17 Jul UST (200)
The City Sustains Itself
Environmental Studies
We have to care about the natural environment. It impacts our well-being as a species. We cannot exist without:
Air
Water
Land
Each place is composed of a different collection of natural assets, so each place requires a different set of solutions.
There may be resulting best practices though that demonstrate successful approaches.
The Urban Environment
The components of the physical environment are man-made structures and natural features.
The resulting quality of life is a result of interaction between these components.
What are some of Cleveland’s natural assets?
What are they worth to us?
Urban Outdoors
Air pollution is of special significance for cities.
Point sources of urban pollutants:
Motor vehicles
Industrial smokestacks
Landfills
Construction sites
Regulation has been the primary way to address air quality.
The availability of open spaces offers natural filter systems.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. EPA was established on December 2, 1970 as a consolidation of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting and enforcement activities to ensure environmental protection.
The agency was created to oversee implementation of The Clean Air Act of 1970. The Clean Air Act (CAA) is the comprehensive federal law that regulates air emissions.
This law authorizes EPA to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to protect public health and public welfare and to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants.
Urban Indoors
Household contaminants include lead and radon.
Lead is found in deteriorating urban infrastructure: water pipes (pre-1978) and paint (pre-1986).
Health risks for lead are particularly acute for children aged 6 and under. Impairs physical and mental development.
Radon is a colorless, odorless radioactive gas which comes from the natural breakdown (radioactive decay) of radium, which is itself a decay product of uranium. Uranium and radium are both common elements in the soil.
Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer, causing thousands of deaths each year in the United States. It is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers.
Where are concentrations of older homes?
Urban Service Systems
Transportation, waste management, and utilities.
Utilities include:
Electricity,
Natural gas/oil for heating,
Water.
Service systems involve complex technologies that are costly to implement, operate and maintain.
Because of the high cost, maintenance is often deferred until a crisis occurs.
Sustainable Solutions
Global Environmental Issues
In some cases, pollution created in one place affects another (transfrontier pollution).
Acid rain
Chemical fires
Discharge of pollutants into natural waters
Hole in the ozone.
Global (and local) climate change.
Wicked Problems
Urban environmental problems are “wicked problems”.
A wicked problem is a social or cultural problem that is difficult or impossible to solve because:
Incomplete or contradictory knowledge,
The number of people and opinions involved,
The large economic burden, and
The interconnected nature of these problems with other problems.
Environmental Problems
Politically, these problems are typically offloaded to policy makers, or are written off as being too cumbersome to handle.
Environmental remediation (if the environment hasn’t been irreversibly impacted already) requires a collective commitment.
It is costly.
It impacts a large number of stakeholders.
It is highly debatable.
It is not just for the common good, it is for humans to survive and the planet to thrive.
Environmental Justice
People who live, work and play in America’s most polluted environments are commonly people of color and the poor.
Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.
High minority and low-income neighborhoods are often targeted to host facilities that have negative environmental impacts (landfill, industrial plant or truck depot).
Tools of Sustainability
New technologies – new products to enhance and protect the natural (urban) environment and using fewer resources in the process.
Physical planning – the physical configuration of city systems can make better use of resources.
Regulation – institute rules and consequences.
Market incentives – reward private sector investment in green technologies.
Policy devices – crisis usually dictates its need.
Leadership and partnerships – it is a broadly shared problem.
Assignments for Friday, March 24
Research sustainability programs (local > international). Select two examples of sustainability programs, policies, and or projects that capture your interest.
In each example,
provide the name of the initiative,
where it’s located (or the area that it covers),
what organization manages it, and
what environmental elements it aims to address.
This should be about 300-500 words (about one page). Submit your research to the assignment link called Sustainability Research.
Read Chapter 4: The City Plans (Urban Planning)
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