APES Textbook Ch 22

Urbanization

The creation and growth of urban areas or cities and their surrounding developed land. Measured as percentage of people in a country or in the world living in urban areas

Urban growth

The rate of increase of urban populations

• The worlds first cities emerged around 6,000 years ago. Since then, the world is increasingly urbanized.

  • 79% of Americans and 50% of world population live in urban areas

Natural increase

Method of urban area growth where theres more births than deaths

Immigration

Method of urban area growth where people are pulled to urban areas searching for jobs food housing etc

Four major trends in urban population dynamics

1. The proportion of global population living in urban areas is increasing

2. Urban areas are expanding rapidly in number and size. each week 1 million people are added to the worlds urban areas

3. Urban growth is slower in developed countries than developing

4. Poverty is becoming more urbanized in developing countries. At least 1 billion in developing countries live in unsanitary slums and shanty towns. Could double in 30 years

Megacities (Megalopolises)

Cities with 10 million+ people

There are 18 as of the book publishing

Phases of US population shift

1. People migrated from rural areas to large central cities

2. Many people migrated from large central cities to suburbs and smaller cities

3. Many people migrated from the North and East to South and West

4. People have fled both cities and suburbs and migrated to developed rural areas (since 1970s-1990s). Result: Rapid growth of ex-burbs

ex-urbs

housing developments scattered over vast areas that lie beyond suburbs and have no socio-economic centers.

aging infrastructures

The United States has fallen $1.5 trillion behind in maintaining its vital public infrastructure.

• This main- tenance backlog amounts to an average of $5,000 for each U.S. citizen. Maintenance is not glamorous, but without it, urban areas and much of the country can suffer from physical and economic collapse as the costs of long-neglected repairs rise sharply.

Urban sprawl

The growth of low-density development on the edges of cities and towns.

This is eliminating surround- ing agricultural and wild lands

It results in a far-flung hodgepodge of housing developments, shop- ping malls, parking lots, and office complexes that are loosely connected by multilane highways and freeways.

megalopolis.

separate urban areas some- times merge

For example, the remaining open spaces between the U.S. cities of Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C., are rap- idly urbanizing and coalescing.

problems with cities

• Huge ecological problems

• They lack vegetation

• They have water problems

• They concentrate pollution and health problems

• They have excessive noise

• They have a different climate (warmer, rainier, foggier cloudier)

• Light pollution

Noise pollution

Any unwanted, disturbing, or harmful sound that impairs or interferes with hearing, causes stress, hampers concentration and work efficiency, or causes accidents.

Urban heat island

a phenomenon where cities and metropolitan areas experience significantly higher temperatures than their surrounding rural landscapes

Slums

Areas dominated by tenements and rooming houses where several people might live in a single room.

The world’s largest slum, Dharavi, in Mumbai (Bombay), India, is home to 2.8 million people.

Barrios

Slums in Mexico City

mexico city suffers from severe air pollution, close to 50% unemployment, deafening noise, overcrowding, traffic congestion, inadequate public transportation, and a soaring crime rate.

• More than one-third of its residents live in slums called barrios or in squatter settlements that lack running water and electricity.

Compact cities

Cities like Hong Kong, China, and Tokyo, Japan, get around by walking, biking, or using mass transit such as rail or buses.

• Many new high-rise apartment buildings in these Asian cities contain everything from grocery stores to fitness centers.

Dispersed cities

Cities where residents depend on motor vehicles for travel

• A combination of plentiful land, cheap gasoline, and networks of highways have produced this

• This dependency is a growing problem for elderly with no sidewalks or people who cant drive

• Many essentially become prisoners in their homes.

• US Canada Australia

User pays approach

one way to reduce the harmful effects of au- tomobile use is to make drivers pay directly for most environmental and health costs of their automobile use

Full cost pricing

an economic practice that ensures the market price of a product or service reflects its total environmental and societal impacts, rather than just the direct costs of production

ex: Charging a tax on gasoline to cover the estimated harmful costs of driving.

Heavy-rail systems

subways, elevated railways, and metro trains

light-rail systems

streetcars, trolley cars, and tramways

Rapid rail

High speed bullet trains

• In western Europe and Japan, high-speed bullet trains travel between cities at up to 306 kilometers (190 miles) per hour.

• Million passengers a day

Advantages

• Reduce travel by car/plane

• Energy efficient

Disadvantages

• Expensive

• Causes noise/vibration for nearby residents

Land use planning

Determining the best present and future use of each parcel of land

• Much land-use planning encourages future population growth and economic development, regardless of the environmental and social consequences.

• Typically, this leads to uncontrolled or poorly controlled urban growth and sprawl.

Zoning

Parts of land are designated for certain uses

Smart growth

One way to encourage more environmentally sustainable development that reduces dependence on cars, controls and directs sprawl, and cuts wasteful resource use.

• It recognizes that urban growth will occur.

Urban growth boundary approach

One way to preserve open space outside a city is to draw an urban growth line around each community and to allow no urban development outside those boundaries.

Greenbelt

an open area reserved for recreation, sustainable forestry, or other nondestructive uses. Satellite towns are of- ten built outside these greenbelts.

Cluster development

density housing units are concentrated on one portion of a parcel, with the rest of the land (often 30–50%) used for commonly shared open space

New urbanism

A modern form of what could be called old villageism, to develop entire villages and promote mixed-use neighborhoods within existing cities. These principles include:

• walkability

• mixed use and diversity

• quality urban design

• environmental sustainability

• smart transoprtation with well designed train and bus systems

Ecocities (Green cities)

Sustainable cities

Emphasize:

• Build and redesign for people not cars

• Use solar and renewable energe sources

• Use solar powered living machines

• Depend largely on recycled water

• Use energy/matter efficiently

• Prevent pollution and reduce waste

• Protect and support biodiversity

• Promote urban gardens and farmers markets

Ecovillage movement

Small groups of people come together to design and live in sustainable villages