Blackboard Reading: Economics In A Full World

Economics In A Full World

• a. growth is thought to be the solution to everything
• b. wealth “will” trickle down
• c. don’t try to “redistribute” wealth
• d. lower interest rates > new jobs
• e. rely on the Kuznets curve, pollution will decrease

Finite Biosphere

• a. the economy is a subsystem of a finite biosphere
• b. natural capital: fish, minerals, fossil fuels
• c. man made capital: roads, factories, appliances
• d. “uneconomic growth”: negative externalities are produced faster than goods
• e. humankind must make the transition to sustainable economy
• f. there are inherent biophysical limits of the global ecosystem
• g. an ecological catastrophe would sharply lower living standards
• h. mainstream/neoclassical economists consider sustainability to be a fad
• i. the biosphere is finite, non-growing, and a closed system
• j. subsystems such as an the economy

Lifetime

• a. in 67 years, the human population 3x
• b. total energy used has increased per person
• c. microeconomics: costs & benefits to different behaviors
• d. an ever-growing economy is unsustainable
• e. 1) GDP, 2) utility, 3) throughput, 4) natural capital, 5) total capital: natural + man-made capital
• f. GDP: development + growth
• g. well-being/satisfaction of wants isn’t measured by GDP
• h. low-entropy resources are taken from nature & made into high-entropy wastes
• i. man-made capital isn’t superior to natural capital
• j. strong sustainability: more boats won’t create more fish
• k. cap & trade: regulate the ability
• l. free markets is incompatible with sustainability
• m. higher taxes needed for Social Security
• n. need more durable products
• o. products need to be recycled @ the end of their lifespan
• p. the wealthy spend most of their $ on houses, cars, trips
• q. investment in a sustainable economy, for replacement & qualitative improvement, not speculation
• r. trade has to be regulated
• s. high incomes & luxuries should be taxed
• t. labor intensive industry, higher employment
• u. wealthy countries: more consumption is not increasing happiness
• v. need to think in terms of physical resources
• 
  

Blackboard Reading: The Future Of Sustainability: Re-thinking Environment And Development In The Twenty-First Century,The World Conservation Union

The Future Of Sustainability: Re-thinking Environment & Development In The Twenty-First Century,The World Conservation Union

a. the issue of sustainability in the 21st century
b. meeting the challenge of sustainability 
c. rethinking the “sustainability process”
d. the concept of sustainability became popular in 1969
e. it is possible to industrialize & have economic growth while minimizing environmental damage
f. sustainable development: meets the needs of the present while preserving the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
g. combat 1) environmental degradation that comes with economic growth, 2) create growth to eliminate poverty
h. 1) environmental, 2) social, 3) economic sustainability
i. preservation of the environment > 1) for personal well-being, 2) for the common good
j. the “greening” of business must occur
k. paradox: 1) 21st century is said to be sustainable because a) business, b) government and c) civil society cooperate 
l. evidence that enterprise is 1) less sustainable
m. trade offs can be made: environmental, social, and economic goals
n. strong sustainability: few trade offs, weak sustainability: many tradeoffs
o. economy is emphasized over sustainability
p. the economy is a product of society
q. the environment creates society
r. the biosphere has a limited capacity to absorb pollutants & provide resources & services
s. capacity is close to limits in many places
t. development as usual is often said to be “sustainable.”
u. sustainability is an ethical concept
v. 1970, Club of Rome’s “Limits to Growth,”
w. 1) ecological processes, 2) life support systems, 3) genetic diversity, 4) sustainable utilization of species & ecosystems
1. consumption of living resources as raw material & sinks for waste is high & growing
2. level of poverty is high & inequality is growing
3. degradation of ecosystem services > hurts poor people
4. half of urban pop. in Africa, Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean have diseases associated with inadequate water & sanitation
5. per capita fish consumption declined between ’85 and ’97
6. desertification > affects the livelihoods of millions of people
7. human claim on nature has increased
8. development: 1) economic growth, 2) urbanization, 3) global industrialization
9. the 30 year model of conventional development is unsustainable
10. China: massive increase in consumption of 1) grain, 2) meat, 3) steel, 4) oil, 5) timber
11. the earth is @ a tipping point
12. the model is applauded by the global media as desirable 
13. we can’t consume without limits
14. demand for 1) low fuel prices, 2) high material & energy consumption, 3) ignorance of the social & environmental conditions under which global products are created
15. environmentalist challenges to business are outside of the mainstream 
16. economies are highly integrated now
17. fears of 1) security, 2) cultural change, 3) political threat
18. climate change > sea change & extreme events
19. difficulty of poverty 
20. technology: 1) social, 2) environmental, 3) economic, 4) health consequences. 
21. nuclear fission can change governance 
22. critical natural capital takes a long time to replace
23. numerous hurricanes, tropical storms, earthquakes, flooding, and famine in 2005 and 2006
24. the problem of peak oil
25. “The idea that there is always somewhere to absorb externalities is flawed, and it is a myth of progress that living systems always recover from human demands”
26. biodiversity needs to be preserved
27. pollution of lakes > extinction of species
28. the biosphere is not infinite
29. human wellbeing is not necessarily measured in material goods extracted from nature
30. there is a link between human wellbeing & security
31. a) human health, b) security, c) solidarity must be protected
32. have to meet human needs now & in the future

