1. ESC110 Chapter Fourteen Sustainability & Human Development
The slide set includes material for Chapter Fourteen of ESC110, sustainability and human development. What constitutes sustainability includes many individual aspects, but few would say that the sustainability of man-built systems is not one of the most pressing issues in Environmental Science. In particular, an urban landscape such as the Seattle downtown is relatively devoid of biological diversity consisting primarily of humans, their pets and house plants, and of course organisms that have learned to adapt to these human built environments. In Seattle and other North American cities and interesting relationship has developed with peregrine falcons. This species was in decline until they discovered that the ever-growing populations of pigeons in large cities were a reliable food source. The Washington Mutual Tower (tallest building to the right) actually gives information on the internet on the births of new falcon chicks. Since falcons have moved into cities, large pigeon populations are much less of a nuisance in towering cities.

2. Chapter Fourteen Readings & Objectives
Required Readings Cunningham & Cunningham, Chapter Fourteen Sustainability and Human Development
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
explain the difference between neoclassical and ecological economics, and how each discipline views ecological processes and natural resources
distinguish between different types and categories of resources;
discuss internal and external costs, market approaches to pollution control, and cost-benefit analysis;
analyze the role of business and some possible strategies for achieving future sustainability;
recognize the push-and-pull factors that lead to urban growth;
appreciate how cities fail to be sustainable and how they might become more sustainable;
understand the causes and consequences of crowding and pollution in cities; and,
see the connection between sustainable economic development, social justice, and the solution of urban problems.
The following are objectives and required readings. After reviewing these slides, and reading the chapter, please review them.

3. Chapter Fourteen Key Terms
nonrenewable resources 322
 open access system 325
 pull factors 333
 push factors 333
 renewable resources 323
resources 320
sprawl 337
smart growth 337
steady-state economy 322
sustainable development 320
 The Tragedy of the Commons 325
 urbanization 331
 capital page 322 of text
communal resource
management systems 325
 cost-benefit analysis (CBA) 325
 discount rate 327
 ecological economics 322
 ecological services 322
 externalizing costs 327
 gross national product (GNP) 322
 internalizing costs 327
limits to growth 324
megacities 331
The following are key terms for Chapter 14. As you study these slides and read the chapter, you may find it useful to make sure you understand these key terms. You can also consult the McGraw-Hill Course Glossary if you have a link to the internet.

4. Chapter 14 Topics Sustainability and Resources
Cost-Benefit Analysis and Natural Resource Accounting
Trade and Development
Green Business and Green Design
Urban Development and Sustainable Cities
Urban Problems in Developing Countries
Urban Sustainability in Developed Versus Developing Worlds
Cities and Sustainability
Issues of sustainability covered in Chapter 14 include, what is sustainability and how resources relate to it, using cost-benefit analysis in assessments, the role of trade and economic development, green business, problems with cities, and city planning in sustainability.

5. PART 1: SUSTAINABILITY AND RESOURCES
Sustainability is a critical theme of environmental science. It implies that resources should be used in ways that do not diminish them.
Resources are anything that is useful for creating wealth or improving our lives.
Sustainable development is when the needs of the present are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Must be available to all to be enduring, not just the privileged.
The essence of sustainability is utilizing resources in such a way so as not to diminish them over time. Resources themselves are anything that is useful for creating wealth or improving human lives. Sustainable development, in essence, is meeting the needs of society in the present without compromising the ability of people in the future to meet their own needs. Security and living standards for thee world's poorest people are inextricably linked to environmental protection. Sustainable development is a possible solution to how we can improve human welfare within the limits of earth's natural resources. The possibility of sustainable development depends on how you define resources, your theories on resource use, and your views on the possibility of extending the use of the resources we have. In this century it is estimated that two-thirds of the world's population will reside in urban areas, thus our text focuses on sustainability in urban environments.

6. Can Development be Sustainable?
Sometimes, development projects cause environmental, economic, and social disasters. Three Gorges Dam was an example of this. It provides electricity but displaces people and wildlife and accumulates pollutants.
Other times, development projects work more closely with both nature and local social systems. Seattle peas patches and the Burke Gilman Trail are examples of this.
There is a major question about whether or not development can even be sustainable. In the past and present, some development projects have caused major environmental, economic and social disasters. Waste and carbon dioxide production usually increase with increasing wealth. Cultural, political and social change usually occur within cities, and here is where health, security, political stability and quality of life must change. The most sustainable of development projects are those that have closely considered both natural and social systems in how the development was done.

