Jan 17 2012
Having a little trouble distinguishing the classifications of Suburban and Exurban. Obviously the book gives the definition of Exurban, but is there a well known example of a city that is more Exurban than Suburban? Also, when comparing Urban to Suburban, should Exurban be clumped in with Suburban or should it be its own separate entity?
Jan 17 2012
Here are the picture of our review notes from today in class. Click on a picture to enlarge it if it appears to be crunched on your screen.
Jan 17 2012
I have three categories under land management: multiple-use land, moderately restricted-use land, and restricted-use land. The examples I have for multiple-use land are national forest systems and national resource lands (range lands). I was just wondering if this category is the same thing as mixed land use like the first principle of smart growth? Or are they different things with just similar names? If they are different could someone explain how so? Thanks!
Jan 17 2012
I am still a little confused about feedback loops. I know that you shouldn’t associate positive with good and negative with bad and I understand the different things that cause the feedback loops. For example, jobs and sanitation lead to positive feedback loops and crime and pollution lead to negative feed back loops. So does that mean that in a positive feedback loop those good things are brought to the city causing more people to move in? And that then the city is accelerating too quickly which can be a bad thing? And in a negative feedback loop those bad things take place in the city which causes people to move out but it could be a good thing because then it is able to self correct itself? This is kind of confusing but I just want to make sure that I am understanding this right so if some one could clarify that would be great.
Jan 17 2012
In class on Friday we had a guest speaker, Garet Johnson of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department, she talked to our class about the future of Charlotte. She began by going over the four types of land use, which is residential, office (dentist), retail(store), and institutional(church or jail). Although each area of land is designated as one of these four categories, this is not the same thing as zoning. The land uses are just there for guidance, they are not the law like zoning is. Although zoning is a law, the regulations must hold up in the court of law. Because of this, you cannot have a “vacant” land use category. Everyone has the right to develop their land. You also cannot specify what you want. For example, you can’t say its ok for a nice steakhouse to be there but not a burger king. Johnson also went over with us how urban planning is a very political process. Also, even though urban planners make up a plan for the city it doesn’t mean that it’s going to be adopted. The city council ultimately makes the decisions.
Garet Johnson also went over with us the future for Charlotte. They are planning on having 5 major transportation and growth corridors. The goal is to focus growth in the activity centers and growth corridors.One of the main principles is to also provide more transportation systems. Below is a picture of the Centers, Corridors, and Wedges for the Charlotte Plan.
At the end of class, we were put into groups of two and asked to develop an empty site. We placed the stickers for what we wanted where in the open site. After the activity, we realized how hard it was to develop an empty site from scratch because there is so many things to consider. Below is a picture of our class working on the activity.
Garet Johnson’s powerpoint that she shared with us in class can also be found here: http://www.slideshare.net/
Jan 16 2012
We’ve been identifying some urban and suburban areas in Charlotte and surrounding towns that are poorly laid out or show a lack of planning in our group flickr pool. What can cities do when there is a need to redo such areas? Here is neat 20-minute TEDTalk on the subject if you have time to give it a look:
Jan 12 2012
In class on Wednesday, we discussed the ten principles of smart growth. But before that, we discussed reasons urban areas tend to sprawl. Today we discussed how cities usually get to a point where crime, pollution, unemployment can trigger a negative feedback loop which causes people to leave and the population to decrease. That leads to the suburbs growing because of things like an increase in jobs available, less pollution and less crowding. As the suburbs grow, there is a transition into a positive feedback loop triggered by the Highway Trust Act which leads to an acceleration in urban sprawl. In the book, figure 10.15 is a good example of this positive feedback loop; as the city sprawls outward–>leads to longer commutes to work–>leads to more money spent on gas–>leads to more money gather in taxes by government–>leads to more money for more highways—>leads to more urban sprawl…
The next thing we did in class was go over the ten principles of smart growth (can be found on pages 276-277 in the book)
Smart Growth Principles: An attempt to battle urban sprawl and make attractive, livable, sustainable urban/suburban areas.
1. mixed land uses: mixing residential, education, recreation, etc. in one area. Leads to easy accessibility and less automobile dependency.
2. range of housing opportunities and choices: provides housing for people of all incomes.
3. walkable neighborhoods: encourages walking which leads to less automobile use.
4. community and stakeholder collaboration: involve all stakeholders in the planning of determining how neighborhood will appear and be constructed.
5. compact building design: multistory buildings and parking lots to take up less land (spread up instead of out).
