Week 13: Urban Downfall, Uprise and Renewal

Less than a year after the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Haiti which caused more than 316,000 deaths, 300,000 injured, and 1 million homeless, the Haitians are finally up for a presidential election. During and after the earthquake, President Preval for many days did not speak to the public. With much of the infrastructure in and around Port-Au-Prince completely destroyed, the Haitians had no idea how to deal with this unimaginable disaster. Haitians lost even more trust in its government, who did not seem to step up as leaders to lead its country during its time of desperate need. Less than one year later, in December 2010, the Haitians are due to elect their new president, who they would put faith and belief in.

The official preliminary results have law professor and former first lady Mirlande Manigat in first with 31.4% of the vote and Celestin next with 22.5%. Martelly had 21.8% vote, trailing Celestin by about 6,800 votes. Martelly’s supporters went violent, breaking a riot in Port-Au-Prince. The close votes brought much tension between the Haitians, and they were getting very violent. Even with the U.N. headquarters in New York getting involved, they could not stop the frustrated Haitians. They marched through the busy streets, and about 2,000 pro-Martelly demonstrators gathered near the U.S. Embassy in the capital of Haiti. A Haitian said “We want to tell them Martelly is the present. We won’t accept anything less. Otherwise, we will set this country on fire.” The Haitians were eager for a new and only president that they would have faith in to lead a country as it recovers from the deathly earthquake.

Site: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Haiti-election-riot-grows--govt-party-office-burns_8220961

Week 12: Roanoke Revitalization

         Tuesdays presentation, by Scott Tate, had to do with Art based community revitalization. The question he answered was "what does it mean to construct and promote a city as a place for arts and culture?" Specifically, what does this mean for this city of Roanoke… who’s included and excluded in this process. Art has two values in Roanoke's society: an intrinsic and an instrumental value. The instrumental value has to do with growing their economy, whereas the intrinsic value implies that art is important for its own benefits: "it is important because it's important." The article beside this sentence talks about the art revitalization of the city of Edmonton, specifically Alberta Avenue http://www.gigcity.ca/2011/08/13/arts-based-revitalization-in-jeopardy-say-alberta-avenue-residents/. In this scenario, the revitalization is failing because the city pulled it's funding too quickly, and did not include the residents in the planning process. Edmonton policy makers got too impatient and did not wait to see results. They needed to create an adaptable plan that could conform to economic and time constraints. It also seemed like in Roanoke's revitalization, the residents of the city played an incredibly large role.   

              Also, Tate lectured us on the rhetoric around creative cities, citing the positives and negatives of creative revitalization. The positives included a revitalized downtown centers, economic impacts, urban amenities, alongside contributions to quality of life and sense of place. However, the negative parts of the economic impacts are more mixed than the rhetoric. The inequalities are increased, and so is social distancing. This also threatens cultural health of neighborhoods because people are not involved as much with each other in the revitalization process.

Roanoke had an arts commission which was charged with incorporating arts into various aspects of the city and fighting off the problem of social distancing. Tate made sure to note that there are not too many cities who have gone through a comprehensive arts plan and figured out their guiding values by holding public meeting and surveys. Roanoke truly valued the public opinion by creating draft plans that could be commented on, then they would have a meeting to discuss these draft plans. The guiding mottos of Roanoke’s revitalization were “Collaboration,” “ celebration,” “ advocacy,” “ inclusion,” “innovation,” “vision,” and “education.”

Another big part of the revitalization was moving their focus from straight downtown to the neighborhoods, which sort of threatened the people downtown. Some tension did arise from this plan. By doing this, Roanoke expanded/ is expanding the boundaries of what an “art city” is. They are coming up with innovative ideas and working with other areas and places to make things more interesting. They are aligning with the idea of creative cities by making it hip and fun. Then, Tate moved to talk about a more conflicted city, by the name of Belfast, Ireland. This city is described as one of the most segregated cities in the world. Thus, a wall was constructed with an upkeep cost of approximately 1.5 billion dollars per year. Graffiti is drawn on each side of the walls, respectively, which is some kind of art form? I am unsure of the point Tate was trying to make with Belfast, but I am assuming he was suggesting an art-based revitalization in that city as well? I don’t think this would work because http://libwiki.mcmaster.ca/geog3ur3/index.php/Belfast/ConsequencesOfSegregation this article cites the fear’s involved with a violent segregated city such as Belfast. 50% of residents claim they would feel incredibly unsafe if they ventured over to the other side of the wall, into another religious faith’s territory. Am I the only one who is reminded of the movie “Gangs of New York?” The religious violence coming from Ireland was probably the basis for the movie; after all, because the Irish settlers got in fights with the American’s who had conflicting religious views  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangs_of_New_York. 