A New Economy
a. a market is a human institution
b. markets can change the environment
c. markets can exist out of regulatory powers
d. markets can preserve environmental services
e. markets can preserve biological diversity
f. need to transition to a low-carbon economy
g. economy must reflect 1) industrial, 2) economic, 3) and social processes
h. an economy of services instead of objects
i. need less value based on waste
j. engage the 1) imagination, 2) vision, 3) passion, and 4) emotion
k. happiness, freedom, fulfilment, diversity of options vs. jobs, income, wealth, possessions, consumption, power
l. environmental limits, difficult to address politically
m. consumption: positive change or global degradation?
n. environmentalism promising “hell to come” is not the right vision
o. fossil fuel, automobile throw away > 1) reuse, 2) recycle, 3) new energy
p. 1) non-media mass communication, 2) search engines can formulate/disseminate new paradigms
q. 1) businesses, 2) governments, 3) environmental development organizations, 4) civil society groups, 5) religious groups must act
r. taxation of businesses
s. social enterprise can be a vehicle for positive change
t. businesses need 1) governmental regulation, 2) financial incentives
u. citizens: decisions as consumers
v. challenges demand vision & boldness

Blackboard Reading, The Conundrum Of Urban Sustainability, William E. Rees

The Conundrum Of Urban Sustainability, William E. Rees
a. the majority of mankind will be living in cities
b. most of the human environment will be “built environment.”
c. human beings are dependent on the environment
d. cities are major drivers of global ecological change
e. sustainable cities > required for sustainable rural communities
f. cities are the problem & key to “global sustainability”
g. transition to a higher plane of civilization?
h. rural: inferior peasant culture?
i. city: 1) engine of economic growth, 2) seat of government, 3) center of culture, 4) wellspring of new knowledge, 5) repository of cumulative learning
j. urbanization > human ecological transformation > 1) dramatic in spatial relationship of human populations to the land, 2) humans are materially dependent on the land & biophysical services of the land
k. paradox: 1) distance humans physically/psychologically from the ecosystems that support them, 2) low incentive to conserve local ecological resources, 3) agricultural land near sprawling cities is lost to food production, 4) dependence on imports > low awareness of ecological & social consequences of the production process, 5) social pressures & high income increases the propensity & capacity of urbanites to consume, 6) urbanization can speed up the loss of local & global carrying capacity
m. conundrum: 1) urbanites lose direct connection to nature, 2) cities require more food, more material commodities, more energy, 3) processing & consumption of resources returns a lot of degraded/toxic waste back to the environment with a high cost on local ecosystems and global ecosystems, 5) modern cities draw on global resources and dump their garbage globally 

 Upping The Urban Ante
a. world is 50% urban
b. world’s population increased 200M to 2B
c. 1.1% of the 1950 level was added each year
d. 1990s: rate of urbanization increased
e. world’s urban pop. grew 50%
f. 2025: 5.1B will live in cities, up 70% from beginning of 1st quarter of the century
g. there are more cities
h. cities are getting bigger
i. By 2015, 23 of 27 cities will be 10M or more
j. 1990s: 25% of urban dwellers didn’t have proper water, 50% didn’t have proper sewage
k. millions of dwelling units, stores, offices, schools, hospitals, water treatment, waste treatment, roads, parking facilities, transportation, communications, urban infrastructure is required

