urb midterm review
40. Know page 38 of Austin's Strategic Housing Blueprint (re parking, in a lecture): What is the income required to afford rent with... no on-site parking, 0.5 spaces/unit, 1 space/unit, 1.5 spaces/unit, vs. 2.5 spaces/unit?
- no on-site parking; $36,000 - 0.5; $39,000 - 1; $43,000 - 1.5; $47,000 - 2.5; $51,000
25. List 4 distinct causes of suburbanization in America.
1) Highway subsidies 2) Deindustrializing economy (moving into the tertiary sector) 3) GI bill 4) Fair housing act/ increased loans given • Lower land rates • Improved infrastucture • Rise in standard of living • Lack of urban planning • Lower tax rates • Rise in population growth • Consumer preferences o (lecture 9, slide 21)
57. What are the basic elements of the 2008 economic crisis in the US?
1. Housing price bubble • Prices rapidly increased in late 1990s • Ppl took out lots of home equity loans & second mortgages to pay for college edu • Saw homes even more as wealth-building resource so more speculation (assumption that home values always increase & homes always sellable) 2. Subprime lending • Ex. no documentation loans aka liars loans • No incentives to be concerned with loans & financial credentials of buyers 3. Private-label mortgage-backed securities (MBSs) • GSEs (fannie & freddie mac) involved in safe version, but private companies not • Consolidation of investment banks, insurance companies, and security firms for the first time made worse 4. Credit Rating Agencies • Gave "safe" AAA ratings to really risky loans • Enabled many institutional investors & foreign governments to purchase a lot of these "safe" loans
14. What are the phases of internal transportation?
1. The walking city: pre-1850 2. The horsecar and electric streetcar era: 1850-1920 3. The recreational auto era: 1920-1945 4. The freeway era: 1945-present
28. What parking reforms does Donald Shoup argue that cities need to adopt?
1. change fair market prices for curb parking 2. return the resulting revenue to neighborhoods to pay for public improvements 3. remove the requirements for off street parking
27. Defend the idea that urban growth depends on basic economic activities.
An area needs to be economically independent to thrive. When basic economic activities are excluded from an economy, people move out. when the tax base leaves, schools suffer.
29. What makes highway traffic worse according to Suburban Nation?
Building more lanes on highways
62. What are gentrification's effects on a city?
Negatively impacts racial equity when majority-minority neighborhoods become predominantly white due to displacement • Leads to race/class tensions, political fights • Change in "character" of neighborhoods
20. What are some of the philosophies that inspired urban planning?
Old urbanism/ new urbanism Auto dependency Transit oriented development (TOD) • Urban infill as people come back to the city
38. In Suburban Nation, what does Andrés Duany argue regarding locus of civic activity?
Our [adults who drive to work] locus of civic activity has become the highway and theirs [children] has become the TV." (course packet, pg.25)
30. What was LBJ's War on Poverty designed to do?
Prevent poverty through 4 pieces of key legislation • Social security amendment of 1965 which created medicare and medicaid and expanded social-security benefits • The food stamp act of 1964 which made food stamps permanent • Economic opportunity act of 1964 which established job corps and the VISTA program • The elementary and secondary education act of 1965 which established title 1, subsidizing school districts with large amounts of impoverished students
34. What is redlining?
Redlining is the now illegal process of bankers refusing financially qualified buyers loans because they are trying to buy homes in primarily non white neighborhoods.
18. What is the CBD and what functions has it served in American cities?
The CBD is the central business district and serves as a central marketplace, major transportation node, administrative center in cities, housing high level producer services. As the central marketplace, the CBD has flagship stores, large banks, and cultural services. As a major transportation node, the CBD acts as a focal point for intra-city transportation. As an administrative center, the CBD is where government offices are located. It is a central urban area, possessing high land values, which supports high density. Because of this high land value, buildings in the CBD have less stringent zoning, with higher height limits, less setbacks, and the ability to engage to the street. This more permissive land use is engaging for citizens. Usually the CBD is reserved for businesses and retail, who can afford intensive land use. The CBD serves as a location for high-level producer services and command control centers.
