Vancouver – One of the greenest cities in the world. News headlines often illustrate what many polls and rating systems reveal about Vancouver; headlines such as: “Vancouver the greenest city in Canada, index shows” – The Globe and Mail “Vancouver ranked among the top 5 most sustainable cities in North America” – Inside Vancouver “Vancouver ranked world's 4th greenest city” – Vancity Buzz But is it really one of the greenest cities? Awarding Vancouver with the title of greenest city is generally done so from the standpoint of the city’s proximity to nature, the water, and the mountains, in addition to the point of view that Vancouver has a high quality of living. It is not with the first standpoint of Vancouver’s proximity to nature that I contend; rather it is with the claims on Vancouver’s higher quality of life. I think that Vancouver’s public/worldwide claim to a higher quality of standard of living tends to cause an expectation and false comfort among the citizens that the way of life they live is in …show more content…
Does the amount of nature surrounding a city amount to a higher quality of life either? The development of mankind himself, the development of his character, and the development of a deeper understanding of how he was formed should become the basis of the quality of life. It is through this deeper understanding that mankind will continue to grow and further expand the life He lives. Yet, this development of a new quality of life should not be focused completely on the individual, without regard for the realization George Simmel addresses in his writing The Metropolis and Mental Life stating that, “The deepest problems of modern life flow from the attempt of the individual to maintain the independence and individuality of his existence against the sovereign problems of society, against the weight of the historical heritage and the external culture and technique of
Finally in 1991, the federal government initiated a ‘Better Cities Program’ which aimed to make Australian cities sustainable and more liveable. It encoura...
Vancouver is not affordable to live for the young professionals due to gentrification problems. The economy requires gentrification to develop the city. In order for a city to flow better, more people have to spend and sell. Furthermore, for people to spend or sell more, it requires more people to live. However, gentrification is pushing people away from their homes, and makes it difficult for the young professionals to move in. Therefore, a lot of young professionals and working class would move out and live outside the city.
She also introducing new urban building standards. This this article she talks about, the idea some people have of tearing it down and rebuilding. She also talks about ideas people have about some parts of towns. In Boston, she talks about the area of North End, and the change that it was over gone. During her second visit to this area, she discovered that it had changed. She talked to other about it, although the statistic were higher than the city, the people still saw it as a slum. They felt that they needed to tear it down in order to build something better. This leads to the conclusion that the urban planners to do understand that the people of the city need. They have ideas that were developed years ago that they are still using. These ideas do not take account what the people want. The author also introducing new ideas of a perfect city to live in and what it would look like. The idea of a garden city was introduced. This city would be built around a park. Although the new ideas sounded great they could not be put into place today. The idea of a Garden City is something that sounds nice, but it is not possible in society today. Today a city should reflect economic status, and in order to achieve this the city should be big, and convey an image of power. A city that has aspects of nature in it would not convey that image. That upkeep of a city of that kind would also be difficult. The do understand the author's point of view. The planners often times do not take into account the desires of the people. The town that I grow up in want to become more urbanized. In order to do this, they are building a large shopping center. This shopping center is located in the canyon rim. This canyon rim has been important the people for many years. We come to the area to walk, what bass jumpers, and enjoy the scenic views. This new shopping center took away this area. Many of the people
The Web. 26 May 2014. The "Environmental Indicators" Government of Canada, Environment Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. The Web.
Since the day Canada was created the standards of living have been constantly changing. There have been ups and downs in Canadian Standard of Living, but in my opinion, the system we have today is nearly perfect. Although I believe that no one will ever create a perfect system, mainly because of the differences in opinions. Not a single country in the world has the standard of living that in my opinions is ideal. We can look at other countries such as: Russia, Holland, or China. Although these countries have better standards of living then Canadians in some areas like: education, clothing, health system, etc. Each of them has disadvantages like: Russia has poor economy, Holland has high taxes, and China is overpopulated. I believe that current Canadian Standard of living creates a line higher then medium in the World Standard of Living.
While many people continue to live their lives in cities, some may come to the impression that they are “wasteful.” The individual who strives to do their best to eventually reach their dreams, and gain the material things they desire might not seem very effective, compared to the one who is content with their simple, more “pure” life in some vast land away from the city. However, there is a better chance of seeing more people like the former rather than the latter. Certainly, most people today do not live on farms, vacant marshes, or vast deserts, and instead live in cities. Most often, those people would avoid living in such provincial places because of their distinct conditions. Although if we were to determine which type of life is more
Again, this section will give a working definition of the “urban question’. To fully compare the political economy and ecological perspectives a description of the “urban question” allows the reader to better understand the divergent schools of thought. For Social Science scholars, from a variety of disciplines, the “urban question” asks how space and the urban or city are related (The City Reader, 2009). The perspective that guides the ecological and the social spatial-dialect schools of thought asks the “urban question” in separate distinct terminology. Respected scholars from the ecological mode of thinking, like Burgess, Wirth and others view society and space from the rationale that geographical scope determines society (The City Reader, 2009). The “urban question” that results from the ecological paradigm sees the relationship between the city (space) as influencing the behaviors of individuals or society in the city. On the other hand...
