Contemporary cities display ever-sharper contrasts. Some cities are thriving while others struggle. Some neighborhoods are animated while others are desolate. The final section of this chapter and this book examines some of these contrasts as well as the opportunities and challenges for the future.
Key Issue 4: Why Might Cities Be More Sustainable?
The City Challenged One hundred years ago, low-income inner-city neighborhoods in the United States teemed with throngs of recent immigrants from Europe. Such neighborhoods that housed perhaps 100,000 a century ago may contain fewer than 5,000 inhabitants today. Those remaining may face significant challenges, distinct from those faced by suburban inhabitants. The underclass is a group in society prevented from participating in the material benefits of a more developed society because of a variety of social and economic hardships. A disproportionately large share of the underclass lives in inner-city neighborhoods.
Job Skills Inner-city residents are increasing disadvantaged in competing for jobs. Many of these residents lack technical skills needed for most jobs. Inner-city residents have limited access to low-skilled jobs, such as custodial and fast-food service jobs because the jobs are increasingly located in distant suburbs in areas poorly served by public transportation.
Challenges for Families Unwed mothers give birth to two-thirds of the babies in U.S. inner-city neighborhoods, and 80 percent of children in the inner city live with only one parent. Because of child-care issues, many mothers must choose between working to generate income or staying home to take care of the children.
Challenges to Health & Safety Inner-city neighborhoods have relatively high crime rates, gang violence, and drug addiction.
Services Inner-city neighborhoods often lack adequate police and fire protection, as well as access to shops and health-care facilities. Food deserts are common in low-income inner-city areas.
The City Renewed The process of converting an urban neighborhood from a predominantly low-income, renter-occupied area to a predominantly middle-class, owner-occupied area is known as gentrification. Most cities have at least one substantially renovated inner-city neighborhood that has attracted higher income residents. A deteriorated inner-city neighborhood is attractive for several reasons. The houses located there may be larger and more substantially constructed and may include attractive architectural details. These dwellings are also conveniently located near offices downtown, and cultural and recreational amenities.
Reviving Consumer Services Some consumer services are returning to the inner city in part, to meet
day-to-day needs of residents of gentrified neighborhoods. Inner-city consumer services are also attracting people looking for leisure activities, such as unusual shops in a dramatic downtown setting or view of a harbor. Several North American CBDs have combined new retail services with leisure services.
Removing Public Housing Public housing is government-owned housing rented to low-income individuals, with rents set at 30 percent of the tenant’s income. During the mid-twentieth century, many substandard inner-city houses were demolished and replaced with public housing. Because of poor conditions, many high-rise public housing projects built during that time period have been demolished. As a result of lower allocated funds, the supply of public housing and other government-subsidized housing in the United States decreased by roughly 1 million units between 1980 and 2010. During that same period, the number of people in need of low-rent dwellings increased by more than 2 million.
Controlling Vehicles The current generation of innovative techniques to increase road capacity are aimed at providing drivers with information so that they can make intelligent decisions about avoiding congestion. Demand to use congested roads is being reduced in a number of ways, primarily through congestion charges, tolls, permits, and bans of vehicles from certain portions of central areas of cities.
Sharing Vehicles In the past urban residents have used taxi cabs and short-term car rentals if they did not own a car. In recent years, vehicle sharing services have emerged as an alternative for urban residents. Two types of sharing have developed—transporting people in your private vehicle in ride sharing serves such as Uber or using a shared vehicle for a short period of time. The shared vehicle is stored in a designated location, reserved, and then used for a short period of time.
Autonomous Driving Vehicles An emerging trend in transportation technology is the development of autonomous driving vehicles. Vehicles include technological capabilities supportive of hands-free driving, such as sensors and GPS, and they can perform hands-free functions, such as automatic braking, parallel parking, and prevention of unsafe lane changes. Transportation systems are likely to include this form of transportation in the future. Five levels of autonomous driving include: assisted driving (level 1), partially automated (level 2), highly automated (level 3), fully automated (level 4), and driverless (level 5). Autonomous vehicles are likely to result in fewer accidents caused by human error, provide mobility for people who are too young to drive or have a disability, and decrease the safe distance between vehicles and therefore increase the number of vehicles that can fit on a road. Still unsettled are many practical problems created by autonomous vehicles, such as liability and insurance.