7. Resources in Classical Economics
Resources can be viewed in terms of:
Classical,
Neoclassical, and
Ecological Economics
Resources in Classical Economics
Resources exist in fixed (finite) amounts.
As populations grow, scarcity of these resources reduces quality of life, increases competition, and eventually causes populations to fall again.
In a free market, supply and demand should come into market equilibrium.
Marginal Costs is the cost of producing one more unit of a product or service.
Price Elasticity is when raising the price does not necessarily reduce demand (I.e., the seller makes more money at the higher price).
To understand sustainability concepts, we need to understand the resource types we use. Our perspective and definitions of resources determine how we treat resources. There are 3 basic types of economics with respect to resource treatment. These are classical, neoclassical and ecological economics.

8. When buyers and sellers are free to make independent market decisions, prices depend on supply and demand. The costs and production of a product will be set where supply and demand are equal. This is called market equilibrium. This 19th century concept (courtesy of Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus) was modified to include marginal costs (the price or costs of an additional item) and price elasticity. These concepts led John Mill to put forth the concept of steady-state economies where an equilibrium of use and production are reached and intellectual and moral development provide for adaptations and a dynamic equilibrium as opposed to the boom and bust model of the 18th century.

9. Neoclassical Economics (19th century)
Natural resources viewed as merely factors of production rather than critical supplies of materials, services, and waste sink
Capital is any form of wealth that contributes to the production of more wealth.
Expanded idea of resources to include labor, knowledge, and capital.
Capital can be natural, human, or manufactured.
Continued growth is necessary.
Natural resources are interchangeable and substitutes can be found when a resource is depleted.
More throughput is equated with greater consumption and greater wealth.
Gross National Product (GNP) is a measure of the vigor of an economy.
Social and environmental consequences and costs are not considered.
The basis for the way that much of the world operates economically can be seen in the points bulleted above. One of the most important concepts in neoclassical economics is that of capital, which is any form of wealth that can contribute to the production of more wealth. Capital can include natural resources, living or nonliving, human beings, and things that are manufactured. Living organisms that are changed to directly make them more useful to society could also be considered a form of "manufactured" capital. Another extremely important concept of modern economics is that continued growth is desirable and even necessary. Basically, if more things are utilized, no matter how inefficiently, this contributes to wealth by increasing the throughput of material through society, the so-called "gross national product" or GNP. In general, social and environmental negatives do not matter.

10. Neoclassical Economics
This figure shows the basic model of neoclassical economics, where goods and services flow from business to workers and consumers, and those workers and consumers contribute to business with their capital. The major goal of neoclassical economics is to increase the rate of these flows (throughput) over time. The measure of this flow rate is called the Gross National Product (GNP).

11. Resource Types Ecological Economics
Resource - Anything with potential use in creating wealth or giving satisfaction.
Nonrenewable resources - Materials present in fixed amounts in the environment.
Renewable resources - Materials that can be replenished or replaced.
A big difference between early models of economies and ecological economy models is that the latter distinguishes renewable from nonrenewable resources. Good ecological models of economies also take into account time frames for renewable resources. Ecological models consider costs of pollutants to society as a whole (e.g., what are the increases in health care costs associated with polluted air and water?).
In this figure notice the pictorial difference between neoclassical economics and the addition of ecological economics, which separates matter and energy types of capital because matter capital always has the potential to be reutilized as natural resources. There is value in the processes that occur naturally just as there is value in the processes that humans carry out on purpose.
Ecological Economics

