APES Chapter 13
Smart growth
"building up not out" -mix land use -take advantage of compact building designs -create a range of housing opportunities and choices -create walkable neighborhoods -foster distinctive attractive communities with a strong sense of place -preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas -strengthen and direct development towards existing communities -provide a variety of transportation options -make development decisions predictable, fair and cost-effective -encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions
Urban sustainability advocates suggest that cities:
-maximize efficient use of resources -recycle as much as possible -develop environmentally friendly technologies -account full for external costs -offer tax incentives to encourage sustainable practices -Use locally produced resources -Use organic waste and wastewater to restore soil fertility -encourage urban agriculture
Urban growth boundary (UGB)
A line on a map intended to separate areas desired to be urban from areas desired to be rural
Herbert Girardet
An urban scholar, he calculated that the ecological footprint of London, England, extends 125 times larger than the city's actual area.
Uncentered commercial strip development
Businesses are arrayed in a long strip along a roadway, and no attempt is made to create a centralized community with easy access to consumers
Testing you comprehension 4) What are city planning and regional planning? Contrast planning with zoning. Give some suggestions made by early planners, such as Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennet.
City and regional planning are used to build more sustainable cities. Early planners use zoning and many other techniques to help plan cities.
Testing you comprehension 7) How are city parks thought to make urban areas more livable? What types of smaller spaces in cities can serve some of the functions of parks?
City parks are thought to make urban areas livable because people desire to have green space and parks provide that. Greenways and other features are smaller but provide some of the benefits of parks.
What determines of a small settlement will become a big city?
Climate, topography, and access to waterways.
transit-oriented development
Compact communities in the new urbanist style are arrayed around stops on a major rail transit line, enabling people to travel most places they need to go by train and foot alone.
Scattered or leapfrog development
Developments are created at great distances from a city center and are not integrated
National Science Foundation's Long Term Ecological Research (LTER)
Funded researchers to study cities as ecosystems.
Low-density single-use development
Homes are located on large lots in residential tracts far away from commercial amenities
Calculating Ecological Footprints 3) How could you reduce your CO2 emissions? How many pounds of emissions do you think you can realistically eliminate over the course of the next year?
I can reduce my emissions by riding my bike, walking, and car pooling more.
Seeking Solutions 5) You are a person who aims to live in the most ecologically sustainable way you can. Which of the following places would you choose to live; in a high-rise apartment in a big city or on a 40-acre ranch abutting a national forest? Why? What considerations will you factor into your decision?
I think I would choose the second location because I can provide myself with food and live in a sustainable way that protects the environment around me.
Seeking Solutions 4) All things considered, do you feel that cities are a positive thing or a negative thing for environmental quality? How much do you feel that we may be able to improve the sustainability of our urban areas?
I think cities have good and bad qualities, they are good because they don't effect other ecosystems directly but they are bad because they effect ecosystems indirectly(i.e. pollution). I feel that if people really put in an effort and worked together that we could improve the sustainability of our cities tremendously.
Seeking Solutions 3) Would you personally want to live in a neighborhood developed in the style of the new urbanism? Would you like to live in a city or region with an urban growth boundary? Why or why not?
I think that the idea behind new urbanism is very good,but i'm not sure that walking to everything is realistic, I think I would be satisfied to live in a half-new urbanism community. I don't think that I would want to live in a city with an urban growth boundary because the city could get too crowded.
Interpreting Graphs & Data 3) If zoning ordinances slowed urban sprawl and resulted in a doubling of urban population density in a city like Houston, Texas, how would you predict the carbon emissions per capita in that city might change.
I would predict that the carbon emissions per capita will go down drastically.
Seeking Solutions 6) After you earn your college degree, you are offered three equally desirable jobs, in three very different locations. If you take the first, you will live in the midst of a populated city. If you accept the second, you will live in a suburb where you have more space but where development and sprawl may soon surround you for many miles. If you select the third, you will live in a rural area with plenty of space but few cultural amenities. Where would you choose to live? Why?
I would select the third job because I live being with nature and I like having more open space around me.
Testing you comprehension 1) What factos lie behind the shift of population from urban to rural areas? What types of cities are experiencing the fastest urban growth today and why?
People are moving to rural areas because they want more space. Cities have more urban growth when they have more sustainable practices.
Testing you comprehension 5) How are some people trying to prevent or slow sprawl? Describe some key elements of "smart growth". What effects, positive and negative, do urban growth boundaries tend to have?
People are using urban growth boundaries(UGB) to try to stop/slow sprawl. Smart growth uses zoning and UGBs to try to build sustainable cities. UGB positives include the protection of natural land and negatives include more population within a city and a higher ecological footprint.
Testing you comprehension 6) Describe several apparent benefits of rail transit systems. What is a potential drawback?
