Lecture 17

December 1, 2008

Handback

short written #2 - comments

read & discuss #4


Comment on final exam

time

topics and question types

 

Plan for next term and beyond

ESR221 in winter or spring

ESR222 in spring or summer

other courses for Env Studies

Capstones - if you're a junior you might want to look at the selection for summer

 

Themes

A. description of a system

B. factors that control that system

 

 

Major concepts in Chapter 23: Sustainable Cities

Cities are important

centers of education, new ideas and exchange of those

some comparison between structure of cities and brain

engines of innovation

spread of innovation, usually starts at cities

Hagerstrand, Torsten.1967. Innovation Diffusion as a spatial process

social structures that promote change - elites in bureacratic positions of power

PSU played a role in this city (needle exchange - Hugo Maynard, other examples)

Portland has engagement (from watershed councils)

Putnam, R.D. 1993. Making Democracy Work: Traditions in modern Italy.

Putnam - Bowling Alone

Putnam & Feldstein 2003 Better Together" Restoring the American Community

with a chapter on Portland - "Portland: A positive epidemic of civic engagement"

 

 

 

1. urban growth

(positive feedbacks for big cities - jobs, crime in rural areas, closely related to the poverty cycle)

megacities

proportion of population in large cities

48% now

(developed, developing)

quality of city life

improvements

densitiy - pollution

 

2. Processses in urban areas

urban areas as processors of material

good aspects - recycling and lower use

bad aspects - not self sustaining, density/pollution, poverty

urban poor -

transportation systems

mass vs. individual

automobiles and their effect

taxes and fees

multiple transportation options (why it's good to live in Portland)

 

3. sprawl - 6 factors that lead to

    1. ample land
    2. home loans
    3. low-cost gas
    4. mortgage write-off on taxes
    5. zoning - separation of business and residential
    6. numerous governments (city, county, etc)

undesirable aspects of sprawl

 

4. Urban planning and land use (another reason to learn about this in Portland)

smart growth

new urbanism

strategies

ecocity concept

emphasis on good ecological design

 

5. reasons to visit -

(learn from visiting - what's hype, what's working, what's not)

Curitiba

Spain

Bahamas

 

 

Other resources

Green Urbanism

London study systems view