12. Ecological Economics (late 20th century)
Applies ecological ideas of system functioning and recycling to the definition of resources. Acknowledges dependence on essential life-support services provided by nature.
Natural capital is a key to economic calculations.
Ecological functions are ecological services.
Steady-state economy is one in which economic health can be maintained without constantly growing consumption and throughput.
Renewable and nonrenewable resources are distinct.
Some aspects of nature are regarded as irreplaceable and essential.
Principle concern is equitable distribution of resources and rights.
As the importance of environmental considerations have recently gained increasing societal emphasis, there has been a need to develop ways of looking at the ecological impacts of development on environmental sustainability. There are two ways of looking at this. First, the environment contains capital that is a key consideration in economic calculations. Natural resources include both raw materials that have an inherent value, and the potential for value to be added to those natural resources, both of which can increase throughput and GNP. A major consideration is to get the maximum value for society from any utilized natural resources. Second, in ecological economic considerations natural resources can offer economic benefits to society by retaining them in their natural state. For instance, growing plants serve as a sink for carbon dioxide and water and act as air purifiers, thus providing services that society might otherwise have to create. In neoclassical economics, these services would be added to GNP only if they were directly provided. In ecological economics all of these goods and services to society are quantified and added to an adjusted GNP. Another concept is that a stable, steady state economy can be developed which does not require constant growth, and that this would be a desirable economic consequence. Also, ecological economics considers the value of maintaining the production of renewable resources (such as fisheries, forests and agriculture) over the long term as more beneficial than destroying them through excessive use in the short term. Most of these seem to be no-brainers.

13. This table shows some of the important environmental services provided "free-of charge" by nature. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to express the values of ecological services in dollars.

14. Scarcity and Limits to Growth
Hubbert
Curve
Clearly, growth of an economy that relies on nonrenewable natural resources cannot go on forever, or can it? Stanley Hubbert developed models of the use of natural resources and found that sooner or later all would be used increasingly, until recoverable resources are exhausted. Hubbert curves are models for exploitation rates of nonrenewable resources. A good example of the Hubbert curve is that of the domestic production of U.S. petroleum. Petroleum was initially used primarily in shampoo because of its toxic effect on head lice. When the ability to produce gasoline from coal to fuel the new gasoline powered automobiles engines was developed, the U.S. production of petroleum increased rapidly. Production was limited mainly by the large demand for petroleum and the inability of society to pull it from the ground. Essentially, most of the readily recoverable petroleum was used. Domestic productivity then began to decline. In the case of the U.S., domestic consumption of oil continues because of imported oil which now totals 60% of total oil consumption in the United States.

15. Limits To
Growth
Model
This is a limits to growth model. It clearly shows a resource and population crash around Limits to growth models assume business-as-usual for as long as possible until industrial society crashes. A very influential book, "Limits to Growth", was published in This book describes the world economy in terms of resource development, utilization and eventual depletion. The limits to growth model assumes that businesses continue to use resources until industrial society crashed. Over time, the availability of resources would lead to the reduction of industrial output starting about 2025 with population decreasing rapidly about the year 2050.

16. Beyond The Limits Model
As an extension to the limits of growth model, the beyond the limits model considered that population and consumption could be curbed, new technologies introduced, and sustainable development embraced, with a steady state of industrial output about the year This would result in a stable population that peaked, not crashed, about 2050.
Beyond the limits model of population and resource situations predict what happens should we act now, rather than later. This model assumes that limited resources (one's depleted) will be maintained by conservation and foresighted innovative replacements for deficiencies that do show. Beyond the Limits models assume that population and consumption will be curbed, new technologies will be introduced, and sustainable environmental policies will be embraced before resources are exhausted.

17. Communal Property and the Tragedy of the Commons
Tragedy of the Commons is when commonly held resources are degraded and destroyed by self-interest
Open access systems have no rules to manage resource use.
Communal resource management systems enforce restraint over harvesting.
Privatization, instead of solving problems, often leads to disaster.
Garret Hardin argued that commonly held resources are inevitably degraded because self-interests of individuals tend to outweigh public interests. He theorized each individual will attempt to maximize personal gain.
Critics of Hardin’s concept claim Hardin was not describing a commons, but an open access system to communal property with no rules to manage resource use.
One sad but well documented aspect of resource utilization is that of the tragedy of the commons. The tragedy of the commons holds that resources are degraded and ultimately destroyed by human greed and self-interest. In his classic 1968 book with the same title, biologist Garrett Hardin noted that in the classic commons system, people own land equally but other property individually. The tendency is then to accumulate resources, such as cows, that graze the land. A person that had two cows would acquire twice as much wealth as a person that had one cow, and-so-on. Eventually, overgrazing would destroy the Commons if there are no rules to manage the resource wisely. In reality, there are many environmental commons including air, water, forests, and mineral materials. The key to preserving commons is to make it in the individual's best interest to preserve them, including creating and enforcing laws that provide punitive measures for environmental destruction.

