A quote “How can ecological science and the theory and practice of urbanism join in the effort to position cities and towns to adapt to the massive, accelerated, and sometimes unprecedented changes they face” in the book Resilience in Ecology and Urban Design , captivated my interest and still influences my academic goal. I have my dream of becoming a scholar who contributes to research area of landscape issues associated with the urban changes. My research will be an exploration of the application of spatial analysis to landscape, emphasized on changes in urban structures. The unprecedented urban growth is one of major urban issues relating to human activities and developments. We live in complexity of urban systems, vital to sustaining
I observed how my hometown was demolished and redeveloped, and experienced how the city of Seoul was radically transformed in the 90’s with the rapid economic development. I mainly learned how growing urban neighborhoods can be developed and managed through sustainable ways at the University of Seoul, my undergraduate school. These background experiences of mine have naturally shaped my interest in urban growth and sustainable issues. At the University of Washington, my master program that was focused on urban ecosystems played an important role to set up my research interest for doctoral study. While I took a series of landscape and urban planning classes and participated in several related projects, my academic interest became specified into two fundamental questions: (1) How do development patterns affect landscape ecology and vice versa? and (2) How effective are sustainable design elements of current development in terms of climate
Not only have I taken classes related to my interest in order to establish theoretical and methodological knowledge of my doctoral study, including ‘Environmental Planning,’ and ‘Landscape Urbanism Studio: Surging Seas,’ at the UW and ‘Geocomputating,’ ‘Statistics for Sociologist II,’ and ‘Spatial Data Analysis (next semester)’ at the UW-Madison, but I have also put a great deal of effort into honing my spatial analysis skills which will be a key tool in my Ph.D. research. I am currently working at the Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute, participating in a project about evaluating coastal resilience along the Lake Michigan, and also worked at the UW Green Futures Laboratory, participating community planning projects. My responsibilities are and were mainly GIS data analysis and creation of deliverable
The following case study critiques Upton’s vision to establish a sustainable community through implementing comprehensive sustainable strategy. The urban periphery development is thought to demonstrate superior execution of sustainable principles in development (Jackson 2007). As a parallel, the report focuses on the development of Upton’s design code and demonstrates how large -scale mix-use developments can incorporate sustainable practice and principles of urban growth.
Webber, M. M. (1973). Comprehensive planning and social responsibility: Toward an AIP consensus on the profession's roles and purposes. Journal of the American Institute of Planning, 232-241.
Richard C. Nelson, the author, is a professor in the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning and the Planning Degree program at the University of Arizona. He has made substantial contributions in real estate analysis and urban growth trends. Nelson also created the term ‘megapolitan’ which he predicts the United States will have over twenty by 2040. These megapolitans are the result of the reverse sprawl and creating major economic centers, which will make America globally competitive. Nelson’s background ties in to many of his ideas in the book, with the main points focusing on demographic changes, housing trends, more space for future jobs and the benefits of reshaping metropolitan America. Changing demographics support the notion that more people are choosing an urban lifestyle over sprawl, which means a higher preference of
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
* Urban Professional^s recognition of the increased variability, robustness, and interest in both the urban area and their work. * Conservation Activist^s commendation of the lower consumption of resources, and reduced pressure on sensitive environment areas, suggestive of a reduction in urban sprawl. * The Development Industry^s equations of profit established through better and higher levels of land use. Essentially urban consolidation proposes an increase of either population or dwellings in an existing defined urban area (Roseth,1991). Furthermore, the suburban village seeks to establish this intensification within a more specific agenda, in which community is to be centred by public transport nodes, and housing choice is to be widened with increased diversity of housing type (Jackson,1998).
The face of the American landscape has undergone a period of fantastic change in recent decades. With an expanding population and innumerable opportunities for economic and physical growth, urban centers and sprawling suburbs have pushed farther and farther into outlying areas causing pressures and development on previously untouched, natural lands. New Jersey has become, in many ways, the focus in dealing with issues of sprawl and development within its relatively small space. The most densely populated state in the nation, New Jersey often acts as a predecessor in both having and dealing with issues of environmental concern and/or damage. Within the past ten years, the issue of urban/suburban "sprawl" has become an issue of much concern among professional and private citizens alike. Characterized by unplanned and unchecked growth outward from urban core areas, sprawl becomes such a concern as it has reshaped the face of the American environmental landscape by fragmenting wild habitats, overutilizing existing water resources, and building mile after mile of "McMansion" homes on very large tracts of land. The construction of this suburban landscape does not, however, come without a cost to the surrounding environment. To build homes with large areas of fenced in property, open space and natural areas must be tapped utilized to feed the strong market. While some would say that it is not the market fueling the various associations of homebuilders but instead the reverse reaction, neither this, nor the other is of significant concern when attempting to address the physical impacts that this sprawling "suburban-side" has on natural habitats.