Cities & Sustainability
a. can we become sustainable the way cities are growing?
b. the economies of scale & agglomeration economies of the city might enhance the future of humanity 
c. human use already exceeds global carrying capacity
d. more prosperous nations have been ignored on the sustainability hook
e. 80% of populations in high income countries live in cities
f. high income cities: heavy burdens on nature
g. the wealthiest 25% of humans consume 80% of the world’s economic output
h. 64% of world’s production/consumption/pollution is associated with rich countries

Blackboard Reading, Green & Brown Agenda Briefing Paper Series On Urban Environmental Improvement & Poverty Reduction

Green & Brown Agenda Briefing Paper Series On Urban Environmental Improvement & Poverty Reduction 

a. there are often conflicts between advocates of the “Green Agenda” and the “Brown Agenda”
b. Green Agenda: 1) reduce the impact of urban based production, 2) decrease consumption and waste generation 
c. Brown agenda: 1) need to reduce the environmental threats to health that arise from poor sanitary conditions, crowding, inadequate water provision, hazardous air & water pollution & local accumulation of solid waste

The Two Agendas:
a. Brown: 1) sanitary agenda of the 1800s, 2) short term environmental effects, 3) more local & immediate issues, 4) associated with poverty
b. Green: 1) sustainability revolution, 2) desire to reach a better balance with nature, concerned with, 3) long term environmental effects, 4) more dispersed/delayed issued, 5) issues will effect future generations, 6) associated with affluence

Conflicting agendas: helping the poor vs. protecting the future
a. problem: water shortage, short term solution: use far-off water supply
b. local air pollution, short term: higher stacks, more distant oil/coal power stations
c. local solid waste problem, short term: dumping waste outside urban area
d. problem land shortage, short term: promote urban sprawl
e. problem: sanitation, short term: use vast quantities of water
f. people have the right to have their basic needs met!

Complementary agendas: helping the poor & protecting the future
a. concern with complex & unintended side effects of human activity
b. Brown: immediate
c. Green: delayed
d. prevention is the best cure
e. concern with equity
f. need to make water affordable, subsidize it, have systems that don’t leak
g. the poor are deprived of environmental resources

Brown v. Green
a. human health vs. ecosystem health
b. immediate vs. delayed
c. local vs. regional and global
d. low income groups vs. future generations
e. manipulate nature to serve human needs vs. protect & work with nature
f. work with people vs. educate people
g. provide more environmental services vs. use less environmental services
h. inadequate access & poor quality of water vs. overuse of water, need to protect water sources
i. high human exposure to hazardous pollutants in air vs. acid precipitation & greenhouse gas emissions
j. inadequate provision for collection & removal of solid waste vs. excessive generation, need for recycling 
k. inadequate access of land for low income groups vs. loss of natural habitats and agricultural land to urban development
l. inadequate provision for safely removing poop and waste water from living environment vs. loss of nutrients in sewage & damage to water bodies from sewage released into waterways
m. urbanist vs. environmentalist

1. more careful & equitable use of environmental resources > 1) better environmental services, 2) less ecological damage
2. recycling of waste > 1) remove waste from urban neighborhoods (B) while reducing damage to natural resources (G)
3. preservation of urban wetlands (G) can improve sanitation (B)
4. the Northern Green agenda may not be appropriate for Southern cities

The importance of assisting locally-driven initiatives
a. cities that can address their own local environmental problems efficiently and fairly are more likely to respond to the G & B agenda
b. local environmental issues have to be given prominence
c. Leicester’s environmental city initiative
d. Stockholm: city with good environmental management history
e. far more justification for tackling local environmental issues in the South

Conclusion 
a. it is a major challenge to finance initiatives for the B & G agenda
b. priority: locally driven environmental initiatives in poor communities
c. governance is important 