   

Week 11: Urban Ecology and Shrinking Cities

             Steven Goldsmith, the planner for the Salt Lake City Olympics, lectured our class on Tuesday about urban ecology. He cited one of the main flaws of urban planning: "there is an eco-consciousness that is relatively untapped because we have not realized we are a part of nature. If we do not understand the fundamental relationships we have with the world, we are not going to be able to solve the problems of the world around us." The previous quote implies human beings and nature our part of the same closed system, externalities aside. We are the sum total of all our actions, and we need to own what we have done, and fix the technologies we have implemented that harm our environment. MIT predicted a global economic collapse in 2030 because economies will not make the change to sustainable, environmentally friendly  technologies in an effort to stop climate change http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/next-great-depression-mit-researchers-predict-global-economic-190352944.html. Also, throughout his lecture he emphasized human beings abilities to adapt to adversity. Goldsmith showed us a video of Filipino merchants selling their goods on a railroad track. The train would honk its horn and the people would pull-up their stalls, lying on the wall so the train did not hit them. After the train went by, the denizens pull their stalls down and conduct business as usual. Consequently, our generation is going to have to quickly adapt to change. We are going to have technologies, taxes, and laws shoved down our throats because of the poor planning on the part of the baby boomers, and the groups before them. And hopefully, we will accept them without complaint, just like the Filipino merchants. 
              Going back to the topic of Urban ecology, Goldsmith defined a city as anything more than 2500 people. He then went on to say Urban ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their environment. Also, ecology stretches across disciplines. It is not just limited to Urban issues, but Art, architecture, and various other concepts. Essentially, "we are engaged managers. But when we disengage, a disconnect is created and we tend to abuse these systems." This is how problems arise... we disconnect and no longer get to see the results of our actions. If someone has to look directly at the wetland they destroyed, or kill the chicken they are eating, it will definitely make them re-think their choices. After writing about this disconnect, I was reminded of the concept of IPM (Integrated Pest management). The concept involves farmers limiting the usage of pesticides by actually looking at their crops and seeing how they are doing and what they need specifically. This increases output and creates all around healthier crops http://www.extension.org/pages/17849/integrated-pest-management. If we as a society can reconnect with our wrongdoings, I think it will really help us prosper. If people (not all people, but some) walk into the ghetto, and live the lives of the people there, they will feel connected and try to make change. This is the connection we as a human race need. 
               On Thursday, Joe Schilling talked to us via skype about Shrinking cities. Schilling made sure to highlight a few significant cities such as Denver, Buffalo and Cincinnati. But, he said the language was inconsistent. How is a city shrinking if neighborhoods inside it are flourishing? What do you call this scenario? And that's part of the problem: every situation is unique, so coming up with a solution becomes increasingly more difficult. So, how do we fix these cities? What is the glue that will piece these cities back together? For many years declining urban cities have made attempts to find the "magic bullet" to bring them back to their glory days. The government has developed programs to try and improve declining cities through improved infrastructure and housing. For example, Detroit's People Mover is a rail system built in Detroit to try and improve the movement of people into the city. The article calls this the "rail-to-nowhere" which makes sense, people are not going to want to travel to cities that do not have appealing attractions. Instead of spending money on expanding the city they should spend money on improving what they have, such as better schooling. These methods of improving declining cities should put priority on the people, not the place http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2012/04/what-cities-looking-shrink-can-learn-new-orleans/1685/. In relation to this issue, some cities in today's world are suffering from the effects of a growing population, other are suffering from shrinking populations. This article introduces the regulation theory. The main argument of regulation theory is that economy doesn't only depend on the market, it depends social and political factors. I believe that the connection between regulation theory and shrinking cities is that when the economy of a city declines it causes a domino effect that will in turn lead to reduced population. This economy doesn't only depend on the performance of the market, it depends on the overall well being of the people within the city. When people in a city are unhappy they will want to leave, this will create a dent in the cities market which in turn will damage the economy. The article provided talks about this http://mailer.fsu.edu/~iaudirac/garnet-iaudirac/WEB2/Regulation_SUffer.pdf. I believe that if shrinking cities want to move towards a more thriving city they need to first focus on the population within the city and making the city a more pleasant place to live. A "pleasant" place to live does not only mean beautiful scenery and advanced technology; it also means a superb education system so families living in/moving to the city will know their children will receive a good education. You need to make the initial investment even though urban sprawl is occuring. It's like counting cards: there is still a risk of losing it all. But, the odds get moved into your favor with the better investment you make/ the smarter person you have counting cards. 

Week 10: Affordability and Digital Cities

In Tuesdays lecture, we explored the concepts of Housing Costs, transportation costs, and the definition of affordability. According to Professor Sanchez, the rule of thumb is your house should be less than 30% of your income (this does not take into consideration location).  This article http://budgeting.thenest.com/much-income-should-spend-mortgage-4065.html says you should spend around 28% of your income on housing… so less than 30% seems like a pretty accurate generalization. Transportation is about another 15 percent of your income; depending on location, transportation and shelter average out to being around 20% of your income each. Then, food comes in at about 13% of your income. However, a journal entry from soundmoneymatters.com http://www.soundmoneymatters.com/spend-more-food/ states that the average American family only spends 8% of their income on food, as opposed to the French, who spend 14% of their income on food. Americans spend less than other countries on food because we are opposed to over-paying for food. We like our gas, food, and water incredibly cheap, or we complain. But, the real dilemma is: are we sacrificing quality for price? And the answer is a most definite yes. The class also explored the concept of location efficient mortgages, which means the more efficient your location is, the more your housing payments are because you don’t have to make as many payments on cars. For instance, if you lived in the middle of a city, you wouldn’t need to own two or three cars, so you could pay for a more expensive mortgage.