18. Features of a Sustainable Commons
Communal Resource Management Systems
Community members have lived on resource.
Resource has clearly defined resource.
Group size is known and enforced.
Resource is relatively scarce and variable.
Local, collective management strategies.
Resource and use are actively monitored.
Effective conflict resolution mechanisms.
Incentives encourage rules compliance.
Some commons have survived for centuries despite the inherent logic of Hardin's tragedy of the commons scenario. This slidle lists attributes of commons that have persevered.

19. PART 2: COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS & NATURAL RESOURCE ACCOUNTING
Cost-Benefit Analysis For Reducing Air Pollution
Cost-benefit analysis is a process whereby benefits and costs of a project are calculated and compared. In theory, if the benefit:cost ratio is greater than 1.0 then the net benefits of a project are greater than the net costs, and so would be beneficial to society. If the benefit:cost ratio is 2.0, then there would be twice as many benefits as costs; if 0.5, costs would exceed benefits by two times and the project could not be justified economically. For instance, this figure shows the benefit cost analysis of reducing air pollution to the installation of electrostatic precipitators in Poland, famous for its serious air pollution caused by burning high sulfur coal. The first few levels of air pollution reduction are very inexpensive and result in major health benefits, creating a very high cost benefit ratio. However removing an ever smaller amount of air pollution gets more and more expensive with the public health benefits lower, resulting in a 1.0 CBR at about 65% pollution reduction.
This Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) is a major part of natural resource accounting. CBA assigns values to resources and social and environmental effects of an undertaking and finds optimal efficiency where marginal cost of pollution control equals the marginal benefit. Criticisms include lack of standards, inadequate attention to alternatives, and monetary values for intangible costs and benefits.

20. Accounting for nonmonetary resources means that it is necessary to:
assign value to ecological services;
use alternative measures of wealth & development;
account for resource depletion or ecosystem damage;
calculate an Index of sustainable economic welfare; and
determine a human development index
A major criticism in calculating cost-benefit ratios is the problem with placing monetary values on things that are typically not sold, so that the value is not known. For instance, this table shows the estimated annual values of some ecological services. The natural process of soil formation; for instance, contributes an enormous amount of value to the world economy because soil is necessary for growing food and so many other of the Earth's renewable resources. This estimate places ecological services at 33 trillion dollars per year. Of course, this is just an estimate. Another problem with estimating the value of services is differentiating between services absolutely required to society and services that are not necessary. For instance, The Wall Street Journal in its wisdom a few years ago published an article that considered that agriculture was unimportant to the U.S. economy because it constituted only about 2% of the U.S. economy. Of course, without that 2 percent all humans would starve to death, meaning that the other 98 percent of the economy would also fail.

21. Internal Versus External Costs
Discount Rates
Economic method of introducing a time factor into accounting such that future commodities have reduced value. This means you expect them to be worth more today than in the future.
Internal Versus External Costs
Internal costs are expenses borne by those using a resource.
External costs are expenses borne by someone other than those using a resource.
Internalizing costs is a method of insuring those that reap the benefit of resource use also bear all external costs.
Large public projects with environmental implications are often presented with low discount rates in order to make them more attractive. Choice of discount rates is problematic with intangible resources and long time frames. Environmentalist tend to use higher rates that question the value of the investment. To calculate sustainable resource use, it may be best to not use discount rates thus making current rates as important as current resources.
Often times (especially with mining and processing ore) external environmental costs are not paid by the companies that derive revenue from the venture. If subsequent to extraction of a resource the mining company goes bankrupt, then society is caught with external costs. This also means there is no one to sue for medical afflictions that might arise from the operation.