Chapter Seven, p. 131-152

a. 2003, Bankok streets were clogged by elephants
b. $8 pound fine in London for traffic congestion, traffic congestion went down 30%
c. Bankok, world’s most congrested city
d. Bankok: 10,000,000 people
e. chronic respiratory problems in Bankok
f. Delhi: air pollution/congestion
g. heavy investment in mass transit > frees up roads > more cars!
h. walking: 3 to 4 kilometers/hour
i. underground bus/train: 40 kilometers
j. car: 80 kilometers/ hour
k. cities lost shape with cars
l. local business in cities loses out to suburban establishments
m. transport: major component of sustainability
n. assembly line led to cheap Model T Ford
o. $850 in 1913
p. $360 in 1925
q. 1925: GM ripped out the streetcars
r. WWII: people wanted a garden in the suburbs
s. settlements became low-density, car-dependnet
t. planning, regulations, taxes: car use is lower in Europe
u. <10% of trips in USA: walking, biking, public transport
v. 3x as much energy-use as Europe in USA (84,000 mega-jules vs. 27,0000)
w. America: one car for every 1.3 people (1/1.30 x 300,000,000)
y. 228,000,000 cars in America...
z. 970,000,000 in China if they catch up to us

1. German car-makers actually care about environmental/social impacts

The Problems Of Sprawl
1. population in NYC grew 5%, surface area grew 61%
2. 90% of LA inhabitants drive to work
3. LA (10 million) uses 3x the land space of London (7 million)
4. Hong Kong (6 million) people live in high rises
5. Phoenix (3.2 million) packed into same area as LA (10 million)
6. Us government keeps road construction cheap through subsidies
7. without subsidies, developers would build in cities!
8. 1/4 mile plots in Australian suburbs
9. sprawl makes life difficult for old & young people
10. sprawl hurts in-city shopping centers
11. sprawl makes public transit too expensive
12. biking isn’t that common even if land could accomodate it
13. Australia is putting bike lanes to shops, schools
14. dense settlements, more socially diverse than suburbs
15. Adelaide: rebates on in-city housing: 40% > more entertainment at night
16. motorists only pay 25% of what roads cost
17. employers have to provide free-parking 
18. fuel would have to go up 150% to pay for road construction/transportation infrastructure
19. education: people might consider their actions on society/ the environment

1. public subsidies GO
2. create the urban growth boundary
3. create dense urban centers
4. subsidies on public transit
5. support for transport with a low environmental impact

1. Portland is trying to counter sprawl (1.5 million people)
2. 1979, growth boundary
3. a park was installed by the river
4. Hillsboro, has a light-rail station: Orenco Station

142
1.public transport is making a comeback
2. Hong Kong, Vienna, Zurich, Curitiba, Amsterdam, Montpellier: new tram systems 
3. easy access to services, jobs, education, social connections
4. mass transit, walking, cycling: fast journeys, low transport costs, healthier people
5. cities become cleaner, less frustrating, & more liveable
6. congestion/urban toll roads-tackle congestion
7. Curitiba, S. Brazil, 1.7 million people, good public transport planning


Curitiba:
1. Curitiba: planned along structural roads/axes
2. businesses and housing are acclimated along axes
3. price needs to be medium

European Cities
1. many cities began before motor car
2. urban growth was linked to development of public transit
3. prices of fuel, costs of car use are much higher
4. planning restrictions limited urban growth

Vienna
1. was 37% cars, 37% public transport, walking 23%, bikes: 3%
2. gives non-car traffic the priority
3. businesses/development will be located along rail-line
4. improves road conditions
5. cuts down traffic volumes
6. punctual/regular service on all lines
7. separate lanes & preferential traffic signals
8. shorter intervals @ low demand hours
9. good night-time service
10. increased efficiency/frequency of the basic network
11. route extensions in connection with urban development projects
12. improvements in rolling stock
13. flexible operating modes such as collective taxis in peripheral zones
14. improved public perception of the the transport service

1. reduce parking space in the streets
2. regular monitoring og the public parking spaces
3. multi-story car parks to increase road space
4. additional park & ride facilities on the periphery of Vienna

5. the bike network is being continuously improved

Zurich
1. biggest city in Switzerland
2. high quality, wide range of services
3. innovative “zone” buses
4. tram tracks separated from the rest of the road
5. special fares by publicity campaigns
6. reduced fares for young people
7. surveys on needs and social trends, focused on specific consumer groups
8. Zurich’s auto-rate hasn’t increased since 1980
9. training in fuel efficient driving
10. promotion of fuel efficient cars
11. encouragement of fuel-efficient freight transport
12. private parking management to reduce daily car commuting
13. concessionary public transport tickets