Accordingly, on Thursday we covered Digital cities, a very interesting topic that is rapidly developing and becoming more innovative, even as I type this blog post. The barebones definition of Digital cities is: what kinds of information or facilities or technologies can be used to better connect households with households/ businesses/ government? Cities use this technology to simulate what they will look like ten/twenty/ 100 years from now. It tries to figure out how can we predict the changes in the future as far as service needs, infrastructure, and demographic changes? Most of what we see Digital/ wired cities developing around is internet connectivity. Professor Sanchez also told us Chatanooga, Tennessee is the most wired city in America as of right now. They are experiencing serious technological and infrastructure advancements… it is a city that has come back from the dead. Although from my point of view, it doesn’t really seem like these is much to do in Chatanooga, TN, a travel guide article below this sentence shows the best things to do in Chatanooga. None of these activities really seem all that appealing, even after looking at this article http://attractions.uptake.com/tennessee/chattanooga/610503799.html. Skipping to another point I found interesting, apparently most universities aren’t able to deliver most of the services they promise, so they outsource to technological firms. I think the meaning of this is most of American money is spent inefficiently. Going back to Ralph Buehler’s point that the German AAA makes money of taking care of German roads, whereas the American AAA loses money, seems like America started off strong, but we cannot maintain. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/mead-tt1107.html ß The article to the left makes it seem like colleges are spending every bit of their money they can to keep the cost of college as slow as possible. They spend most of the endowments given to them, and the government’s money to keep the cost of college low. I really can’t find a solution for the inefficiency presented by the American governments careless spending, aside from bringing the troops home. I guess our generation is going have rapid change pushed upon us, in the form of expensive renewable energy (that should have been slowly implemented over time), higher taxes, and higher payments in general.

Week 9:Is a car-free city possible? Zermatt thinks so!

Is a car-free city possible? Zermatt thinks so!

Located near the Swiss/Italian border, Zermatt is over-shadowed by the famous and elegant Matterhorn mountain peak. Zermatt has always been a play-ground for the rich and the famous, and is still considered one of Switzerland’s most foremost destinations for foreign individuals; over 1/3 of the residents in Zermatt come from countries other than Switzerland. However, due to the attraction of tourism because of the Matterhorn, nearly half of the economy in Zermatt is geared towards tourism. 

Seeing that tourism has such a dramatic role in the economy of Zermatt, Zermatt has enacted ordinances that ban internal-combustion engines within the city limits. Since internal-combustion engines produce emissions that lead to the creation of smog, Zermatt is very protective of its famed view of the Matterhorn. This has led to the wide-spread usage of electric vehicles.

The electric vehicles are used as a replacement for cars, trucks, and buses. Emergency service vehicles and city sanitation vehicles are exempt and are the only internal-combustion vehicles allowed to drive within the city. Due to the ban on gas vehicles, this created a problem to allow easy access for tourists and residents to get into Zermatt. So, Zermatt created a rather extensive solution to this problem; they created a cog-railway line from the city center in Zermatt, 6 kilometers down to the nearby city of Tӓsch. In Tӓsch, there is a massive parking lot and people can park there and then take the electric train to Zermatt. 

Zermatt is able to get away with only electric vehicles within the city limits because the town is nestled deep in the narrow valley, the terrain renders the town to be within a rather small size. Also, because the roads were built for normal sized cars, which means that the streets are not used to the same capacity by regular vehicles anymore and this has lead to large increase in the amount that people ride their bikes and walk within the city. Another positive aspect to limit the amount of vehicles within the city has been the decline in noise created from cars. However, the large dependence in electric vehicles to get around the city was underestimated and there have been recent studies that show that the city needs a much stronger electric taxi/bus network in order to keep up with the demand.

Although probably considered a massive pain-in-the-neck by outsiders, Zermatt has managed to create a city that thrives and prospers without the dependency on regular gas powered vehicles. If other cities copied Zermatt and tailored plans for themselves, a gas-powered vehicle world could possibly be created. 

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zermatt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matterhorn

Pictures:

[[File:Matterhorn from Zermatt3.jpg]]Wikipedia. Author:Zermatt photos. 2008

[[File:Gelbes Elektroauto in Zermatt.jpg]]Wikipedia. Author:Claus Ableiter. 2008

Week 8: Germany > America

               A much needed review occurred throughout Tuesday's lecture. Professor Sanchez made sure to put emphasis on the role of certain authors in urban development and planning. We won't be redundant and go into those authors because they are in previous posts. But, we will provide you with this link to some of the best urban planning authors, according to Planetizen.com. A lot of the authors mentioned in class fall on this list  http://www.planetizen.com/books/20. 