8. In what way did the layout of early cities reflect a "cosmo-magical order"?
They were spatially arranged according to religious principles. 1) axis mundi (symbolic center) - often walled off from the rest of the city ex: ziggurat in Mesopotamia, palace/temple in China, pyramid in Mesoamerica 2) oriented toward the 4 cardinal directions --> reflected order of the universe 3) shaped the form of the city according to the form of the universe
55. What does "Big A" Affordability mean?
Units made with affordability as the goal (versus small A affordability which is naturally occurring affordable housing)
29. How has the CBD changed during the past 100 years?
Walking city pre-1850 • No real CBD as city had an overall radius of about two miles • Lack of engineering meant buildings couldn't be tall (vertical compactness) Horsecar and streetcar era 1850-1920 • Creation of the CBD • City density started to rise as buildings got taller • Expansion of the city • Division by social class • Growth followed transit Recreational auto era 1920-1940 • Farmland skyrockets in value • Value of CBD begins to erode • Density of our cities peak • PARKING was an issue in the CBD almost immediately The freeway era 1945-present • Automobile began to fundamentally change urban space • Decline in the CBD o Walkability and mass transit decreased as auto use increased o Ring roads and superhighways expedited movement of industry out of CBD o Lost importance as major transportation nodes • People moved to suburbs and jobs followed (1973 more jobs in suburbs than in cities) • CBD lost accessibility advantages as accessibility now meant places where automobiles could go • Monocentric (single core city) to polycentric (many cores in a city)
54. What is Imagine Austin's Priority Program #8?
aims to revise Austin's development regulations (land development?)nand processes to promote a compact and connected city as well as to better align with Imagine Austin.
68. What led to a growing black middle class in the last part of the 20th century?
implementation of civil rights legislation (stopped discrimination in housing markets) --> African Americans took advantage of freer access to education and reduced hiring discrimination to advance economically
41. Know the range of possible values for the indices of segregation and isolation.
index of dissimilarity: 0 (perfect evenness) to 100 (absolute separation) isolation index: 0 to 1 (commonly multiplied by 100), w/ large values representing greater "residential exposure" of group X to group Y
10. How did Rome contribute to urban development?
pg. 44 • Mass housing: Housing was divided between the elite single-family units, called domus, and the popular three-to six-story tenements known as insulae, where the bulk of the population lived. • Roman forum: central area for political activity and commerce. • Public Monuments: Each conquering general would come back and dedicate a monument to a god. Monuments to great leaders and especially emperors also proliferated. • Public Buildings: Members of the elite were expected to subsidize circuses and theaters for the population. (baths also) • More complex social geography: contained a vast array of people bc empire
35. According to the UN, what proportion of the world population lives in urban areas today?
• 55% (lecture 3, pg 17)
37. How has urban life affected individuals and groups?
• According to Suburban Nation: o Children Have a complete loss of autonomy • Dependent on adults to drive them around Is in a safe, but unchallenging environment Unable to make choices or exercise their own judgement because they are limited by adults willing to drive them Schools are depressing looking as hell with fences around them which makes them unappealing places to be o Teenagers Bored • Therefore, they seek stimulation through drugs and crime Car crashes are the largest killer of American teens (account for more than ⅓ of all deaths) Suicide is correlated with urban sprawl ""Isolation and boredom" is the outcome of an environment that fails to provide teenagers with the ordinary challenges of maturing, developing useful skills, and gaining sense of self" (pg.20) o Parents Children are dependent on them and are a burden to transport Mothers will derail their careers so that they can have the time to transport their child o Elderly Stranded due to inability to drive and lack of walkability • This puts them out of reach of their physical and social needs Elderly are segregated by society because they can't live in areas, like the suburbs, which require a lot of driving, and are mostly put in nursing homes o Commuters 500 hours a year or 12 work weeks driving a year Takes out their freetime or do hobbies they love
3. What aspects of modern culture and civilization can be traced to early urbanism?
• Agricultural innovation continues • Symbiotic relationship (agriculture) has expanded to most of earth's arable land • grid system • Cities are places of power and culture • see #6 - main difference is change from local to global hinterland and wall