The Impacts of Smart Growth Strategies in the Chesapeake Bay Since the early 1990’s the Chesapeake Bay has been suffering from different pollutant sources such as overpopulation, human activity on land and runoff. Although pollutants are part of the problem, they only make up a small percentage of the Bay’s problems. Human activity and urbanization are the main contributions for the Bay’s poor health.
How to create an environment suitable for human living when resources are limited is a challenging problem for modern society. My strong interest in photography and art has compelled me to become especially observant toward the relationship between human beings and the environment. I have come to realize that the environment we live in has suffered much damage from pollution and lacks competent planning, making it difficult to find beautiful scenery to photograph or sketch. I began to think that I could make use of my artistic gift, concern about, and interest in the environment by entering the field of landscape design and putting my effort into beautifying our surroundings. Therefore, after graduating from high school, I entered the Department of Landscape Architecture at ABC University.
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...
New Urbanism, a burgeoning genre of architecture and city planning, is a movement that has come about only in the past decade. This movement is a response to the proliferation of conventional suburban development (CSD), the most popular form of suburban expansion that has taken place since World War II. Wrote Robert Steuteville, "Lacking a town center or pedestrian scale, CSD spreads out to consume large areas of countryside even as population grows relatively slowly. Automobile use per capita has soared, because a motor vehicle is required for nearly all human transportation"1. New Urbanism, therefore, represents the converse of this planning ideology. It stresses traditional planning, including multi-purpose zoning, accessible public space, narrow street grids for easy pedestrian usage and better placement of community buildings. Only a few hundred American communities are utilizing this method of planning, but the impact is quickly growing in an infant field dominated by a few influential architects and engineers.
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
In a world divided by war, it is easy to overlook problems that affect all of mankind. The dramatic rise in ocean levels worldwide constitutes just that sort of problem. Although the fundamental problem of global warming has been given airtime and plenty of written-media coverage, the problem of rising sea levels seems to have met a certain amount of apathy. A likely explanation is that the rising sea levels mainly threatens impoverished peoples that may have no choice but to doubt the threat, since there is no way for them to relocate. Concurrently, Americans, seemingly beset by some false sense of well-being, really have no fear of the possible annihilation of our coastal cities. Granted, the worst case scenario (the total loss of all glacial ice) would take several hundred years to become a reality, but the possibilities are frightening.
Indeed, many global cities face compelling urban planning issues like urban sprawl, population, low density development, overuse of non-renewable natural recourses, social inequities and environmental degradation. These issues affect the cities themselves, the adjacent regions and often even globally. The resulting ecological footprint upsets the balance in adjacent rural and natural areas. Unplanned or organic development leads to urban sprawl, traffic problems, pollution and slums (as evident in the case of Mumbai city). Such unplanned development causes solid waste management and water supply to fall inadequate. Urban sprawl gives rise to low density development and car dependent communities, consequently leading to increased urban flooding, low energy efficiency, longer travel time and destruction of croplands, forests and open spaces for development.
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...
...only a very small part of the extremely multifaceted phenomenon of urban sprawl. As previously mentioned, urban sprawl seems to be an inherent part of human community development and an issue that has always present worldwide. It seems highly unlikely that the phenomenon of urban sprawl itself can be eradicated from society. It may be a more realistic goal to attempt to change various aspects of society to decrease the effects of urban sprawl, which may require a dramatic paradigm shift for everyone in a society. It is impossible to correct a community problem if the members of that community are not even aware of the issues and the stakes at hand. Such an overreaching phenomenon such as urban sprawl will require acute awareness and enormous effort on the part of every individual in a community to make a marked difference on the negative effects of urban sprawl.