of arts and culture and place-making vs. space- utilization ?

How have the issues facing planners and municipalities changed in recent years? How have urban growth patterns changed since World War II and before and what have been the driving forces behind these changes? What is sprawl and what are some of the ways governments subsidized it? What has been the attraction of suburbia? What have been the characteristics and consequences? What have been the past and, to some degree, present commands of zoning?

 What type of urban environment – one or two- storey, 4-5 storey, or high-rise – has the least environmental impact, especially in terms of energy consumption and greenhouse gas production?  What is green building, what are some rating systems, and what are some examples of ‘green neighbourhoods’ or developments?  What could be done to encourage green buildings?

How can cities reduce their production of GHGs and their ecological footprint? What are some of the potential impacts of climate change, ecological and social? What are Condon’s 7 Rules and (how) are they interrelated? What is the “streetcar suburb”? Does it characterize the traditional pattern of all North American cities? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the grid vs. other patterns (radial, dendritic, superblock)?

Why are land use and transportation planning so heavily intertwined, and why is transportation a health issue? What is the relationship between housing density and mode of transport? What are the advantages of buses vs. streetcars vs. LRT vs. ‘heavy’ Skytrain and subway technologies, and by what criteria are they to be evaluated? What are some elements involved in optimizing transportation choice? What does mixed use look like and how does it relate to the five-minute walking circle (pedestrian shed)? What are new urbanism and smart growth ?

What does “jobs/ housing mix” refer to? How does one optimize diversity and affordability of housing, including for the homeless? What are the implications of different building types for ecological footprint? What is the meaning of the statement “the site is to the region as the cell is to the body”? What does it mean to “design with nature”? How can one integrat e the natural and built environments in an urban context? What would your principles be for a sustainable city be?

What are conservation subdivisions ? What do linked green networks look like, and in what way are they potentially multi-functional ? How does one protect and restore the hydrological regime in an urban region? How does one protect other ecological services ? How to optimize permeability and diminish ‘hardscaping’? What are the obstacles to and opportunities for creating more sustainable cities and regions? What are some particularly noteworthy examples of sustainable cities and regions?

What is the infrastructure deficit ? What is the “urban heat island effect”? What is urban agriculture and what are some ways of promoting it? What is food security ? What are food deserts ? How is the retail environment changing? Why should we care about small retail and, if we do, how can we protect it? How is the economics basis of communities changing more generally? What is the ‘knowledge economy’?

What is gentrification and how does it manifest itself? What is the difference between modernism and post-modernism in planning and architecture? Where do arts and culture fit in to the economy and to the public realm? What is the difference between community and public art? How can they be used effectively as part of a sustainability strategy? What is urban design ? What are implications of an aging population?

What are ‘age-friendly’ communities? What is ‘universal design’ ? What are the implications of an increasingly multi-cultural community? How have different groups been accommodated? What are some different ways of involving people in decision-making?

What are some hallmarks of good public spaces? What helps them to work well? What qualities should parks have? Are there different parks for different purposes? How can we overcome the polarization between ecology, functionalisms, aesthetics, and fostering civic engagement? What are some of the different varieties of housing in different cultures? Are there cultural reasons for preferring one form of housing over another? How does housing form impact on sociability?