45. What factors determine what part of an American city will be inhabited by the wealthy?
• Areas with exclusionary zoning (which can cause there to be oversized lot requirements, limits on unit count, requirements for unneeded amenities) can only be lived in by the wealthy • Negative externalities of the urban core, noise or factories, make the wealthy want to leave the urban core (textbook, pg.124) • Positive externalities, such as museums, shops and restaurants, may draw the wealthy to certain areas of downtown (textbook, pg.124)
17. What is a vacancy chain?
• As incomes rise, homeowners desire larger houses with more amenities and build them on the edge of the city. When the homeowner moves into their new home, their old home becomes vacant and available for occupation by a new household. The new occupant of this household has also moved up and out of a neighborhood closer to the central city, thus creating a new vacancy. • Vacancy chains describe this process of successive vacancies, each one in a progressively smaller and older housing unit closer in to the core of the city.
21. Describe some of the ways in which anti-urban ideologies have affected visions of the ideal city in the US.
• As the inner city came to be stigmatized as a place associated with drugs and violence, the idea of the ideal American city shifted from dense, walkable neighborhoods to single family homes with large lots and "white picket fences". People pride themselves on being able to own a single family home in the suburbs, and thus suburban growth skyrocketed in the second half of the twentieth century. • Desire to be isolated in nature was adopted en masse, leading to sprawl. Seen as early as Jefferson.
49. How does someone's chances of survival change as a pedestrian when hit by a car traveling at 20 mph vs 40 mph and why does street design matter?
• Average risk of death when hit at 23 mph is 10% an when hit at 42 mph is 50% (lecture 10, slide 23) • Street design matters because narrow streets make drivers go slower. Thus, designing wide streets in pedestrian areas, like residential neighborhoods that are supposed to be 20 mph, is poor design because people will drive at whatever speed they are comfortable with.
56. What are examples of "community benefits"?
• Community Benefits Agreement or "CBA" is a contract signed by community groups and a real estate developer that requires the developer to provide specific amenities and/or mitigations to the local community or neighborhood (can also refer to tax-deductible programs that are generally run by non-profits or religious orgs) • Examples: health facilities/screenings, providing x amount of affordable housing, job training programs, green space • Example of standards in a CBA contract (for a redevelopment project): • ● a requirement that at least 51% of non-construction workers within the project be local workers, with first priority placement of underemployed residents of the immediate neighborhood; • ● an $8,000,000 initial contribution, plus substantial ongoing contributions, to a coalition-controlled fund that may be used for specified community needs; • ● a grant program for local businesses that employ large numbers of local workers; • ● extensive green building measures and community consultation on environmental issues; • ● priority community access to the project's athletic facilities; • ● and formal structures for community-based oversight and enforcement of CBA commitments
6. What were the physical and social characteristics of the earliest cities?
• Concentrated population • Social hierarchy & formal institutions (religion key) • Management of resources (record keeping tech) o Creation of irrigation systems, granaries, etc. o Collection of taxes/tribute o Distribution to members of the court o Distribution to subjects in times of famine • Defense against outsiders (wall) • Monumental architecture (temples, palaces) • Populations ranging from a few thousand to more than 100,000 • 3 Key Aspects: (textbook, pg.35) 1. They depended for their existence on the (generally forced) extraction of goods from the hinterland a. Extraction of goods through tax or tribute 2. They were focused around an elite group, usually but not always religious 3. They were centers of cultural orthodoxy . Cities were laid out spatially to support this orthodoxy
58. What is Exclusionary Zoning?
• Definition: utilization of zoning ordinances to exclude certain types of land uses from a given community. • Impacts: racial segregation, concentrated poverty, inefficient land use because no mixed-use
61. Define and describe Gentrification.
• Definition: when predominantly white, middle class residents purchase and "restore or revitalize" houses in poor minority neighborhoods • gentri****ed! • Some say good (see #67) but mostly negatively perceived bc of: • Displacement through coercion, buyouts, rising property taxes/rent • Usually impacts majority-minority neighborhoods, oftenelderlyb • Urban land occupied by poor often undervalued in land markets which creates rent gap btwncurrent and potential value-profit potential exploited by gentri