Rail transit systems provide an ample amount of transportation to many people and reduce emissions and congestion. These systems are also cost effective. A potential drawback to this system is the crime that could come along with it.
Testing you comprehension 9) Describe the connection between urban ecology and sustainable cities. List three actions a city can take to enhance its sustainability.
Researchers in the field of urban ecology hold that cities can be explicitly viewed as ecosystems and that the fundamentals of ecosystem ecology and system science apply to urban areas. This helps the ideal of sustainable cities and helps find ways to make cities more sustainable. Cities can enhance sustainability by transportation (electric cars, railways, etc), sparse street networks, and creating greenways.
Urban ecology
Researchers in this field hold that cities can be explicitly viewed as ecosystems and that the fundamentals of ecosystem ecology and system science apply to urban areas
Calculating Ecological Footprints 1) What transportation system will give you the most miles traveled per unit of carbon dioxide emitted?
Riding a bicycle will give you the most miles per unit of carbon emissions.
Sparse street network
Roads are far enough apart that moderate-sized areas go undeveloped, but not far enough apart for these areas to function as natural areas or sites for recreation
Calculating Ecological Footprints 2) Clearly, it is unlikely that any of us will walk or bicycle 12,000 miles per year, or travel only in vanpools of eight people. In the last two columns, estimate what proportion of the 12,000 annual miles you think that you actually travel by each method, and then calculate the CO2 emissions that you are responsible for generating over the course of a year. Which transportation option accounts for the most emissions for you?
See my book (I bought) for calculations Over the course of a year I am responsible for 2805.5 lbs of emissions per year. Driving in a car with one other person accounts for most of my emissions.
Suburbs
Smaller towns outside of small cities
Testing you comprehension 3) Give two definitions of sprawl. Describe five negative impacts that have been suggested to come from sprawl?
Sprawl covers large areas on land with low density development. A process that that occurs when the rate at which land is urbanized greatly exceeds the rate of population growth in a given period of time, leading to the spread of low-density land use. Negative effects on: -Health -Transportation -Land use -Natural habitat -Economics
Greenways
Strips of land that connect parks or neighborhoods
Seeking Solutions 2) Evaluate the causes of the spread of suburbs and of the environmental, social, and economic impacts of sprawl. Overall, do you think the spread of urban and suburban development that many people label sprawl is predominantly a good thing or a bad thing? Do you think it is inevitable? Give reasons for this answer.
Suburban spread is due to the want of more space. I think sprawl is ok right now but soon it will run into too many ecosystems and become a very harmful thing. Growing of cities is inevitable but sprawl is not, cities could grow with the same density but not have sprawl. However, some people desire to be in the suburbs so there should be an option for them too.
Bennet's plan
The completed San Francisco plan was not implemented in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake, but Bennett became well known for his design work and co-authorship of the 1909 Plan of Chicago.
Interpreting Graphs & Data 2) Assuming that the standard of living is similar in these sites, to what might you attribute the relationship describes in your answer in number one?
The more people in the city in the same area, the less emissions per person because they are sharing practices that cause emissions.
Interpreting Graphs & Data 1) Describe the relationship between urban density and carbon emissions, as shown in the graph.
The more people the less emissions per person.
Zoning
The practice of classifying areas for different types of development and land use
City planning
The professional pursuit that attempts to design cities so as to maximize their efficiency, functionality, and beauty
Urbanization
The shift from the countryside into towns and cities
Sprawl
The spread of low-density urban or suburban development outward from an urban center. Made up of the human population growth and per capita land consumption
Regional planning
These planners deal with the same issues as city planners, but they work on broader geographic scales and must coordinate their work with multiple municipal governments
Testing you comprehension 2) Why have so many city dwellers in the US and Canada moved to the suburbs?
They desire more space.
New urbanism
This approach seeks to design neighborhoods on a walkable scale, with homes businesses, schools, and other amenities all close together for convenience
Testing you comprehension 10) Name two positive effects of urban centers on the natural environment.
Urban centers reduce the stress on there parts of the environment. This also helps to not disturb all of the ecosystems in the environment.
Testing you comprehension 8) Why do urban dwellers tend to consume more resources per-capita than rural dwellers?
Urban dwellers consume more resources because it takes more resources for them to get their resources.
Seeking Solutions 1) Asses the reasons why urban populations are rising and why rural populations are stable or falling. Do you think these trends will continue in the future, or might they change for some reason.
Urban populations are rising and rural populations are declining because every person does not need to grow/raise their own food any more, they can rely on a select few people to do it for them while they provide other services. I think that these trends will stable.
chicago plan
first city plan
sprawl=
number of people added to an area X the amount of land the average person occupies
Types of sprawl
uncentered commercial strip development, low density single use development, doctors/leapfrog development, sparse street network