               Accordingly, on Thursday, Ralph Buehler, a guest speaker from Virginia Tech's Alexandria campus, spoke to us about sustainable transport in Germany (comparing it to America); he constituted sustainable transport as walking, biking, and public transportation. First, he started off by comparing Germany to America (this was about the only time he went easy on America... but we deserve it):   Both countries have federal systems of government with a tradition of local self-government, strong economy, important auto industry, highest levels of car ownership, most adults have driver’s license, extensive road network, and lots of urban and suburban redevelopment. Problem number 1: Most German residents will walk distances less than one mile, where as American's tend to drive these short distances. Problem number 2: USA has about 16% sustainable transportation, where as Germany has about 43%. Problem number 3: There is  3 times more C02 emission and energy per capita usage in the USA. Travel in the USA is more dangerous - you have 2.2 times more traffic fatalities per capita in USA. It is 5 times more dangerous for bikers and walkers.  US households spend more for transport, and governments spend more on transport than Germany per capita. Problem number 4 (caused by 3 partially):  Obesity rates are more than twice as high in USA. 

                After revealing the problems with America, he went on to stressing why Germany is successful with limiting car use. Taxes and regulation make car use more expensive in Germany, and there is more funding for walking, cycling, and public transport. Land use planning is stricter and requires cooperation among multiple levels of government. There is  strategic leadership through national transport and land use plans at the federal level. There are taxes on gasoline which increase every year, but come back in the form of social security later on. So you pay at the pump, but you get the money back through social security.      USA takes in less money than they spend in subsidies for roadways, but Germany takes in way more money than they spend (2.2x more). The German AAA gets off to the graph that displays the previous facts. Then, Buehler moved to a case study of an incredibly sustainable city in Germany by the name of Freiburg.

               Freiburg has many traffic cam areas where you go 4mph or below in a heavy pedestrian zone, or 20mph/ below in a lighter pedestrian zone. And then there are pedestrian only areas – there are highways where they try to channel all the traffic going around the outside of the city. They built a ring-shaped road around the companies where there are many above ground and below ground parking garages. They tell drivers how many parking spots are available in each parking garage at a time. The most expensive parking is in downtown areas. There are annual parking passes for some areas in and around Freidburg which are incredibly beneficial. Also, there are public transportation options covering everything from buses to trolleys: 75 towns, 187 operators, and over 3050km of routes are all integrated together after paying one flat rate of around 600 dollars (at most). These are especially convenient because 80% of all residents in Freidburg live within .km of light rail (and most of Germany follows suit). 

               Multi-modal coordination is another interesting perk alongside bicycle infrastructure: lanes, streets and paths are offered – most German cities feature safe and attractive bike paths. They have stoplights specifically for bicycles (meaning cars stop and wait for bicycles to pass). German children takes cycling lessons and must pass a police administered cycling test. German drivers ed. favors pedestrians and cyclists over motorists. There is a specific law stating children and elderly people are not fully rational – you have to be ready to brake for them. 

               Finally, transportation and land use planning need to go hand and hand. Policies need to be multi- modal and offer incentives and dis-incentives. Sustainable transport policies must be long term, and have a lasting, significant impact. Controversial policies need to be implemented in stages, and plans should be adoptable over time so they can adapt to changing conditions. Citizen involvement is an integral part of policy development and implementation!!! We need to address all modes of transportation at the same time! 

              After Professor Buehler's lecture, I felt a decreased sense of nationalism. Hopefully, this link will help you and I overcome this: http://www.apta.com/mediacenter/ptbenefits/Pages/default.aspx. This article contains facts that really do look at the bright side such as public transportation’s overall effects saving the United States 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline annually, which is more than 3 times the amount of gasoline imported from Kuwait.

                                 

Week 7: Public Space

              In Tuesday’s class we discussed the benefits, basic rules, and critiques of public space, or “open space.” Public space provides people the only type of area where there is equal access, and use for everyone. In other words, your race, gender, age, certifications, etc. do not dictate how one is able to use that space. Public space is the location of movement of goods, services, and ideas without tax or cost. It is important for assembly, communication, and political debate. Historically, it was necessary because there were no cell phones and no technology… this is the only way people could talk and share ideas. A public space is open to public health, recreation, etc…; it is a space of debate – both democratic and social; and it is accessible- all city-goes are equal and there is free circulation of persons and goods. This accessibility reflects a notion of basic quality, social freedom of circulation, and anonymity. Also, Public spaces have become an asset upon which cities build their image and upon which developers sell real estate. But, public space is more and more recognized as an essential ingredient to the sustainability of cites for social, economic, and ecological reasons. Large public spaces have been important historically for other social and political reasons. According to Wikipedia, the definition of a public space is an open, accessible area for people to congregate- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_space - aka Professor Sanchez’s definition is pretty spot on.

