Sustainable Cities - Introduction to Environmental Science - Lecture Slides, Slides of Environmental Science

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Sustainable Cities

Chapter 22

Core Case Study: The Ecocity Concept in Curitiba, Brazil

• Ecocity, green city : Curitiba, Brazil
• Bus system: cars banned in certain areas
• Housing and industrial parks
• Recycling of materials
• Helping the poor
• New challenges

Half of the World’s People Live in Urban Areas (1)

• Urbanization
• Urban growth
  • Natural increase
  • Immigration from rural areas
    • Pushed from rural areas to urban areas
    • Pulled to urban areas from rural areas

Half of the World’s People Live in Urban Areas (2)

• Four major trends
  • Proportion of global population living in urban areas is increasing
  • Number and size of urban areas is mushrooming
    • Megacities, hypercities
  • Urban growth slower in developed countries
  • Poverty is becoming increasingly urbanized; mostly in developing countries

Case Study: Urbanization in the United States (2)

• Environmental problems decreasing
• Older cities
  • Deteriorating services
  • Aging infrastructures

Urban Sprawl Gobbles Up the Countryside (1)

• Urban sprawl
• Contributing factors to urban sprawl in the U.S.
  • Ample land
  • Federal government loans
  • Low-cost gasoline; highways
  • Tax laws encouraged home ownership
  • State and local zoning laws
  • Multiple political jurisdictions: poor urban planning

Urbanization Has Advantages

• Centers of:
  • Economic development
  • Innovation
  • Education
  • Technological advances
  • Jobs
• Environmental advantages

Urbanization Has Disadvantages

• Huge ecological footprints
• Lack vegetation
• Water problems
• Concentrate pollution and health problems
• Excessive noise
• Different climate and experience light

pollution

Life Is a Desperate Struggle for the Urban Poor in Developing Countries

• Slums
• Squatter settlements
• Shantytowns
• Terrible living conditions
• What can governments do to help?

Case Study: Mexico City

• Urban area in crisis
  • Severe air pollution
  • Water pollution
  • 50% Unemployment
  • Deafening noise
  • Overcrowding
  • Traffic congestion
  • Inadequate public transportation
  • 1/3 live in slums (barrios) or squatter settlements
• What progress is being made?

Cities Can Grow Outward or Upward

• Compact cities
  • Hong Kong, China
  • Tokyo, Japan
  • Mass transit
• Dispersed cities
  • U.S. and Canada
  • Car-centered cities

Motor Vehicles Have Advantages and Disadvantages (1)

• Advantages
  • Mobility and convenience
  • Jobs in
    • Production and repair of vehicles
    • Supplying fuel
    • Building roads
  • Status symbol

Reducing Automobile Use Is Not Easy, but It Can Be Done (1)

• Full-cost pricing: high gasoline taxes
• Difficult to pass in the United States
  • Strong public opposition
  • Mass transit: not an option in most cities
  • Dispersed nature of the U.S.
• What about a tax shift?

Reducing Automobile Use Is Not Easy, but It Can Be Done (2)

• Raise parking fees
• Tolls on roads, tunnels, and bridges into major

cities

• Car-sharing
• Charge a fee to drive into a major city
• It is working in some cities