Copenhagen
1. 100,000 meters(square) were traffic free space
2. 80% of movement is pedestrian
3. Heidelburg, Karlsruhe, Essen, Montpellier, are adopting Copenhagen’s reforms

Remodeling Cities
1. well planned mass transit systems don’t need to be fast
2.diverse local activities keep people in the city
3. walking, cheapest form of transport
4. walkable: more social interaction, physical fitness, diminished crime

Alternative Vehicles
1. electric/hybrid-electric motors should be pursued
2. electric cars should be promoted for short trips
3. hydrogen power: energy efficient, pollution-free
4. wind power, solar energy, crop & refuse derived ethanol could make hydrogen a sustainable & viable option

Best:
1. compact urban development
2. effective use of mass transit
3. new vehicle technologies

Chapter Six, Cities As Eco-Technical Systems, p. 108-130

Chapter Six, Cities As Eco-Technical Systems, p. 108-130

1. cities have depleted the natural capital of their local & regional hinterland
2. large modern cities use natural resources on a global scale
3. * cities are centers of knowledge, culture & creativity
4. Aristotle: city could be thought of as a singular organism
5. Olmstead: cities are a social organism
6. Mumford: “organic growth of medieval cities”
7. modern cities are super-organisms!
8. Lynch: “urban ecosystem”: living species filter air, microclimate regulation, noise reduction, surface water drainage, nutrient retention, genetic diversity, pollination, seed disposal, insect pest regulation, recreational spaces & living soil for food gardens
9. Koyaanisqatsi, Godfrey Reggio’s 1983 visual poem about New York & Los Angeles
10. modern cities: eco-technical systems: multi-layered biological/technical systems
11. biology & technology meet in cities
12. import resources from elsewhere

Super-organism
1. complex living body with a great variety of interacting organs
2. roads/railways/waterways: arteries/veins
3. food markets: stomachs
4. garbage dumps, sewage dumps: digestive tracts
5. universities/libraries: brains
6. communication networks: nervous systems
7. parks/gardens: lungs

Key Factors
1. location near a concentration of resources
2. convenient river or coastal setting
3. transport connections with good access to markets
4. opportunities for manufacturing for local consumption & trade

Flows
1. flows of capital
2. flows of information
3. flows of technology
4. flows of organizational interactions
5. flows of images
6. flows of sounds and symbols

1. firms will congregate where there is a large market
2. high urban concentrations > congestion
3. affluent cities: information based economy, not manufacturing
4. cities are centers of production/consumerism
5. out-of-town shopping malls compete with in-city-malls

Food:
1. origins?
2. energy used in processing/transporting
3. carbon emissions

London, Tokyo, New York
1. food, spices, tea, coffee, timber were shipped long distances
2. production, transportation, and consumption have to be altered 

Ecological Footprints of cities
1. London’s footprint is 293x its surface area
2. a North American city with 650,000 people needs 30,000 square kilometers to meet its needs, an Indian city would need 2,800 kilometers
3. Everyone lived like a Londoner: 3 planets!
4. Los Angeles: 5 planets
5. 1996: 744 European cities consumed 25% of all fish
6. Amazon, Malaysia, Indonesia: deliberate forest clearing for land!
7. very little economic benefits go to the local people whose land is destroyed
8. Paragominas: boom town in Brazilian Amazon-200 sawmills, sawmill capital of the world!
9. 10 million settlers to Brazil despite gunmen, malaria, infertile soil and hostile world opinion
10. 1990s: $1 billion of timber, became a shameful symbol of violence & environmental devestation

Meat Eating Habit
1. the Chinese used to eat meat occasionally
2. Japanese styled marble beef is becoming popular
3. soybeans, maize, barley go to feed cows
4. 1 billion in rich countries eat a lot of meat
5. 1 billion in the poorest countries cannot eat meat
6. meat production requires large amounts of feed
7. more imports from US, Australia, and Brazil are required to produce meat
8. meat consumption endangers rain-forests
9. beef eating requires large quantities of grain