The Negative Effects of Urbanization on People and their Environment As our world becomes increasingly globalized, numerous people travel to urban areas in search of economic prosperity. As a consequence of this, cities in periphery countries expand at rates of 4 to 7 percent annually. Many cities offer entrepreneurs the potential for resources, labor, and resources. With prosperity, cities also allow the freedom of a diversity of ways of life and manners (Knox & Marston, 2012). However, in the quest to be prosperous, increasing burdens are placed on our health and the condition of our environment.
With more needs for nature experience and sustainable development in urban areas, increasing importance has been attached to urban open spaces since they play a crucial role to support the ecology system and form a natural network in the cities (Chiesura, 2004; Tzoulas et al., 2007). Urban open spaces include plazas, parks, campus, greenways and other green spaces. They serve as islands of nature, enriching urban landscapes, adjusting the microclimate, promoting biodiversity and providing habitats for other species (Chiesura, 2004; Do, Kim, Kim, & Joo, 2014; Morimoto, 2011). Apart from these benefits, they also show a great impact on urban dwellers’ health, since open spaces offer places for outdoor activities and opportunities for contact with nature (Chiesura, 2004). Tyrväinen et al. (2014) indicated that even short-term visits to urban green spaces have positive psychological and physiological effects on perceived stress relief. People were attracted to urban open spaces for physical activities, social interactions, and a relief from daily life, which benefit their mental and physical health (Thwaites, Helleur, & Simkins, 2005). A large epidemiological study in Britain looked at mortality and morbidity among three income levels in relation to urban residents’ access to green open space (Mitchell & Popham,
place to live in. Life expectancy increased in Canada due to improvement. in public health, modern medicine and nutrition. Canadians are more aware of their health and how to maintain a better quality of life by eating right, exercising and regular medical assessments. Canada is leading in these because our nation demands good quality, this is seen.
In this regard, city authorities all over the world are increasingly adopting energy efficiency measures in a quest to become sustainable into the future. Consequently, this has led to the emergence of the term ‘green cities’ (Aulisi & Hanson, 2004). New York City, viewed by many as an urban, concrete jungle, was recently named the “greenest city" in the United States. This is mainly because most of its residents live in energy-efficient buildings, and use public transport, bicycl...
Surely there exist cities that are determined to transform into more eco-friendly representatives of urban civilization, yet these efforts are typically focused on minimizing the harmful output of cities rather than rew...
These motives are behind the current world’s 50% urbanization rate. Among all countries, Canada heads the urbanization process with 80% of its total area (Snell par.7). The ever-increasing urbanization rate is characterized by human-related destructive activities, which lead to creation of urban centers by destroying inherent biodiversity. The rate is increasing each passing day. However, one thing to note is that destructive activities embody the causes of urban biodiversity wicked problem. The easy way of identification provides land conversion, climate change, consumerism, land fragmentation, and invasive species as the main causes of the wicked problem of urban biodiversity. These causes constitute every aspect of urban life. For instance, there is no way that people living in urban areas can do without proper infrastructures (such as houses, roads, and communication lines). All kinds of infrastructure need space, and, in creating it, there is clearance of all natural vegetation and conversion of land to other uses. The result is annihilation of nature and predisposition of climatic changes. The only easy approach to identify an appropriate solution to the wicked problem of urban biodiversity is to decrease the rate of urbanization by
Nowadays, more than half of the world population lives in cities. Urban populations consume 75% of the world 's natural resources and generate 75% of waste. Cities have become consumers of enormous amounts of natural resources and generating massive environmental
It has taken 20 to 30 years, based on images taken in space of the Earth during the late 1960s, for people to realize that the environment ‘is like a bathtub of limited capacity’. Cities have been developing based on human culture whilst trying to be sustainable at the same time. Although it may be sustainable, the production process and the energy producing systems where they burn fossil fuels, contributes to the amount of carbon emissions that we produce each day. Green city is an expression for eco-city which is a city built off the principles of living within the means of the environment. It has been perceived as a concept rather than it circumstantially solving an ecological collapse like the ‘green Disneyland’ in Masdar City described