6. communities with a sense of place and distinct character (ex. Dilworth and Phillips Place).
7. preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty: to keep some green space and have access to fresh, local produce and recreation.
8. variety of mass transportation choices: convenient alternatives to driving.
9. strengthen existing communities (infill): infill construction in existing communities. The process of buying land and tearing down the old houses and buildings on that land and replacing them with new and bigger houses. Instead of going outside of the city, you take land that is not being used from inside the city and reuse it.
10. predictable, fair, and cost effective development decisions.
*Note: you can check the book on these 10 if you need or are unclear on any of these or want to clarify them for the reader.
After going over these principles, we watched a video that talked about how a city, Boulder, Colorado, created a new community. As we watched the video, we were asked to look for how many smart growth principles they incorporated into this community. We concluded that they included every one of the ten principles. This shows that it is possible to create a community that uses all ten of these principles. Here is one source that you can look at that shows the Holiday Neighborhood in Boulder. http://www.terrain.org/articles/16/wann.htm
Jan 10 2012
Check out a slideshow of all the pictures shared of good and bad urban design in Charlotte. The slideshow does not seem to work as well here (and is tiny), so visit our Flickr group pool and click on “slideshow” button above the pool to see all our pics and discussions: http://www.flickr.com/groups/pdsapes12/pool/
Jan 09 2012
Cities provide many social needs (jobs, social services, education, family planning, medical centers, arts programs) but also create some environmental problems. These web sites allow you to explore some major problems associated with cities and to explore some solutions. After you complete your research and notes, leave a meaningful comment or question about one issue or city that interests you.
A. Problems. Visit each web site & take note of key issues or terms on the webquest handout:
Air Pollution in US Cities (Charlotte was on the first list until this year!)
http://www.citymayors.com/environment/polluted_uscities.html
Urban Heat Islands (explore the links and learn causes and solutions)
http://www.epa.gov/heatisland/index.htm
Urban Stormwater (pavement and parking lots are problems?)
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/stormwater/
City Landfills (read, scroll down, click next page about 10 times)
http://people.howstuffworks.com/landfill.htm
B. Solutions. Visit each city and study solutions to their problems:
Curitiba’s Urban Experiment (a great case study city—make sure you click on SOLUTIONS and take the tour!)
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/fellows/brazil1203/
Chattanooga, Tenn. (…from “worst” to “first” in 40 years? How?)
http://www.sprol.com/?p=332#more-332
“Rain Gardens Cut City Pollution” (BBC News)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4654362.stm
*If you have time, here are two of the most, um, “visionary” web site I could find about utopian future cities (really WACKY stuff):
Victory City: The City of the Future
http://www.victorycities.com/
Waltopia: The Original Vision for Disney’s Epcot Center
http://sites.google.com/site/theoriginalepcot/the-florida-project
Jan 09 2012
On Friday (1/6/12), we kicked off our study of urban planning by playing a simple online game called Urban Plan 2001. Today (1/9/12) we honored the grand champion of both classes, ConnorC. Here is a screenshot of Connor’s city of 2 million plus people:
"Connorville"
Connor described some of the secrets of his success. He said by adding buffers of trees between different land use areas (like polluting industries and homes), creating mixed use centers, and providing lots of government services that he kept pollution low, land values high, and crime low. In other words, he created conditions that attracted citizens to the community. When cities create such conditions they attract more and more people (positive feedback loop) and become great places to live. But sometimes, when there are too many people (we saw this in the game) then pollution, unemployment, and crime rise which then start driving people away (negative feedback loop). City mayors, councilmen, managers, and planners must constantly balance these factors which could lead to unsustainable growth (population outgrows services) or mass desertion to the suburbs (loss of tax base to support services). I hope the game and the speaker got you all thinking about our own city of Charlotte. We’ve been growing exponentially the last 20 years because Charlotte is such a wonderful place to live. Might headlines like these may indicate that we are due for a change?
Charlotte-area unemployment rises to 10.8% (Jan. 4, 2011)
Charlotte 10th-Worst in Ozone Pollution (Sep. 30, 2011)
When things do get bad, what can be done? The US has seen major cities deteriorate and citizens take flight to the suburbs. If city leaders want to keep inhabitants from leaving, then often have to invest in urban renewal. Here is a fast-paced and edgy TEDTalk by Majora Carter about a grass-roots urban renewal project in NYC (18 minutes):
*Can you think of any urban renewal projects you’ve seen in Uptown Charlotte?
