Urbanization and Sustainable Cities

1. Urbanization and Sustainable Cities Chapter 24 Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

2. Outline: • Urbanization • Causes of Urban Growth • Push and Pull Factors • Current Urban Problems • Developing World • Developed World • Urban Sprawl • Open Space • Sustainable Development of the Third World Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

3. URBANIZATION • Vast majority of humanity has always lived in rural areas where natural resource-based occupations provided support. • Since beginning of Industrial Revolution cites have grown rapidly in size and power. • Urbanization - Increasing concentration of population in cites and transformation of land use and society to metropolitan patterns of organization. • Nearly half world population now lives in urban areas. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

4. What Is A City ? • US Census Bureau considers any incorporated community a city, and any city with more than 2,500 residents as urban. • In rural areas, most residents depend on natural resources for their livelihood. • In urban areas, most people are not directly dependent on natural resource-based occupations. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

5. What Is A City ? • A village is a collection of rural households linked by culture, customs, family ties, and association with the land. • A city has a large enough resource base to allow residents to specialize in arts, crafts, services, or professions other than resource-based occupations. • A megacity is an urban area with more than 10 million inhabitants. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

6. World Urbanization • In 1850, only 2% of world population lived in cities. • By 2000, 47% of world population lived in urban areas. • Only Africa and South Asia remain predominantly rural. • Expected that 90% of population growth over the next 25 years will occur in less-developed countries. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

7. Urban and Rural Growth Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

8. World Urbanization • Urban growth has been particularly dramatic in the largest cities, especially in the developing world. • A century ago, London was the only city with more than 5 million people. • Nineteen cites currently have populations larger than 5 million. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

9. World Urbanization • Some futurists predict 93 cities with a population of at least 5 million by 2025. • Three-fourths in developing world. • In developing world megacities, as much as half of urban population are transient workers or residents of shanty towns. • By some estimates, Mexico City has a current population of 25 million, and grows by 750,000 each year. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

10. World Urbanization Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

11. CAUSES OF URBAN GROWTH • Two main avenues of urban growth: • Natural Increase • Fueled by improved food supplies and medical care. • Immigration • Caused by push factors forcing people out of the country, and pull factors drawing them into cities. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

12. Immigration Push Factors • Overpopulation • Economics • Politics • Racial or Religious Conflicts • Land Tenure • Changes in Agriculture • Large Monoculture Farms Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

13. Immigration Pull Factors • Excitement and Vitality • Jobs • Housing • Entertainment • Social Mobility and Power • Specialization of Professions Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

14. Government Policies • Government policies often favor urban over rural areas in push and pull factors. • Developing countries often spend majority of budgets on improving urban areas. • Major cities gain a monopoly on new jobs, education and general opportunities. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

15. CURRENT URBAN PROBLEMS • Developing World • Uncontrollable Growth • Traffic and Congestion • Air Pollution • Sewer Systems and Water Pollution • Only 35% of urban residents in developing world have satisfactory sanitation. • About same percentage do not have safe drinking water. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

16. Current World Problems • Housing • At least 1 million people live in slums of central cities and in shantytowns in the outskirts of cities. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

17. Current World Problems • Developed World • Rapid growth of cities that accompanied industrialization has mostly slowed or reversed. • Many of the environmental problems have been reduced. • Many of major polluters have moved to developing countries. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

18. Current World Problems • Developed World • Urban Sprawl • In most American metropolitan areas, the bulk of new housing is in large, tract developments that leapfrog beyond city edges in search of inexpensive land. • Consumes about 200,000 ha of US agricultural land annually. • Planning authority is often divided among many small local jurisdictions. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

19. Urban Sprawl • Because many Americans live far from work, they consider a private automobile essential. • Average US driver spends 443 hours per year behind a steering wheel. • In some metropolitan areas, it is estimated one-third of all land is devoted to automobile infrastructure. • Traffic congestion costs US $78 billion annually in wasted fuel and time. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

20. Urban Sprawl • With a reduced tax base and fewer civic leaders living or working in downtown areas, the city is unable to maintain its infrastructure. • Low density development of suburbs is racially and economically exclusionary because it provides no affordable housing and makes a viable public transit system impractical. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

21. Smart Growth • Smart Growth makes efficient and effective use of land resources and existing infrastructure by encouraging in-fill development. • Also attempts to provide a variety of transportation options. • Goal is staged, managed growth that protects environmental quality and diversity. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

22. Garden Cities and New Towns • New Towns - Numerous experiments to try and combine best features of rural village and modern city. • Ebenezer Howard (1898) proposed congestion of London could be relieved by moving whole neighborhoods to garden cities separated from the central city by a greenbelt of forest and fields. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

23. New Urbanist Movement • Limit city size, or organize into modules of 30,000 to 50,000 people. • Determine in advance where development will take place. • Turn shopping malls into city centers. • Locate everyday services more conveniently. • Increase jobs in a community by locating offices and commercial centers near suburbs. • Encourage walking and low-speed vehicles. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

24. New Urbanist Movement • Promote diversity in housing designs. • Create housing “superblocks.” • Make cities more self-sustainable. • Incorporate rooftop gardens or vegetation. • Invite public participation in decision-making. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

25. Designing For Open Space • Traditional suburban development typically divides land into a checkerboard layout of nearly identical 1-5 ha parcels with no designated open space. • Conservation Development - Preserves at least half of a subdivision as natural areas, farmland, or other forms of open space. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

26. Designing For Open Space Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

27. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE THIRD WORLD • Many planners argue social justice and sustainable economic development are answers to urban problems. • Another important measure of progress may be institution of social welfare providing care to the sick and elderly. • Others argue the best hope for developing countries may be to “delink” from established international economic systems and develop self-sustainability. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

28. Summary: • Urbanization • Causes of Urban Growth • Push and Pull Factors • Current Urban Problems • Developing World • Developed World • Urban Sprawl • Open Space • Sustainable Development of the Third World Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.

29. Cunningham - Cunningham - Saigo: Environmental Science 7th Ed.