22. PART 3: TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT
A sustainable society requires an equitable resource distribution.
International trade externalizes costs by leaving environmental external costs to less developed countries with no environmental laws.
This is major reason for controversies with WTO, GATT & World Bank.
Microlending supports sustainable economies
Distribution of the world's resources is a major societal issue. For instance, most people need much less than the average American consumes to live a very good life. According to economic theory and comparative advantage, each place has goods or services it can supply in better quality, or at better prices, than its neighbors. This theory keeps less-developed countries in a perpetual role of resource suppliers to more-developed countries. By externalizing costs, resource-exploiting enterprises can make themselves look better in cost-benefit analysis use to determine whether projects should go forward or not.
Those who have traveled extensively have seen the world divided into three camps. The first camp includes people who don't have adequate food, clothing, or shelter no matter how hard they work. The second camp includes people who get by reasonably well, with enough food and adequate other necessities with an occasional luxury, by working hard and efficiently. In the third camp, books on diet and losing weight are best sellers.
The comparative advantage theory states that each place has some good or service it can sell cheaper, or better than others can. International trade thus, allows buyers the advantage of the best or cheapest products from around the world. This can lead to the internalization of costs on a grand scale, and many claim international banking system set up by and for wealthy countries. Microlending not only more readily supports small ecologically sustainable businesses of indigenous people, but also provides women who usually have no collateral or steady income. These loans are more often repaid.

23. PART 4: GREEN BUSINESS AND GREEN DESIGN
Whether or not the goods and services that we consume every day are produced sustainably and without excessive impact to the environment is becoming increasingly important to many people in regards to whether or not they are willing to buy them. Businesses are increasingly marketing themselves and their products as "green". For instance, the National Marine pages lists over 2000 companies that supposedly adhere to issues the sustainability and environmental protection in the production of their products. These stores and businesses are really neat places to check out, particularly in terms of their approaches to being considered green.
Links can be seen at:

24. Market-based Environmental Protection
Green Business
During first Industrial Revolution, raw materials were seen as inexhaustible. Recently many businesses have realized this theory is flawed.
Operating in a socially responsible manner consistent with principles of sustainable development can be good for sales, public relations and employee morale.
Green businesses are a fraction of the total economy, but they are pioneers in developing innovative technologies & services.
Market-based Environmental Protection
Pollution Charges are when fees are assessed per unit of effluent. Such fees encourage businesses to perform as much pollution control as possible.
Tradable Permits allow companies or nations that can reduce pollution below target levels to sell their excess capacity.
First in business changes supporting sustainability is the need to convince entrepreneurs of the benefits to converting to green business practices. Hand-in-hand with this conversion in practices is the provision of legal incentives to clean up and disincentives to pollute.

25. This table shows some of the goals that an ecologically sustainable economy should include, such as not polluting the air, soil, water because these are the basis for sustainable resources, measuring prosperity as positive impacts on society, measuring productivity partly in terms of how wealth is distributed, considering future generations' ability to enjoy a good life in a healthy environment, and developing renewable energy sources.

26. Jobs and the Environment
Businessmen and politicians claim pollution control, protection of natural areas and endangered species, and limits on use of nonrenewable resources slow our economy and cost jobs.
Ecological economists found that 0.1% of large-scale layoffs in the U.S. were due to gov't. regulations.
Recycling takes more labor than using virgin materials.
An issue that commonly comes up in regard to environmental protection versus the economy is the issue of "jobs and the environment ". The idea that environmental protection and job creation are exclusive is quite ridiculous. In many cases, developing and implementing systems that protect environmental and human health is quite economically feasible for several reasons. In particular, protecting human health means that less of society's economic output must be spent on treating sick people. Economic resources spent simply to repair human health problems created by pollution are wasted resources. Secondly, when renewable resources are maintained throughout utilization, it is likely that they will produce many times more economic output than resources that are quickly squandered. Third, the development of any new technologies creates jobs and business opportunities.
Only 0.1% of all large scale layoffs from work were dud to environmental laws and regulations. In contrast many jobs were created through environmental cleanup programs and environmentally favorable technological advances.