While public, or open space is available to all, there are basic rules that everyone is expected to follow, regardless of the fact that there is no written “law” on how to act in this space. Civil attention, restrained helpfulness, and civility towards diversity are some of those rules. When using public space, one is there to act as an individual, and therefore not expected to help others or ask for help. One may act in any way they wish, and be whoever they want, which is why one is expected to respect that others do so.
Public space serves as a positive thing for all, but just as with anything good, there always comes criticisms. Above the others, I think that it is important to note that open space is not legible, and does not help one find their way around or get a better image of their surroundings, as streets would. Open space is there for equal use from all, but it not there to be of help.

                ‎For Thursday’s class, we were assigned a video to watch called "Social life of small urban spaces.” It goes into great depth on the different factors that affect our/the view of urban spaces. The video talks about spaces which are mainly large open areas, or plazas. It was interesting to see the role of little things you don’t really notice in the city: they often times offer a large, important role. One thing the video talked about was: in many plazas, benches are more of an artwork than a bench. The video describes them as an architect’s "punctuation" on an area. The narrator suggests that these benches need to be made larger in order to promote more socializing among pedestrians. In relation to this, the link listed below talks about the concept of “architecture of control.” It uses the example of windows in a classroom: often times they are high enough that kids don’t get distracted by what’s going on outside, but low enough that the optimal light shines in. Conceptually, architects use the same concepts for benches. If there is a particular feature of the environment they want you to focus on, they place the bench accordingly http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/architectures-of-control-in-the-built-environment/. Another interesting point brought up was the stairs leading to these plazas or empty spaces. The use of longer and shorter stairs offer a welcoming entrance to a plaza, while steep climbs will likely turn people away from the plaza. These shorter and longer stairs can be especially helpful for elderly people who may have trouble walking up huge flights of stairs. Speaking of staircases… here are some pretty cool staircase designs: http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2008/11/22/unusual-and-creative-staircase-designs/. 

Week 6: Urban Ecology

On Tuesday, we discussed diagrams showing the structure of a city, with the city having features such as cores, barriers, etc. And, we also looked at how much higher the demand for Commerce areas is as opposed to Industry areas, and Residential areas. It’s a lot cheaper for a company to locate themselves outside the core of the city, yet in the sub center of a city. Essentially, most commerce areas are located towards the center of the city, industrial areas are scattered around the areas of commerce, and the majority of residential areas are farthest away from the commerce areas. This also is a more convenient option for a company, because it gives a shorter commute to most people who work there. Every urban area has a distinctive structure, and is more comparable to a continuum than anything else. This continuum can contain villages, rural areas,etc... that can expand to become sub centers in themselves, and a plethora of other factors http://www.rudi.net/node/21682. The link in the previous sentence talks about the structure of Birmingham, Alabama as an example of a moderate sized cities structure (which is similar to what was talked about 2-3 sentences ago).       

           In Thursday’s lecture the city was compared to a wooded area/ jungle, to make a few key points… there is a certain spatial element to both a jungle and a city;both contain a place for every element of their make-up. This article is a link to buy Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, but more importantly it gives a summary of the content contained in this novel. Sinclair referred to the city as a “jungle of human suffering.”  http://www.randomhouse.com/book/167863/the-jungle-by-upton-sinclair Likewise, competition, building up, growing, degradation, and fires which lead to regeneration, are constant themes in both. After fires, these areas might come back similarly or they might change and become more nutrient rich/ more filled with people and commerce.  Both systems are adaptable, give feedback, and have a finite linear history. This comparison between the city and jungle was for the purpose of leading the class into the topic of Urban Ecology. Urban ecology deals with the interactions of plants, animals, and humans with their environment in urban settings. Professor Sanchez brought this question to attention: What external events could alter the way we live on earth? After a few minutes of silence and made up answers, it became evident that there may very well be none. In other words, as humans we affect the way we live on a daily basis. If we look at how we affect our surroundings, we understand the meaning of urban ecology: studying settings in the context of an ecosystem, which hopes to result in better managed communities. Let’s think about this: most people do not like the world we live in as far as the economy goes, but if we affect the world and are responsible for our actions, then why should we not interact as a community to better our world? For instance, urban planners need to work with environmental policy specialists, biologists, geologists, etc… If their knowledge is combined, it will create a more effective urban area.