65. Explain how federal highway construction constitutes an automobile subsidy.
• Gov subsidies for highways and parking amount to between 8 to 10 percent of our GDP (3.50/gallon gas tax not including soft costs) • Using gas tax elimination as election strategy increases subsidy • Econ inefficiencies due to automotive subsidies = 700 billion • Don't bear the cost of federal highway directly (don't pay, efforts
24. What various kinds of centrifugal forces and movements have affected American cities?
• Great migration of african americans to the north to fill jobs previously held by eastern european migrants who halted immigration during ww1 and ww2 • Suburbanization in the form of white flight out of cities, results in less integrated urban areas • Immigration into ethnic enclaves • The formation of the african american ghetto
9. Explain how early cities combined ritual elements, creative elements, and defensive elements; give examples
• Grid patterns: oriented in cardinal directions
52. What are some of the ways racism has affected housing markets in the US?
• High levels of socioeconomic and geographic isolation correlated to race • Aspects of segregation: exposure/isolation (makeup of neighborhoods), centralization, evenness (distribution of x group across all neighborhoods in a city), clustering (neighborhoods with homogenous makeup close to one another), concentration (a group lives in a restricted amount of urban space) • Historically: black indies experienced worst levels, also the only group to experience "hypersegregation" (⅘ aspects of segregation simultaneously) • Creation of "dual housing market" during 1950s • Maintained through racial steering, not being shown certain units, outright hostility, block-busting (generate racial fear by bringing a black family in to drive out white families then purchase properties cheaply), redlining (refusing to loan capital to certain neighborhoods which basically always were majority-minority), denying mortgages, deed restrictions • Created racial ghettos by gov more or less only subsidizing suburban properties (which minorities were denied access to) and putting limited resources towards urban development • Many of these majority-minority neighborhoods also low-income which has its own negative impacts: limited education, increased crime, worse health outcomes, hindered wealth building, reduced private investment and increased cost of goods/services, increased costs for local govs
51. How does the housing market exacerbate socioeconomic inequality in the US?
• Housing burden: poorer people must spend a greater proportion of their income on rent or their home • In some cases, like in Austin, there isn't availability of lower priced housing units because demand for housing is so high • Areas that have higher concentrations of poor people where rich people don't want to live don't have great tax revenue so that areas with a lot of poor people will continue to have bad infrastructure
46. What factors determine what part of an American city will be inhabited by the poor?
• In general, areas where taxes and housing prices are lower • Near highways • Areas of poor infrastructure • Near factories or industrial buildings • Where the rich live o If the rich live in suburbs, the poor are forced to stay in the urban core • Proportionate cost or access = Live in areas where there is public transit because can't afford a car to live in the suburbs (textbook, pg.124)
33. What is a duel housing market?
• Inscribed into cities in the 1920s • Used different set of rules for whites and blacks to create a dual housing market (one for whites and one for blacks)
26. Describe the sequence in which various urban activities decentralized in the US between the 1940s and 1990s
• Intense postwar need for housing (spec. housing WITH amenities bc of baby boom) • William Levitt pioneers housing which uses principles of mass production to meet demand- part of this included building several houses simultaneously on one large plot of land • Also FHA financing had geographic bias, housing standards which disqualified most urban homes, redlining • Eisenhower's national interstate highway system made transit to suburban much easier (increase in automobility • Business followed white economic capital
4. Why was the emergence of a social hierarchy linked to early urbanism?
• Large population concentrations both facilitated and necessitated specialization of social roles - Ruler (usually thought to have god-like powers) - Priests (doubled as administrators) - Technicians (e.g. surveyors, engineers) - Artisans & performers - Merchants - Subjects (mostly farmers) -Conquered peoples -Slaves • The need for social organization for a city to function which then necessitated social power (textbook, pg.28) o Needed this social coordination to: (1) get food from the surrounding countryside (2) construct and maintain the physical aspects of the city (3) regulate the activities of people who lived within the city
44. What is "leapfrog development" and how does it intersect with the issue of sprawl?
• Leapfrog development = a type of sprawl; "the process whereby underdeveloped land beyond the built-up area in converted to suburban land use" (textbook, pg.137-138) o Sprawl that is not close to or not attached to any previous sprawl