Game-plan
1. protect ecosystems
2. reduce carbon
3. carbon sequestration
4. plant new forests
5. store carbon in farmland
6. Australia: large potential for tree-planting

The Metabolism Of Cities
1. can we transform cities into less environmentally demanding/damaging places?
2. can we establish a relationship between cities & the planet that is sustainable?
3. can cities self-regulate & self limit wastes?
4. metabolism: sum of all biological, chemical & physical processes
5. linear model of production is not sustainable
6. waste can be a resource
7. efficient consumption of resources benefits local economy
8. reduced discharges of wastes reduces pollution

A Successful Web:
1. Power station for Kalundbourg
2. steam for Statoil refinery, Novo Nordisk & Novozymes
3. process steam > reduced oil consumption & water consumption by circulating water among partners
4. ash produced is recycled by construction/cement industries
5. Kalundborg symbiosis

Communication & Sustainability
1. internet improves communication flow
2. simulation/modeling can reinvent the city
3. cities must deliberately construct feedback loops with natural systems beyond their boundaries

Important Areas:
1. linear resource flows > circular resource flows
2. resource productivity
3. urban ecology
4. industrial ecology
5. how can these measures be implemented?

Globalisation & Megacity Growth, p.86 to 107

Chapter Five

Globalisation & Megacity Growth, p.86 to 107

• a. 100 years: 1.5 billion to 6 billion
• b. 47% of world urban
• c. more developed nations: 76% urbanized
• d. 40% urbanized in developing nations
• e. urban populations in developed: grew by 0.6%
• f. urban populations in developing regions grew by 2.9% a year-will continue until 2030
• g. most people don’t live in mega-cities of 10 million
• h. coal, oil, steel, industrial mass production, global trade make this possible
• i. continuing worldwide immigration of people from rural areas results from a combination of factors

10 main factors:

• 1. migration due to job/business opportunities
• 2. urban education, health, other services
• 3. reproduction of urban populations
• 4. cheap energy supplies
• 5. technological development
• 6. import substitution & economic growth
• 7. economic globalization
• 8. urban political & financial power
• 9. urban-centered transport systems
• 10. easy access to global food supplies

• a. 1950: most people were employed in agriculture
• b. 1990: most people worked in services
• c. rural education, health programs, improved water, sanitation, road construction, electrification & investment in rural economies help to keep ruralites from moving
• d. combustion technology, steel making, motorized transport, long-distance communication systems > the emergence of large cities
• e. buildings require continuous electricity supplies to operate lifts, pump water, light rooms & power air conditioning & domestic electrical equipment
• f. bulldozers, cranes, road-building machinery + ready mixed concrete are the “headline technologies” that make fast urban construction possible
• g. buildings are no longer made of local materials. Instead steel, glass, concrete.
• h. China, largest producer of cement, 37% of global demand
• i. Turkey, India, Brazil, Thailand: major producers & consumers
• j. cement > a lot of greenhouse gases
• k. urbanites in developing countries can have 4x the income of ruralites
• l. long distance food supplies are becoming the norm
• m. cities deprive rural communities of water
• n. Tokyo: rapid industrial growth
• o. Meiji Period: Japan industrialized rapidly
• p. 25 years, Japan had a growth rate of up to ten percent (1950-1975)
• q. Tokyo, hub of Japan’s economic miracle
• r. little city-wide planning
• s. suburbs were created to reduce overcrowding
• t. Tokyo relied on imported energy & food & timber supplies
• u. Tokyo: one of world’s largest consumer markets
• v. Sumida/Onagi rivers became polluted with industrial effluents, sewage, mineral fertilizer run-off from farmland
• w. the Tokyo Bay ecosystem was severely damaged
• x. since 1973, the water quality has improved
• y. Japan had so much stuff to dispose of they HAD to recycle
• z. Toyo: high technology, knowledge based economy

• a. much industrial development in Tokyo
• b. Tokyo-leading player in global financial system
• c. Tokyo, London, New York: finance centers
• d. NY: services is 85% of economy, London its 82%, Tokyo is 74%
• e. investors to avoid expensive regulations & shift activity to low cost ones
• f. Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei, Shanghai, Mumbai
• g. Hong Kong: manufacturing to service based economy
• h. Singapore: mainly manufacturing: semi-conducters, shipping, air transport, becoming a major financial center

