Sustainable Cities! Ericah Lewis 11D

Urbanization  Urbanization- the creation and growth of urban areas, or cities and their surrounding developed land.  Urban growth- the rate of increase of urban populations.  Grows in two ways- 1. immigration 2. natural increase  79% of Americans/ 50% of the world’s people live in urban areas.

Push/ Pull Factors  Push- poverty, lack of land for growing food, declining agricultural jobs, famine, and war.  Pull- jobs, food, housing, educational oppertunities, better health care, entertainment, and freedom

Four Major Trends in Urban Population  1. The proportion of the global population living in urban areas is increasing.  2. Urban areas are expanding rapidly in number and size.  3. Urban growth is much slower in developed countries than in developing countries.  4. Poverty is becoming increasingly urbanized, mostly in developing countries.

Case Study: Urbanization in the U.S  Percentage of Americans living in urban areas between has increased from 5% to 79%  This happened in four phases:  1.People migrated from rural areas to large central cities.  2. Many people migrated from large central cities to smaller cities or suburbs.  3. Many people have migrated from the North and East to the South and West.  4. Some people have fled both cities and suburbs and migrated to developed rural areas.

Urban Sprawl  Urban Sprawl- the growth of low-density development on the edges of cities and towns  Six major factors promoted urban sprawl in the U.S-  Ample land, government loans, automobile use and development encouraged, tax laws encourage home ownership, laws favoring large residential lots, multiple political jurisdictions.

Urbanization Advantages  Cities are centers of economic development, innovation, education, technological advances, and jobs, industry, commerce and transportation.  Longer lives, lower infant mortality rate and fertility rates.  Better access to medical care, family planning, education, and social services.  Recycling is more feasible, preserves biodiversity, saves energy.

Urbanization Disadvantages  They have huge ecological footprints.  They lack vegetation.  They have water problems.  They concentrate pollution and health problems.  They have noise pollution- any unwanted, disturbing, or harmful sound that impairs of interferes with hearing, causes stress, hampers concentration and work efficiency, or causes accidents.  They have different climates and experience light pollution.

Case Study: Mexico City  The world’s second most populous city.  19 million people live there with an increase of at least 400,000 each year.  Suffers from severe air pollution, close to 50% unemployment, deafening noise, overcrowding, traffic congestion, inadequate public transportation, and soaring crime rate.  Air and water pollution causes an estimated 100,000 premature deaths per year.

City Expansion  Cities can either grow outward or upward.  Outward growth creates dispersed cities.  Upward growth creates compact cities.

Motor Vehicles: Advantages/ Disadvantages  Advantages: Convenient, comfortable, power, sex appeal, social status  Disadvantages: Kills app. 1.2 million people a year, world’s largest source of air pollution, fastest growing source of climate changing carbon dioxide emissions, one third of the world’s oil consumption, traffic jams…   

Alternatives to Vehicles  Bicycles- healthy lifestyle, no emissions, less congestion, cheap  Heavy- rail systems (subways, elevated railways, metro trains)  Light- rail systems (street cars, trolley cars, and tramways)  Buses  Rapid-rail system

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Case Study: Destroying a Great Mass Transit System in the United States  In 1917 all major cities in the U.S had light- rail systems.  Big vehicle related businesses such as General Motors, Firestone Tire, SOC, Phillips Petroleum, and Mack Truck joined together to form Nation City Lines.  This company bought out and dismanteled privately owned streetcar systems in 83 major cities.  Their goal? Increase sales of cars!

Conventional Land-Use Planning  Land-use planning encourages future population growth and economic development, regardless of the environmental and social consequences.  Zoning- a process where various parcels of land are designated for certain uses.

Smart Growth  Smart growth- encourages more environmentally sustainable development and reduces the dependence on cars, controls and directs sprawl, and cuts wasteful resource use.  Good example of smart growth: Portland, Oregon. (Most livable/ greenest city in U.S)  The next nine greenest cities of the U.S are: San Francisco, Boston Oakland, Eugene, Cambridge, Berkley, Chicago, Austin and Minneapolis.

Preserving Open Space  Urban growth boundary- draws a line around each community and to allow no urban development outside those boundaries.  Forming municipal parks  Surrounding large cities with a greenbelt (an open area reserved for recreation, sustainable forestry and other nondestructive uses.

New Urbanism  Cluster development- high density housing units are concentrated on one portion of a parcel, with the rest of the land as a commonly shared open space.  New Urbanism/ Old Villageism principles: walkablilty, mixed-use and diversity, quality urban design, environmental sustainability, smart transportation

Case Study: China’s Vision for an Ecocity  In 2008 China began constructing an ecocity, called Dongtan.  China wants Dongtan to be the first “carbon neutral” city. (carbon emissions will be offset by its carbon absorption.)  The goal is to cut the city’s ecological footprint to half that of comparable conventional cities and to be the first “zero-solid-waste city”

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Ecovillages  Ecovillage movement- small groups of people come together to design and live in more sustainable villages and eco- hoods in rural, suburban, and urban areas.  Now its your turn.. go forth and be an ecovillager!!

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