If we look at a cities jungle-like structure from a different viewpoint, such as the one Guns and Roses looked at it through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_the_Jungle

, then it can be seen as a place filled with opportunity. Anywhere you go in the city you can find what you need… there is an immense amount of diversity in the form of ideas, race, social status, etc… 

Lastly, the topic of System Dynamics was discussed, which contains three basic rules: We need to change from linear, laundry list thinking to a circular, closed loop view of causality. There needs to be a shift from an external to an internal focus on performance. How we, not others, are responsible for most of the results we get. This is similar to the principles of science: the dismissal of the supernatural, to achieve a finite, earthly explanation of every day occurrences. And, there needs to be a focus on an operational view of how things actually work. This is in contrast to traditional analysis methods based on statistical correlation of trends from the past. Here are some cool expansions on what Professor Sanchez told us for fun at the end of class: http://englishrussia.com/2009/04/07/smartest-dogs-moscow-stray-dogs/. These cute little puppies ride on subway trains to different stations because they know what people at what times will give food to them. 

Week 5: The Right to the City

This week our conversation was based on different aspects of a community and how these aspects can create an urban divide. We created web diagrams of how all these factors could affect each other (education, income, occupation, location). Our group came up with income being the main contributing factor to a lot of these different aspects of the community. Income strongly affects your education, which in turn will determine your occupation, which effects where and how you live. One thing mentioned in the weekly reading is that access to education is much more prevalent in urban areas than in rural areas. Quality of education could have a strong influence on the outcome of one’s life, even starting in elementary school.

Also, we discussed “The Right to the City,” meaning the right to basic needs/goods that we,the people, set as rights. In the city, there is discrimination which prohibits people from moving (civil rights laws) based on ones access to a good, service, or location. Professor Sanchez also heavily stressed the roles of sidewalks in cities, stating they were the biggest public space we utilized every day. Local governments do not allow congregating on the sidewalks because it apparently “Stops disruption of business and safety.” But, Professor Sanchez took what was on the tip of our tongue and said it: “Is that really the problem? Does banning congregation on the sidewalks really help business’s conduct affairs more smoothly http://guide.saferoutesinfo.org/engineering/sidewalks.cfm? According to this website, it provides “continuous and accessible networks to improve mobility for all pedestrians and are particularly important for pedestrians with disabilities.” Alternatively, in the words of our Professor, one could think of things in this way: we, as citizens of the city, are being segregated. We have to say or do what the government says in this part of the city, which restricts our rights to the city. Yet, how can one object this infringement upon our rights?

Adding on to this, we delved into the sensitive issues of Health care policy. Does someone have the right to health care if they don’t have income, skills, or contribute to the city in any way? Why should you enjoy the rights of those who pay http://www.balancedpolitics.org/universal_health_care.htm? This site posted in the previous sentence gives interesting view points on each side of the health care argument. 

Lastly, Professor Sanchez was going to make a Mississippi joke towards the end of class, but he decided not to. Thus, here are a few Mississippi jokes, provided by jokes4us.com: http://www.jokes4us.com/miscellaneousjokes/worldjokes/mississippijokes.html. 

Week 4: What the hell did we cover in class?

            In Tuesday’s lecture, we discussed the superior employment/ wage opportunities the city offers, and the concept of Social Stratification. Social stratification, as defined by Professor Sanchez, is “a process by which resources and opportunities are distributed through social players.” These players are represented by individuals from different classes and social statuses, placed into a hierarchical-like set-up. Also, he told us “opportunities [for jobs] have re-aligned, not necessarily gone over seas. We have found more productive ways to produce greater amounts.”  This article is an in-depth analysis of social stratification. It is so in-depth I literally could not read all of it because it was ridiculously meticulous http://what-when-how.com/sociology/social-stratification/. Also, this review of the novel EDUCATION AND STRATIFICATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A Review of Theories is incredibly informative http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-78901923/education-and-stratification-developing.html.

In Thursday’s lecture, we discussed the urban divide and social/economic health. Many different things effect urban divide such of lack of education, location, shifts in family structure, economic shifts and racial/gender discrimination. While lack of education is broadly accepted as an effect of urban divide, some people will not so easily accept the effect of racial/gender discrimination. Even if that should be behind us, that fact is, is that at the end of the day a business wants to make money the most efficient way, so hiring a woman who may have to leave to have a child might not be their prime employer. 

Urban divide can be expressed in many ways, in many ways, one of which being graphically, as discussed in class. We see that by graphing the % income to % households, we can obtain an index between the line of complete equality and the line of actually measured values. The size of this index, or area, tells us how big the urban divide is becoming. The bigger the difference (bigger the area), the more a society is moving toward complete inequality.

It is interesting to look at specific cities’ or countries’ urban divide. For example this essay (http://www.scribd.com/doc/7849672/The-RuralUrban-Divide-in-India) speaks of the rural-urban divide in India. The majority of their population lives in rural areas, yet those areas are not equipped with the technology nor sanitation that the cities are. It is good for us to read and be aware of these types of situations, because fortunately most of the worst situations in the US are nowhere near those in other countries. People need to be educated in what is happening to those that are not included in the urban areas, or even some of the health risks of poor urban areas, so we can help fix the urban divide.

This article talks about different aspects of cities and city development http://www.art.net/~hopkins/Don/simcity/manual/history.html. Religion was one aspect not mentioned in class, but I found it interesting. One point made was many cities in medieval times were built near cathedrals and monasteries. Another interesting point made was how open space in cities can be looked at as "leftover" but really is a necessity. Open spaces such as parks and gardens allow space for people to get away from the harsh conditions of the urban city. 

