Chapter 13 APES Terms: The Urban Environment: Creating Sustainable Cities

Benefits of smart growth

-Can help us solve climate change -Reduces greenhouse gas emissions -Fewer miles driven -> more household savings -Saves a ton of money on treating respiratory illnesses -Consumes less land -> more room for agriculture, green space, etc. -Remember: 12% of China's GDP is spent on health impacts of high-density sprawl!

How do urban centers foster innovation?

-Cities promote a flourishing cultural life and mix a diverse group of people and influences -They spark innovation and creativity, promoting education and scientific research -They are engines of technological and artistic inventiveness that can solve societal problems -The wealth accumulated by urban residents allows them to serve as markets for organic produce, recycling, and environmental education

Why are parklands so important in urban areas?

-City dwellers want to escape noise, commotion, and stress of urban life -Natural lands, public parks, and open space provide greenery, scenic beauty, freedom, and recreation -Help regulate climate, purify air/water, provide wildlife habitat -Urbanization makes protecting natural lands important -> Urban dwellers become disconnected from nature -Ex. playgrounds, community gardens

What factors influence the location of cities?

-Climate, topography, and waterways determine whether a small settlement becomes a large city -Corridors for trade drive economic growth -Today, cities thrive in resource-poor areas due to cheap fossil fuels and powerful technologies -Water is brought in from distant areas -Cities in the southern and western United States have grown

Suburbanization

-Increased crowding, poverty, and crime in cities -> affluent people moved to suburbs -Suburbs had more space, economic opportunities and cheaper real estate, less crime, better schools -Inner cities declined -Millions commute to downtown jobs from suburban "bedroom communities" due to cars, expanding road networks, and abundant, cheap oil -Business could import and export resources, goods, and waste using roads and fossil fuels -Helped by the U.S. government's development of the interstate highway system -Jet travel, cell phones, the Internet, and video conferencing allow easier communication from any area

Why is U.S. mass transit behind?

-Low population density and cheap fuel led the United States to support road networks for cars -It is expensive to replace existing road networks

How do steps toward livability enhance sustainability?

-Planning and zoning are long-term, powerful sources for sustaining urban communities -Smart growth and new urbanism reduce energy use -> Mass transit reduces gasoline use, carbon emissions -Because urban centers affect the environment in many positive ways, they are a key element toward global sustainability -Ecocities go a step further, and are designed to allow people to walk, bike, or take mass transit for most of their travel; ecocities recycle and reuse most of their wastes, grow their own food, and protect biodiversity by preserving land. -Ecovillages and eco-hoods are small groups within urban and suburban areas that are designing and implementing more sustainable approaches to urban living.

How can governments encourage mass transit?

-Raise fuel taxes -Tax inefficient modes of transport -Reward carpoolers -Encourage bicycle use and bus ridership -Charge trucks for road damage

Central Case Study: managing growth in Portland, Oregon

-Sprawling development can ruin communities -Portland area created a regional planning entity -Established an Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) separating urban from rural areas -UGBs are key to quality of life, but critics say they're elitist -Urban reserves will allow development -Rural reserves will preserve farms and forests

Urban sustainability

-Things that make cities safe, clean, healthy, and pleasant also make them more sustainable -A sustainable city functions effectively and prosperously over the long term -> impacts on natural systems and resources are minimized -A city's impacts depend on how we use resources, produce goods, transport materials, and deal with waste

Causes of sprawl

-Two major factors contribute to sprawl: population growth and per capita land consumption -The amount of sprawl equals population size times the amount of land the average person occupies -Per land consumption increases due to better highways, cheap gas, telecommunication, etc. -> people desire space and privacy

7 principles of design for sustainable cities

1) Preserve natural environment 2) Mixed-use/income/land neighborhoods 3) Walkable 4) Bicycle networks, auto-free streets 5) Many kinds of streets (connect) 6) High-quality transit 7) Focus (match density and mix to transit capacity)

What did Curitiba, Brazil do?

Curitiba, Brazil invested in an extensive bus system that is now used by three-quarters of its 2.5 million residents -Curitiba, Brazil has invested in mass transit, recycling, environmental education, job training, and free health care -> Its citizens are happier and economically better off than residents of other Brazilian cities

City (urban) planning

Designing cities to maximize their efficiency, functionality, and beauty -Planners advise policymakers on development options, transportation needs, public parks, etc. -Washington, D.C., is the nation's earliest example of city planning -Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago included parks and playgrounds, improved neighborhoods, etc. -The 1912 Greater Portland Plan recommended rebuilding the harbor, new construction, wide roads

LEED

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) = a certification program run by the U.S. Green Building Council -New or renovated buildings apply for certification -Green building techniques are more expensive, but they pay for their upgrades quickly

Impacts of sprawl

Main ones: transportation, pollution, health, land use, economics -Pressure to own cars and drive greater distances -Lack of mass transit options -More traffic accidents -Increased dependence on petroleum -Pollution: carbon dioxide, air pollutants, ozone, smog, acid precipitation -Motor oil and road salt from roads and parking lots -Health: sprawl promotes physical inactivity because driving cars replaces walking -> increases obesity, high blood pressure -Land use: less forests, fields, farmland, or ranchland -> loss of resources and ecological services -> children lose access to experiences with nature -Economics: sprawl drains tax dollars from communities for roads, water/sewer systems, electricity, police and fire services, schools, etc. when new areas are built (taxpayers, not developers, subsidize improvements)