27. PART 5: URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABLE CITIES
Until now majority of world's people lived in rural areas. Today 50% live in industrialized urban areas (>10,000,00 = megalopolises or megacities).
Nearly half of the world now lives in urban areas, particularly in the largest cities of the world. This is a relatively recent phenomenon in world history, where as recently as 70 or 80 years ago more than half of the world population lived in rural areas and were employed primarily in the production of food. A good example is the Harrison family, my ancestors. In the early 1600's, several of my ancestors moved from Germany to Virginia by way of England. Of 12 generations of my ancestors, all were farmers except my father. I am also not a farmer except perhaps in my dreams. During the time the Harrisons have lived in what is now the United States, the rural population decreased from nearly all of the United States to only about 25 percent of the United States, and farmers from close to 100% to about 1%. As food is produced more and more efficiently, at least relative to the number of people working in agriculture, the world's population will continue to urbanize.

28. U.S. Urban Core Agglomerations
For instance, this figure shows the change in rural versus urban residents in the U.S. from 1800 to Notice that in the early 1970's, the trend stabilized Somewhat, primarily due to the retirement of many U.S. Americans into more rural locations.
Another interesting aspect of the urbanization of the United States is the development of urban cores that include substantial area of land where information, capital, labor, goods and services interact very strongly within the same urban area. The areas here outlined in Husky purple include some of these urban core areas in the U.S. Notice, in particular, the enormous urban conglomeration in the Northeastern United States starting with Portland, Maine in the north, and ending with Norfolk,Virginia in the South. Nearly all of these areas are continuing to grow in the U.S.

29. Left - Cities in Developing Countries
Not only are urban areas gathering an increasing share of the population in the world's most highly developed countries, but the same is also true in most developing countries. Nearly every region of the world will have the majority of its population in urban areas within the next 20 years is so.
What constitutes a large city by world standards is becoming increasingly larger. Increasingly, in the future the largest cities in the world will be in the developing countries, where economies already have trouble feeding and housing current residents.
Right - Large City Growth: 1984, 2025

30. Future Growth: Developing Countries
This figure estimates changes in the growth of developed and developing countries by the United Nations. It shows that nearly all population growth in the world will occur in urban areas of developing countries. Rural areas of developing countries and urban areas of developing countries have already stabilized in the world as a whole, and the rural population in developed countries is actually decreasing. In many cases, the human situation in the largest cities of developing countries is desperate, and it is likely that this trend will continue. In 1850, only 2% of world population lived in cities. By 2002, 47% of world population lived in urban areas. Only Africa and South Asia remain predominantly rural. Expected that 90% of population growth over the next 25 years will occur in less-developed countries.
Growth can be by natural increase from more births than deaths. This occurs with improved food supplies, sanitation and medicine all working to reduce death rates. Natural increase is the mechanism for growth in Latin America and East Asia. Immigration is the biggest cause of urban growth in Africa and West Asia. Immigration is due to factors that force people out of countries (push factors) or ones that draw them into urban areas (pull factors). Governmental policies can also influence urban growth, usually producing incentives to urbanized and disincentives to stay or move to rural areas.

31. Gov't policies favor urban over rural areas in push and pull factors.
Immigration
Push Factors
Overpopulation
Economics
Politics
Racial or Religious Conflicts
Land Tenure
Changes in Agriculture
Large monoculture farms push out small farmers.
Pull Factors
Excitement and Vitality
Jobs
Housing
Entertainment
Social Mobility and Power
Specialization of Professions
Here are characteristics of push-pull factors.
Gov't policies favor urban over rural areas in push and pull factors.
Developing countries often spend majority of budgets on improving urban areas.
Major cities gain a monopoly on new jobs, education and general opportunities.

32. PART 6: URBAN PROBLEMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Dense traffic, smoky factories, use of wood or coal fires cause excessive air pollution.
Lenient pollution laws, corrupt officials and ignorance cause even more pollution.
Only 35% of urban residents in developing countries have satisfactory sanitation services.
Anyone who has traveled extensively in countries of the developing world probably knows firsthand the problem of urban areas. For instance, on the road from Guarulhos airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil, one usually drives along the Rio Tiete (Tiete River), which was one of the main avenues of migration into the interior of the state and presently runs near urban population centers. There are abundant squatter towns where garbage and raw sewage has is dumped directly into the river. My children always comment on a nasty smell and how evil the water in this river appears. Such unappealing conditions are quite common in urban areas of developing countries. I should point out that I spent 2003 on sabbatical in Brazil developing methods of applying sewage sludge to forest land. The sludge is being produced as Brazil builds sewage treatment plants and begins to treat human waste with the idea of cleaning up the Rio Tiete.