 

Week 3: Urban Tomography and The City

This week in class we watched a movie called the “The City.” The movie started by showing a suburban community and their daily activities. From swimming in rivers to harvesting their crops, the movie portrayed this small community in a good light. Later scenes show an industrialized city, along with “dark” music. The overall vibe I got from the movie was that the producer viewed big city life and industrialization as a bad thing. Compared to the suburban scenes in the beginning of the movie, the city stood for uncleanliness, monotony, fast lifestyles, and misfortune. If this movie were to be remade today I think it would have many of the same trends. Today, pollution still poses a threat to society and there are still areas of cities that are unclean and dangerous. But, some standards have been put in to place to calm down the effect cities have on our environments. Until Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, there was not really a care in the world about the safety of our environment. So, let’s all take a moment to thank Rachel Carson. This article discusses the negative effects industrialization had on America in the 1900s http://www.fasttrackteaching.com/burns/Unit_5_Progressive/U5_Negatives_Industrialization.html.

Also, we talked about urban tomography, which Martin Krieger defined as “the application of mobile Smartphone technology, designed to enable pervasive dense documentation of city life by many Smartphone users at the same time and provide an automatically archived historical record of plans in time” (Scholar Week 3 Reading – Krieger). Krieger also says it makes use of multiple media records of city life to provide a multi-aspectual view rather than the 1 dimensional view one gets from observations on pencil and paper. Professor Sanchez then informed us of people’s desires 50 to 100 years ago to archive cities, for the sole purpose of benefiting people and urban planners in today’s world. They attempted to document cities, but their documentation was not as thorough as urban tomography is today. This source speaks of a project using cell phones to capture, transmit, and store audiovisual urban documentation:  http://research.cens.ucla.edu/urban/2009/urban12.pdf. Here is another student’s research project in which he “shows a digital portrait of the city of Graz, recorded through the method of a cross-section and displayed as a video installation in the Kunsterlhaus Graz” http://www.archiable.com/201104/110408_urban_tomography.html .

Accordingly, Urban Tomography can be conducted through a variety of methods. In the example above, the architecture student utilizes a variety of photos, sound bites, and video feeds (running all day long) to help create a 3 dimensional, rounded image of Graz, Austria. However, GPS, time logs, train tickets, Synthetic aperture radar tomography, and other methods alike can also be used. The technique most commonly incorporated into the daily lifestyles of most people is the videos and photos taken by the many residents of an area. These techniques help to spawn an image of a city unlike any single picture or video. It helps give the outside viewer an understanding of popular places, customs, demographics, etc… and it partially assists designers in creating Virtual tours of areas. Urban tomography can also be utilized for security purposes as displayed here: http://stc.ucdavis.edu/outreach/UTC-Caltrans-2011S-Sem-April.php . When Professor Sanchez brought up the topic of Urban Tomography, it was the first time I had ever even heard mention of the topic. I think through the information given in this post, you can get a broad picture of what Urban Tomography consists of.

Week 2: Cinema in Cities

             Week two of Professor Sanchez’s Urban Public Issues class brought up some very interesting topics and discussions pertaining to people’s differing views of the city; people’s outlooks were most directly impacted by the media or a different social/birthplace background. Movies and television shows do an excellent job of portraying areas to fit their movie specifically. What I mean by this is that instead of worrying about portraying a city or place accurately, they worry about making it out to be what fits their movie or show the best. They make scenes and locations to be anything that will make their movie or show more interesting and exciting.  http://www.theiacp.org/PoliceServices/ExecutiveServices/ProfessionalAssistance/ThePublicImageofthePolice/tabid/198/Default.aspx#ch2.
             To expand on this, movies and television do not normally focus on a city as a whole, but “zoom in” on specific parts. For example, a movie about violence and drugs, will set their movie in the slums of a city, showing only negative aspects, when in reality most cities have areas that are spectacular. Showing movies and television shows in this manner affect societies’ opinions on places, because they are not allowed to see the whole city as it really is, but only certain parts, and even then those parts are being portrayed only in a way to best fit a scene or point that the media is trying to make. A particularly striking example of this is Law and Order: SVU. It portrays the city as a place filled with rape, drugs, homicide, and human deprivation, without really focusing on the good aspects of the city. Look here; even celebrities get angered by Law and Order SVU’s frightening portrayal of cities: (http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1550333,00.html). Elizabeth Hasselback is furious that her name was used in Law and Order: SVU. And rightfully so! Because there are most definitely not 10,000+ other people with that name as well..... 