Urban growth boundaries (UGB)

a line on a map intended to separate areas desired to be urban from areas desired to remain rural. -Try to concentrate development, prevent sprawl, and preserve farmland and habitat -Revitalize downtowns -> increased employment -Reduce infrastructure costs -Increase the density of new housing inside the UGB, restrict development outside the UGB -Disadvantages: increased housing prices within their boundaries -As population expands, the UGB must expand with it

New urbanism

approach in which neighborhoods are designed on a walkable scale -Homes, businesses, and schools are close together -Functional neighborhoods in which most of a family's needs can be met without using a car -New urbanist developments have green spaces, mixed architecture, creative street layouts

Urban heat island effect

cities are hotter than surrounding areas -Buildings, vehicles, factories, and people generate heat -Dark buildings and pavement absorb heat -Those who bear the brunt of pollution by living downstream or downwind of polluting facilities are disproportionately poor or racial and ethnic minorities

Resource sinks

cities must import resources, relying on large expanses of land elsewhere to supply resources -Moving resources to cities requires fossil fuel use -> greater if populations were more widely spread -Efficiency: dense concentrations of people in cities allow efficient delivery of goods and services -High city density facilitates social services that improve the quality of life (medical services, education, water/sewer systems, waste disposal, transportation) -Consumption: heavy use of outside resources increases the ecological footprints of cities -The footprints are far greater than their land area -Urban dwellers have far larger ecological footprints than rural dwellers (but also probably because urban residents are wealthier, and wealth correlates with consumption) -Because people are packed densely in cities, more land outside cities is left undeveloped -Without cities, we would have much less room for agriculture, wilderness, biodiversity, or privacy -Cities export wastes through pollution and trade to other regions -Citizens are exposed to heavy metals, chemicals, smog, acid precipitation, etc. -Noise pollution = undesired ambient sound -Light pollution = light that obscures the night sky, impairing the visibility of stars

Smart growth

concept of using urban growth boundaries and other land use policies to control sprawl -Promote healthy neighborhoods/communities, jobs and economic development, transportation options, environmental quality -Building up, not out -Focusing development in existing areas -Mix land uses -Creating walkable neighborhoods

Regional planning

deals with same issues as city planning, but with broader geographic scales that must coordinate with multiple municipal governments -Some areas have institutionalized planning in formal government bodies -Homeowners, farmers, developers, and governments will know what future land uses will be

Transit-oriented development

development in which compact communities in the new urbanist style are arrayed around stops on a major rail transit line -traffic jams cause air pollution, stress, and lost time -Key in improving quality of urban life: alternative transportation options -Bicycle transportation is one key option -Mass transit systems = public systems that move large numbers of passengers at once (buses, trains, subways) -Light rail = smaller rail systems powered by electricity -Mass transit options solve many problems: cheaper, more energy efficient, cleaner, traffic congestion is eased -Most nations have extensive, accessible bus systems -> the U.S. lags behind in mass transit systems

Urban ecology

field that holds that cities can be viewed explicitly as ecosystems -Cities must replace the one-way linear metabolism of importing resources and exporting wastes -Striving to use resources efficiently, recycle, develop environmentally friendly tech, account fully for external costs, offer tax incentives for sustainable practices, use locally produced resources, use organic waste and wastewater to restore soil fertility, encourage urban agriculture -Future "eco-cities," built from scratch, have been planned but not yet been built -Urban agriculture is thriving

Greenbelts

long, wide corridors of parklands -May surround an entire urban area

Zoning

practice that classifies areas for different types of development and land use -A powerful means to guide what gets built where -Involves government restriction on the use of private lands -Opponents say that its restrictions violate individual freedoms -Proponents say government can set limits for the good of the community

Greenways

strips of land connecting parks or neighborhoods -Protect water quality, boost property values, provide corridors for wildlife

Green buildings

structures that use technologies and approaches to minimize the ecological footprints of construction and operation -built from sustainable materials, minimize energy and water use, control pollution, recycle wastes -Constructing or renovating buildings using efficient technologies is probably the best way to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions -Energy-efficient light fixtures and appliances -Radiant heating and cooling system -Ecoroof -Ventilation system -Insulation

Urbanization

the movement of people from rural to urban (cities and suburbs) areas -Society's greatest change since it became sedentary -Since 2009, more people have been living in urban areas than rural ones -People need a safe, clean, urban environment -Urban systems must be sustainable -Urban populations are growing -Industrialization has driven urbanization -In developed nations, urbanization has slowed -Half of the U.S. population lives in suburbs = smaller communities that ring cities -Developing nations are urbanizing rapidly (searching for jobs, fleeing wars, ecological damage; population growth often exceeds economic growth, resulting in overcrowding, pollution, and poverty)

Sprawl

the spread of low-density urban or suburban development outward from an urban center OR the physical spread of development faster than population growth -Some see it as ugly, environmentally harmful, and inefficient -Others see it as the outgrowth of desires and decisions in a world of increasing humans -Urban and suburban areas grow in population size and spatially