Urban Environment - Environment and Ecology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Ecology and Environment

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Urban Environment: Creating

Sustainable Cities

Environment & Ecology

Central Case: Managing

growth in Portland, Oregon

Industrialization has driven urbanization

• Since 1950, urban populations have

quadrupled.

• Due to a growing human population and increased movement to cities
• By 2050, urban populations will grow by 94%.
• In developed nations, urbanization has

slowed.

• Suburbs : the smaller communities that ring cities
• Developing nations are urbanizing rapidly.
• People are searching for jobs and urban lifestyles. Docsity.com

Today’s urban centers are unprecedented

Today, 20 cities are home to more than 10 million residents.

• Tokyo, Japan has 35 million residents.
• New York City has 18.7 million residents.
• Honolulu 953,207 residents; 1,360,301 in HI

But the majority of urban dwellers live in smaller cities.

Location is a key factor in urban growth

• Climate, topography, and

waterways help

determine urban growth.

• Many well-located cities

are linchpins in trading

networks.

• Resources from agricultural regions enter cities.
• Products are shipped to distant markets.

Urbanization in developing countries

Mumbai (^) Sao Paulo

Rwanda Mumbai Docsity.com

Sprawl

• Houses and roads supplant more than 1

million ha (2.5 million acres) of U.S. land per

year.

• Sprawl : the spread of low-density urban or

suburban development outward from an

urban center

• Physical spread of development is greater than the rate of population growth.
• Phoenix, Arizona’s population grew 12 times larger between 1950 and 2002, while its land area grew 27 times larger.

People in suburbs take up more space

Each suburban resident takes up 11 times as much space than a city dweller. Docsity.com

Sprawl has several causes

• Human population growth
• Rising per capita land consumption: more land per person - People like their space and privacy. - Interstate highways make it easier to commute. - Technologies (telecommunications and the Internet) free businesses from dependence on the centralized infrastructure, and workers can live wherever they desire.
• Economists, politicians, and city boosters have encouraged it. - “Growth is good” - Increases a community’s economic well-being and political power

What is wrong with sprawl?

• Transportation : people are forced to drive

cars

• Pollution from sprawl’s effects on transportation

Aerial photo of Pearl City, Oahu Hawaii

Urban Sprawl

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