39. How do millennials feel about walkability vs. their parents' generation?
• Millennials are much more inclined to want to live in areas that are walkable
7. Where were the earliest urban hearths? What order? (be able to locate and name them)
• Most researchers agree that the first true cities appeared in Sumeria (in southern Mesopotamia, now present-day Iraq) around 4750 b.c. Cities then appeared in Egypt around 3000 b.c., in the Indus Valley (in present-day Pakistan) about 2200 b.c., and in northern China, along the Huang He River, in 1500 b.c. There is also distinct evidence of independently developed cities in southern Mexico about a.d. 1, in Peru by about a.d. 1000, and possibly independent urban centers emerging in West Africa a bit later. (Teotihuacan in current day Mexico)
63. How does gentrification compare to displacement?
• Not the same thing but displacement is basically intrinsic to gentrification because studies have shown once a neighborhood is "revitalized" old residents don't tend to come back or can't • Proposed solution to displacement but still allowing a level of gentrification is mixed-income, varied results
22. Briefly describe what can happen to a city with high off-street/onsite parking requirements.
• Parking lots will begin to separate businesses, decreasing walkability. As pedestrian foot traffic slows, businesses will begin to suffer, creating an area devoid of economic opportunity. As industry leaves the area so will wealthy residents, leaving disparaged people with few neighborhood institutions. This means entire communities will lack proper services such as grocery stores and banks. Additionally, as the tax base begins to fall, schools will have less money and see a decrease in educational quality.
50. What are the market sectors that produce housing?
• Private developers • The government
11. What kinds of sites were most favorable for defense?
• Rugged, elevated sites easier to defend • existing land/water formations provided natural cues for defense (in pic below, land/water lessened fortification requirements put on people)
47. What is the importance of housing to the individual and family as well as to society?
• Shelter • Protection from the elements • Place to sleep, eat, and recreate • Stability • Safety • Housing is most American households' largest single expenditure as well as a significant investment potential • Reflects some aspect of our personality and values • Separates our private and public lives
60. Why does that matter?
• Some studies have shown that generally increased voter turnout wouldn't actually change presidential elections BUT all agree they are very important for local elections • Influences: future of infrastructure, housing, education, etc etc • Plus local/state gov tends to have a lot more impact on day to day life than national
43. Know what a "Stroad" is and why they are dangerous to pedestrians and drivers alike.
• Stroad = street + road o Street = made for cars, people, bikes; narrow, timeless o Road = only made for vehicles; meant to get cars far distances and quickly • Add lights on a highways to make a stroad • Stroads are not timeless or flexable; they don't transport cars well or allow pedestrian movement well • Most do not have sidewalks, thus pedestrians can't get around • Most only have a line of paint to designate a bike lane, which is still very dangerous • Have a bunch of lights so cars are starting and stopping often and lanes are very large so cars often speed on stroads
23. Describe Federal interventions that have spurred suburban development in the US.
• Subsidizing highways- By subsidizing highways (in the name of national defense following world war II), the federal government helped spur suburban development, as it made commuting to work easier for millions of Americans. • Veterans act/ GI bill- The GI bill helped veterans find affordable housing after returning from combat in WWII. Home ownership skyrocketed at unprecedented levels, and the homes being created were affordable because they were located farther from the city center, in the suburbs. - The GI bill did not help black veterans find housing at the same rates of whites, leaving them out of the suburbs and left in the deteriorating inner city. • Fair housing act- helped qualified buyers secure loans, left out blacks • Redlining- denied qualified buyers from securing loans if they were attempting to buy in nonwhite neighborhoods • Public housing- aided in an end to integration. Where ever public housing was built, white flight occurred, with these whites moving to the suburbs
59. Who's the typical voter and do they look more like you or Bill Murray?
• Technically it depends but I'm pretty sure he wants us to say Bill Murray so we'll just go with that • Examples: in Texas presidential & gub race, white & 65+ majority, but in overall national presidential election of 2016 millenials/gen x outvoted baby boomers and older generations
32. What is "Moving to Opportunity"?
• The federal Moving to Opportunity (MTO) program represented an expanded effort to enable residents of public housing to relocate to better neighborhoods. This would be accomplished by subsidizing housing vouchers that residents would use to find housing in any neighborhood they wanted. • For mothers and girls, at least, relocating through MTO meant moving to security. Boys, on the other hand, faced more overt and implicit hostility in their new low-poverty neighborhoods and had difficulty making friends. For all MTO families, there was a surprisingly high incidence of moving back to the old neighborhood because of financial troubles, difficulties coordinating the more challenging tasks of getting to work, and maintaining valued social connections that remained in previous neighborhoods.