Six points:

• 1. concentrated command points by use of advanced communication systems
• 2. important centers for finance
• 3. coordinators of state power
• 4. sites of innovative forms of industrialization & production
• 5. markets for products & innovations produced

• a. networks are replacing communites
• b. do-things-yourself from online

Urban China p. 95

• a. China prevented rural to urban migration until recently
• b. Xiaoping: economic reforms built up industry/ rural urbanization
• c. Shenzhen grew from 1000s to millions
• d. jobs in factories, construction, restaurants, transportation, urban agriculture
• e. global investors contribute to China’s boom
• f. emergence of a consumer economy/ export driven economy
• g. greater meat consumption in China
• h. air/water pollution-major problem
• i. Shanghai: new container terminal
• j. Korea. Thailand, Laos, Cambodia: rapid growth in private income

Problems:

• 1. traffic congestion
• 2. housing shortages
• 3. competition for jobs
• 4. increasing crime

Cities In Third World Countries

• a. living conditions are awful for 1 billion or more urban people
• b. Nairobi, Manila, Calcutta, Jakarta: squatter camps for 1/2 of urban population
• c. water supply, sewage disposal, waste management: not well developed
• d. cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis: problems

Consideration

• a. poor cities: environmental problems are local/immediate/life threatening
• b. middle income: regional, delayed
• c. rich cities: global/inter-generational (problems) in scale

India:

• 1. 1947: 15% in cities, 2000: 30% in cities
• 2. megacities: Mumbai, Delphi, Calcutta, Chennai
• 3. 1/3 of urban Indians are below the poverty line
• 4. 15% of Indians do not have safe drinking water
• 5. traffic congestion, lack of public transport

Africa:

• a. rapid urbanization because rural conditions are worsening
• b. droughts/desertification

Lagos

• a. decline in rural areas, lack of economic development
• b. unemployment, poverty
• c. 90% do have electricity
• d. problems with water supplies (plenty of water there though!)
• e. problems with sewage disposal
• f. traffic congestion: 3 hours to move 20 kilometers
• g. lack of adequate housing
• h. high crime rates, lots of armed banditry

Geography Of Inequality

• a. The American urbanist Mike Davis has coined the term ‘ecology of fear” to describe the condition of people living in islands of wealth surrounded by poverty
• b. Los Angeles, Lagos, Jerusalem, Nairobi, Delhi: protected home zones with guarded entrances and high walls with electric security fences is becoming commonplace
• c. post-apartheid Johannesburg, well-to-do people live in gated suburbs
• d. unemployment is very high in cities
• e. violent crime is bad in Johannesburg, AIDs epidemic is high in South Africa

Liveability in Developing Cities

• a. high unemployment, appalling living conditions
• b. slum-upgrading programs, infrastructure improvement, housing improvements, small-scale job creation
• 1. water/wastewater systems, flood prevention, electricity, security lighting, public telephones
• 2. removing environmental hazards
• 3. providing incentives for community management/maintainance
• 4. creating community facilities, health posts, & community open space
• 5. regularizing security of tenure
• 6. home improvement
• 7. relocating residents moved by improvements
• 8. improving access to health care/education as well as social support systems to address security, violence, substance abuse
• 9. enhancing income earning opportunities through training and micro-credit
• 10. building social capital & institutional frameworks to sustain improvements

Curitiba: planning improvements have made it more livable

A Word From Lerner, Former Mayor

• a. competition for master plan of expanding Brazil’s city
• b. highly integrated bus system
• c. 1. use your car less
• d. separate your garbage
• e. 2 years to make urban improvements large scale
• f. planning is crucial
• g. high density/pedestrian friendly cities are needed

Offerings

• 1. living wage jobs
• 2. education
• 3. basic transportation
• 4. safe water/ sanitation
• 5. health care
• 6. affordable housing
• 7. clean air, safety, diversity
• 8. parks, gardens, public spaces
• 9. leisure/recreation
• 10. active stake in local, democratic governance
• 11. opportunities for enjoying nature

NEED: to develop a sustainable relationship between people & planet & transform local environmental conditions