In my search for more articles relating to how Cinema’s depict cities in today’s culture, I stumbled upon a website that writes of society’s view of the police. In the “Entertainment Media Influences” section, it speaks of how society views the “good” police jobs as those that break the rules and go against codes to save the world, as opposed to in reality when the police should be viewed as a respectable agency of honorable and honest men. Check it out! This article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/mar/10/filmic-visions-of-the-future.)is about different movies that have depicted different scenarios our world could end up in. One movie (mentioned in class) Children of Men is about a world where people have lost the ability to reproduce. Also, other movies have depicted an apocalyptic type future such as Mad Max where people fight over gasoline. They’re even movies that depict a zombie apocalypse (Dawn of the Dead). It is strange to see that most "futuristic" movies are showing cities with destruction and chaos. Sadly, these movies are somewhat correct. Look at the way we carelessly deplete natural resources now: http://flowingdata.com/2009/04/24/how-long-will-the-worlds-natural-resources-last/. This data essentially predicts when we are expected to run out of natural resources if we keep exhausting them at our current rate; take a look... its interesting! On that note, I would like to talk about the idea of a sustainable city; because honestly, THERE IS NOTHING THAT GETS ME MORE EXCITED IN LIFE THAN THAT.
Masdar City, in Abu Dhabi, is predicted to be completely sustainable by 2025 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/masdar-abu-dhabi-planned-city_n_1229311.html) because they are slowly but surely making the switch to solar, wind, and geothermal (from the ground essentially) energy. And, I understand this city only is expected to house 40,000 people, but this is a huge step in the right direction!This also means that they will not rely on ANY non-renewable resources to run their city; no oil, no coal, etc. The only resource they need to acquire is water... which is easier said than done in Abu Dhabi. Anyways, this is surprisingly spectacular because Abu Dhabi is home to 8% of the worlds crude oil reserves, so they are looking to make a particularly large profit if they keep this sustainable living thing up throughout a larger portion of their country. USA... Please take note!!!!

Week 1 Blog Post

            My group members and I walked into class Thursday, unsuspecting of what Professor Sanchez had in store for us. We trusted him to guide us down the monotonous path formally known as “the history of cities and how they have changed over time.” But, this mundane, commonly trodden, dirt path – before our eyes – transformed into a lively park filled with adventure and knowledge. This experience is what we make of it. And, being my group’s first blog post, we intend to make the most of this situation. In todays post, we hope to guide you - as the reader - through the roles of hierarchy, record keeping, and walls in ancient cities (and we hope you learn something along the way).

            In class, our professor described hierarchy as “an innate human creation.” He said it was created because of human’s desire for power, and it also helps to organize people into distinct groups. Essentially, it rewards people for their hard work (hopefully), and puts people in a specific class that way, specialization can occur, increasing the overall efficiency of a body/city.  On the other hand, an article from learninggeneralist.com claims the word hierarchy is hated by many modern organizations because it tends to slow decision-making and undermine exceptional people. I will attempt to cover up my bias in this post; however, I feel it is clear what side most people will take on this issue. Historically, hierarchies were employed because a king could not run a kingdom alone, thus he employed advisors. These advisors, employed people to help them, and so on and so on until we get down to the very bottom of the social pyramid – the slaves. “The hierarchy was in place to achieve a set of organizational objectives and for leader to actually spend more time with their people. So the purpose of hierarchy in the first place, wasn't really to add process or slow down decision-making -- in fact it aided decision-making in a big way. Nor was this to undermine exceptional people - in fact it was put in place to get the best out of them and to ensure that there was someone empowered to help them remove blockers and look at problems differently” (http://www.learninggeneralist.com/2009/01/history-of-hierarchy.html).Yet, history has assured us that the goal hierarchies were meant to fulfill was not achieved… sadly enough. Now… onto the role of record keeping!

            A need for record keeping has always existed; whether it be orally, written down, etc.… In early times, record keeping was conducted mainly through spoken word, passed down from generation to generation. This need for record keeping was also described as “instinctual” by our professor: Humans wants to learn from their mistakes and do not want to forget their accomplishments. Records often did not have exact information such as dates and places (http://undeception.com/ancient-vs-modern-history/). As time and technology progressed new forms of record keeping have been created, such as writing down history and information on paper. This allowed historians to become much more exact in their accounts of historical events such as times, places, and people involved. Lastly, lets talk about the role of walls in historic societies…

The wall was one of the earliest forms of defense because nomads, wild animals, and other cities surrounded historic urban societies- some with the goal of taking over these establishments. Nomadic peoples knew that cities had food and water and never hesitated to form raids in an attempt to obtain such supplies. Kings often wanted to take over other cities for food, territory, and slaves, but were prevented from doing so by one of the simplest, yet effective structures—the wall. This important structure also acted as a tool for order along with a Citadel. The wall, while normally meant for keeping unwanted visitors out, was also used to keep uncooperative people in who retaliated against the king. The Citadel also was used to represent a central authority. With authority comes order. 
The following website talks of the Great Wall of China and how “its purpose was to protect China from outside aggression, but also to preserve its culture from the customs of foreign barbarians” (http://www.globalmountainsummit.org/great-wall-of-china.html).