31. What happens with concentrated poverty?
• The neighborhood lacks the tax base to have good schools. These poor schools cannot afford to provide after school programs or hire good teachers • The neighborhood cannot afford to invest in local business, thus industry leaves, meaning jobs also leave • As the rate of unemployment goes up people cannot afford upkeep on their homes (which are usually older meaning they require more upkeep) • Evictions and foreclosures become prominent • People feel stuck in a cycle of poverty and this frustration surfaces through apathy towards their sense of place
What has been the primary engine of change in cities?
• The primary engine of change has been economic, as cities have developed as central points within various economic systems: agrarian, merchant capitalist, industrial.
36. How do people have an impact on the cities they live in?
• Transportation o Use of cars = more smog o Use public transportation = more environmentally friendly • NIMBYs o Cock block new infrastructure • Private, residential infrastructure types o Single family homes = increased land use • Areas that people use = safer due to "eyes on the street" • People who choose to live farther out increase public expenditure through living in neighborhood with a lower tax base
53. How important is "public housing" within the US housing market?
• Unlike many Euro nations during depression US resisted public housing • Transition- used to be viewed as temporary housing mainly focused on veterans/white families, then shifted to permanent housing for low-income residents displaced by urban renewal • Never enough units • Socially led to violent resistance/modern nonviolent resistance to site location of public housing • Many high crime bc of modernist architectural design (made it hard to "look after" neighbors
64. Might one be worse than the other?
• We all know greg is trying to get us to see gentrification as not horrible but let's be real gentrification again basically always involves displacement • However, while displacement is objectively bad gentrification can have some "good" impacts for the new residents: bringing more purchasing power to a community/increased tax base = improved development of public resources/facilities, some say it's the only way to economically revitalize a blighted community bc of rapid economic investment that otherwise wouldn't have happened, homeowners can sell property for higher value than purchased and make a profit
42. What are the principles for the formation of zonal and sectoral patterns in cities?
• Zoning = keep schools and houses away from industry • Racism
2. How did improvements in agriculture contribute to early urbanization?
• agricultural surplus allowed for social surplus, freeing up people to pursue non-agricultural work • Cities acted as centers of extraction and redistribution • Central authority arose as a way to administer surplus • tithing/taxing of food
66. Jeff Speck describes negative health outcomes that result from lack of walkability. What are these outcomes and why do they matter?
• least active generation in US history • obesity that is a result of inactivity contributes to coronary disease, hypertension, variety of cancers (also problem is self perpetuating bc worse health = more likely to use car) • car crashes leading cause of death for ages 1-34 (also costs billions annually) • Heart attacks, higher blood pressure/heart rate from traffic stress • Lower satisfaction & higher drive time = less social capital and civic engagement • Asmtha from worse air quality
15. What does good urban planning require?
• predictability • efficiency • High utilization of benefits (Density Bonus utilized) • An administrative process - city staff - not discretionary • No politics
13. Industrialization involved changes in the relationship between cities and their hinterlands. Explain.
• required agriculture to improve so that it could feed/free up people working in factories • Colonialism created a global hinterland • Further advances in transportation based on coal power, such as the railroad and the steamship, further extended the reach of industrial cities. Cities could get food/raw goods from a wider and wider area.
12. What kinds of sites were most favorable for trade and industry?
• sites near coalfields • near ports/rivers • places w greatest access to trade routes/shipping routes
16. What is urbanization?
• the gradual shift in residence of the human population from rural to urban areas • Urbanization is a process • Urbanization is not the same as urban growth or sprawl • Urbanization is just passing the 50% mark at the global level and is rapidly increasing • Urbanization is about 80% in the US and is stable or declining • Urbanization is accompanied by extreme poverty and hardship in many parts of the world