33. Urban Problems in the Developing World
Many problems arise from unplanned and uncontrollable growth.
Lack of Infrastructure
Adequate Food
Housing
Jobs
Basic Residential Services
Pictures show a bustling, overcrowded urban environment. On the right is a favela (shantytown) of Rio de Janeiro. U.N. estimates 1 billion people live in crowded, unsanitary slums of shantytowns. These communities quickly fill unoccupied edges of town, where squatters can build shelters close to the city. Such residential areas house nearly half of the 20 million people of Mexico City. Dense traffic, smoky factories, and use of wood or coal fires often create a tremendous amount of air pollution in Third World cities. Few cities in developing countries can afford to build modern waste treatment systems. Worldwide, access to good water is a major problem.

34. PART 7: URBAN SUSTAINABILITY IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD
The rapid growth of central cities in Europe and North America has now slowed or even reversed.
The good news is better air and water quality, safer working conditions, fewer communicable diseases.
The bad news is urban decay and sprawl and transportation issues have worsened
There are also similar problems in the developed world's cities, but in many cases the application of effort to clean up water has already yielded results. A wonderful example of this is the present condition of Lake Washington as an important city landmark. The quality of water in Lake Washington is somewhat variable, but generally very good. During the 1940's until the 1960's Lake Washington was an open sewer and unhealthy for swimmers. The quality of water in Lake Washington increased rapidly after sewage treatment plants were built in the 1970's and their secondary sewage diverted to Puget Sound. Additionally, cities and developed countries have slowed their previous rapid growth. One major problem is the decay of the infrastructure in such cities and urban sprawl.
Rapid growth of cities that accompanied industrialization has mostly slowed or reversed. Many of the environmental problems have been reduced. Major polluters have moved to developing countries.

35. A Current Developed World Problem Is Urban Sprawl
In most American metropolitan areas, the bulk of new housing is in large, tract developments that leapfrog beyond city edges in search of inexpensive land.
Urban sprawl consumes about 200,000 ha of US agricultural land annually.
Planning authorities are often divided among many small local jurisdictions.
The picture on this slide shows a typical area of residential urban sprawl. Couple this with the local mall and its parking lots and you might begin to appreciate the magnitude of the problems such as increases in the amount and rapidity of storm water runoff.

36. Urban Decay
and Sprawl
This before and after image sequence shows typical growth associated with American cities. Notice in particular, that the urban boundary of the city has sprawled outward. Define infrared colors.

37. Transportation
Most American cities devote about a third of their land area to cars.
Freeways have profoundly reshaped our lives.
Public transportation is expensive and difficult to establish.
One of the major problems associated with a typical American city is the issue of transportation. The average American feels that they should be able to travel anywhere they want, anytime they want, using their car. Obviously, this system works only as long as society is willing to devote a considerable amount of the land area of the city to transportation, and when very many people exercise this option no amount of land area would be sufficient to handle the traffic generated. In particular, the next time you're on the road during a busy commute, count the number of cars and only have a single passenger in them. This is a relatively recent phenomenon, as in the past very few people could afford cars and more than half shared the commute with others. When automobiles could be afforded by a typical American household, they only had one. There are two vehicles in the Harrison household, and two drivers. My sister Bronda has six vehicles and a household of two drivers, largely due to her husband. Nearly everyone in Seattle agrees that people should carpool or use mass-transit to reduce traffic congestion. However, not very many people choose to do so, and when asked, typically point out that their lives are more complicated than others.

38. PART 8: CITY PLANNING AND SUSTAINABILITY City planning has a long history!
City planning is nothing new. Many of the world's earliest cities in India, Egypt, and Mesopotamia were built in an organized fashion and often were sectioned into different regions for different purposes. Transportation links were constructed between these regions. Unfortunately, many of the largest cities in the world today are not very pleasant places in which to live.