Impacts of Near-future Changes in Vehicles Key changes in cars in the near future will include power sources, ownership, and autonomy.
Electrification of Vehicles In 2018 only 1 percent of the world’s automobiles sold were powered by electricity. Several countries have initiatives to ban the sale of gas-power vehicles beginning in 2030 or 2040. There are several types of electric vehicles: A plug-in hybrid with a gasoline engine and a battery recharged by driving or plugged in to an electrical outlet, a full electric car with a lithium ion battery that must be recharged by being plugged into an outlet as it has no gasoline engine, and cars with hydrogen fuels cells used in a few locations where hydrogen fueling stations have been built.
Electricity & Pollution U.S. scientists working with the U.N. devised a strategy with three key elements to promote sustainable changes in future transportation.
· Sharp decrease in the use of the three fossil fuels.
· Increase in the use of renewable energy.
· Use of carbon capture and storage (CCS), which involves capturing waste CO2, transporting it to a storage site, and depositing it where it will not enter the atmosphere.
The fossil fuels used to generate electricity challenge both developed and developing countries as they try to control pollution and use alternative fuels.
Sustainable development of cities to make them better places to live today and in the future has become the focus of many cities in the United States and Europe. Urban planners recognize that continued growth of cities can only be economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable if combined with smart growth. Urban planning for a sustainable future is known as new urbanism. New urbanism is based on the following basic tenets:
Promote Compact Communities
Planners encourage compact developments within the natural landscape with abundant green space, however, not dense high-rise development.
Mix land uses
Mix of residential, commercial, and public land that creates a sense of community and minimizes transportation needs
Create a range of housing opportunities and choices
Through promoting the urban village in which multi-family and
singl-family housing is mixed with shops, cafes, and public transit, tax incentives are provided to ensure accessible lower income housing.
Foster communities that provide a sense of place
Sustainable cities promote the development of unique environments creating a social context of an area and of the city.
Conserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas
Purchasing the development rights in open spaces around and outside the developed area but allowing farming and forest management to continue on the land
Strengthen existing communities first
Urban infill focuses on the development and restoration of undeveloped or abandoned building lots. By strengthening existing communities, cities can grow and evolve through gradual change.
Provide a variety of transportation choices
Create transit-oriented development to halt the urban sprawl caused by building more roads for more cars.
Create walkable neighborhoods
Pedestrian oriented neighborhoods promote human well-being and a sense of community and access to public transportation options.
Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost-effective
Decision making should be open to the public and consider social, economic, cultural, and environmental needs.
Encourage community collaboration in development decisions
Public support and participation empowers the community and resolves criticism and conflict to reach the intended goals.
Source: Norm Christensen and Lissa Leege, The Environment and You, 2nd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2016), 530–531
13.4
Food deserts An urban area in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food
Gentrification People renovating housing in low-income areas to increase the value - rising property values will eventually force the original low-income residents out
Greyfields Economically outdated real estate - named after the sea of asphalt that often accompanies these sites Infilling new development that is placed on vacant or undeveloped land within an existing community
Megacity A large metropolitan area with a population higher than 10 million
Metacity An urban settlement with a total population in excess of 20 million people.
Metatcity A large metropolitan area with a population higher than 20 million
Mixed land use That blends a combination of residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or industrial uses that provides pedestrian connections
New urbanism An urban design movement which promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighborhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types
Placelessness When places begin to feel the same due to loss of cultural and historical ties
Post-modern architecture An architectural style that emphasized breaking the rules of the rigid style of modern architecture
Public housing Housing provided for people with low incomes, subsidized by the government
Underclass A group in society prevented from participating in the material benefits of a more developed society because of a variety of social and economic disadvantages.
Urban farming Integrating growing crops or raising animals into an urban ecosystem
Urban renewal The redevelopment of areas within a large city, typically involving the clearance of slums
Walkability A measure of how friendly a city is to getting around by walking