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/.