39. Urban Sustainability in the Developed World
Limit city sizes
Greenbelts, open space
Development planning
Encourage walking, car alternatives
More diverse housing
Grow food locally
Public participation
There are many possibilities for making cities more livable and sustainable. For instance, limiting the size of cities to only what is required to make a city viable and maintaining greenbelts around cities add to the city's livability and sustainability. Anything that allows transportation to use less of the city's area and fossil fuels (or eliminates the need for it) makes the city both more livable and more sustainable. For instance, in Seattle, the pea-patch system allows people to grow their own food locally and enjoy it in areas near to their own homes. They are literally able to garden with their neighbors. The Burke-Gilman trail is another feature of Seattle making it more relaxing and sustainable.

40. Urban Sprawl in Developed Countries
Because many Americans live far from work, they consider a private automobile essential. The average US driver spends 443 hours per year behind a steering wheel. In some metropolitan areas, it is estimated one-third of all land is devoted to automobile infrastructure. Traffic congestion costs US $78 billion annually in wasted fuel and time.
People in the Central Puget Sound do not have to look far to find examples of urban sprawl.

41. Smart Growth
Smart growth makes effective use of land resources and existing infrastructure by encouraging in-fill development.
It attempts to provide transportation options.
Goal is not to block growth, but to channel it to areas where it can be sustained over the long term.
It protects environmental quality.
Smart growth involves developmental planning with sustainability in mind.

42. Designing For Open Space
Traditional suburban development typically divides land into a checkerboard layout of nearly identical 1-5 ha parcels with no designated open space.
Conservation Development preserves at least half of a subdivision as natural areas, farmland, or other forms of open space.
The next slide will give an example of how open space can be created in densely populated urban areas.

43. Designing for open space favors cluster housing (open-space zoning) over conventional subdivisions. Here, both plans contain 36 sites, but the lower has cluster homes.
Creating subdivisions with shared open space and smaller individual lot sizes encourages public participation in caring for the open spaces. Some of the newer developments in the Seattle area include clustered lots, with at least half of the area is preserved as woods, wetlands, farms, or other conservation areas. The unfenced common areas typically provide hiking trails and better views than a conventional subdivision would for each owner. In the picture (lower right) of a residential area, buildings were constructed as clusters. Such plot plans maintain a higher percentage of open space as public commons.

44. This table shows some important indicators of urban sustainability utilized in studying urban ecosystems. These range from how well children are taken care of and educated to the quality of air and water, and the availability of recreational opportunities for citizens of the city. A key criteria would be whether or not current citizens of the city wish to stay and raise their children there as they look forward to the future of the city.

45. Ways to Achieve Urban Sustainability
Limit city size, or organize into modules of 30,000 to 50,000 people.
Maintain greenbelts in and around cities.
Determine in advance where development will take place.
Locate everyday services more conveniently.
Encourage walking and low-speed vehicles.
Promote more diverse, flexible housing as an alternative to conventional housing.
Grow food locally, recycling wastes and water, etc.
Invite public participation in decision-making.
Plan cluster housing, or open-space zoning, which preserves at least half of a subdivision as natural areas, or other forms of open space.
A fun exercise might be to find examples within your favorite city in which urban sustainability has be improved or worsened in recent times. What factors have acted as stimulants or causes of these changes?

46. What Can Be Done to Improve Conditions in Third World Cities?
Civic action, environmental education
Redistribution of unproductive land, squatters’ rights
Rolling land banks
Democracy, security, improved economic conditions
Social welfare safety net
Local nontraditional exchange of goods
Though some major strides have been made in making cities in the developed countries of the world more livable and sustainable, very little planning and effort has gone into how to do this in most cities in poorer countries of the world. Again, the major factor in improving the quality of life in cities is to provide a safe, healthy environment where citizens of the city can work to better their lives and through their actions feel they are improving the future for their children and others.

47. Sustainable Development in the Third World
Many planners argue social justice and sustainable economic development are answers to urban problems.
Another important measure of progress may be institution of social welfare providing care to the sick and elderly.
The best way may be for developing countries to delink from international economic systems and develop self-sustainability.
The best way to help urban areas to develop in a sustainable fashion is for government to help people help themselves. This slide depicts an urban shanty town in Mexico City in which the government has just developed the electrical infrastructure and the citizens of the shanty town are now responding by developing their neighborhoods. Electricity brings in the potential for refrigeration, lighting, kitchen appliances, washing machines, etc. All of these improve living conditions and often are environmentally cleaner.