Smart Growth

For the final post, I found a site that reviews a plan to make urban areas more compact and densely populated, called "Smart Growth". Following is the summary of some arguments and counterarguments of "Smart Growth".

• Farmland is being lost due to urbanization. However, most of the farmland lost is due to productivity rather than urbanization and there is no real threat to the food supply.

• Green spaces are being threatened by urban expansion. However more land is preserved in parks than is destroyed by urbanization.

• Densely populated urban areas reduce traffic, yet data shows that congestion is less common in areas where the population is less dense.

• Densely populated urban areas provide alternate methods of transportation thus limiting the dependence on cars. However for the alternate method of transit to be efficient more than for a small portion, it would require a more extensive network and cover a larger area for most cities.
  

• Dense urban areas reduce travel times, yet data shows that travel times are shorter in areas that aren't as densely populated.

• Dense urban areas reduce air pollution, yet data shows that air pollution is less where urban areas aren't as densely populated.

I guess this goes to show that compacting urban areas is not necessarily a good thing and data supports the exact opposite and actually having less densely populated areas is better.

P.S. Have a great Thanksgiving break!

Vincent Louis

Carthago delenda est!

The city of Carthage, modern day Tunisia, was a great and powerful city that rivaled the might of the Roman Empire in ancient times. The navy was the largest and most remarkable aspect of Carthage and is also what made them so great a force to be reckoned with. The ports of Carthage were designed to be very efficient and was sheltered so that there was very little wake in the harbor.There were two harbors: one to house the navy ships and one to house the trade vessels. There were a multitude of docks which made trade easy and efficient with other nations which in turn created a large sum of wealth which funded the vast armies. The city was built around a high citadel and contained a necropolis, theatres, marketplaces, and religious areas which show that Carthage was very cultured and advanced.

Vincent Louis

Like an Egyptian

For this post I'll talk about how the ancient Egyptians planned some of their cities. Of course, living in a desert, the cities were all built next to the nearest body of water, which most of the time, was the Nile River. They didn't have aqueduct systems like the Romans so it was very important to live close enough so that they didn't have to travel far for their water supply. Their city structure was grid-like with the temples dispersed throughout the city. The grid layout made moving goods throughout the city easy and efficient. As the temples were so important to daily life for the Egyptians, they were built around them. Here's a picture of an excavated site.



Vincent Louis

Can Sprawl be......Good?

This post is about another post, written by Wayne A. Lemmon, about some ways that sprawl can actually be good. The author makes the point that sprawl can be bad and have negative consequences, but not necessarily in all cases. He then goes on to offer examples such as how homes with yards are more spread out and are really inefficient, yet they become premium products with older residents and "This means substantial real estate taxes are generated, with very little demand per household on social services, public recreation amenities, or public safety operations. The road which provides access to this house is a two-lane road with very low traffic volume and thus low frequency of repair needs." Another point Lemmon made was that everyone driving their own cars over a longer distance with less traffic may be better than public transit in a concentrated area with lots of stop-and-go traffic. So while sprawl isn't really great, there are some nice benefits with proper planning and good policies are in place.

Vincent Louis

SB 375

For this post, I'm blogging about a blog I read about a law that was passed in California called SB 375. It was made into law this September and it should make quite a difference in the way neighborhoods in California are designed. "Senate Bill 375 will use carrots (permit expediting, special funding) and sticks (withholding federal transit funding) to make sure local government and developers build closer to existing or planned transit and take into account how much people will have to drive as a result of proposed projects." The blog goes on to talk about AB 32 which was passed in 2006 and aimed to lower emissions 70% from 1990 levels by 2050. The bill should help contribute to making California into a less sprawlly and more ecologically friendly place to live.

Vincent Louis

The End of Suburbia

This post will talk about another video talking about the sustainability of sprawl. It starts out showing old clips from what looks like the 60s and 70s and comparing them to more recent footage or sprawl and the new American "way of life" we've adopted. The video makes a point of saying that this system is not sustainable and we cannot keep it up for much longer.



Vincent Louis

And then...

For this post, I watched this video on youtube that talked about suburban sprawl. The video started out with happy upbeat music playing while it showed pictures of nature. Then it showed pictures of sprawl with heavy depressing music obviously contrasting the two. A man representing "sprawl" started talking to the state of "California". The point was to make suburban sprawl sound terrible and sway people's opinions against it and to be more friendly towards nature due to the visual appeals in the video.



Vincent Louis

Tallest Cities in the World !?!

According to an article called, "The World's Tallest Cities" from Forbes, New York City remains the tallest city in the world with 35 high towers. However, the article also says that the ranking of the tallest buildings will change after the year 2020. This is due to the fact that various countries in the world are starting to build high rise towers. Hong Kong holds the second place in being the second tallest city in the world with 30 towers. The third place belongs to Shanghai. As we can see, the "hight of city" reflects the economy of the place in some ways. China is stepping up to be one of the leaders in the world's economy.



Where are the tallest buildings in the world? Dubai, the capital of United Arab Emirates, presently has the highest building in the World. The building is called Burj Dubai. This building is approximately 2000 ft tall. Apparently, UAE is trying to invest their money from petroleum export into other industries. This is a wise investment as their petroleum resources are bound to run out. While the tallest building in the world is in the Middle East, the second tallest is in Asia. This building is called Taipei 101, located in Taiwan. For a list of tallest buildings, click on this link. However, please note that this list only includes skysrapers, but not structures. Apparently, it is interesting to see how the current economy will affect the building of the new skyscrapers.

If you want to read the full Forbes article, click here.

Phumthep Bunnak

Sim City - The Sprawling Game

For this week's post, I would like to talk about one of the most popular city planning game, Sim City 4. In this game, the player fills the role of a city's mayor. The main point of the game is to create a city. However, I feel that this game is not an easy game to play. It requires planning. After I have played this game for a while, I feel that sprawl is the only way to create a city in this game. There are three main zoning areas in the game: residential, commercial, and industrial. In order to create a profitable community ( the city gets more money than it spends) player will have to rely on the creation of a sprawl community. Many blocks of residential area surrounding an elementary school, a clinic, and a fire department. The commercial and industrial area will be mainly built away from the residential area. Public transportation is really hard to implement in a city as its maintenance cost is pretty high. If anyone is wondering what the game look like, this is the gameplay video from Youtube. This video is titled, "Sim City 4 Tutorial Your first city." This video teaches new player on how to create the first city, which is usually the hardest.



For more information about this game, you can click on this link.

Phumthep Bunnak

Hippodamus - A True Genius

I have found this article online which talks about how Hippodamus of Miletus, an ancient Greek Architect, Urban Planner, Physician, Mathematician, Meteorologist and Philosopher has designed the cities of Priene and Miletus in Western Turkey in 5th Century B.C. and how his principles were applied in 20th century. The city plan of Miletus is very organized and effective with all its bridges and grid structure, despite the natural obstacles of water and topography.

It is pretty interesting to see how such ancient plans were applied to the Island of Manhattan when New York City was first planned. As a matter of fact, Hippodamus was a native of Miletus, a port city in southern Turkey. While planning the city, he even had to change the path of the river to maintain a perfect grid structure.

Can Amado

Narlidere-Pomegranate Creek

Narlidere is perhaps one of the few places in my hometown, Izmir that grew to be a suburb in American standards. However, american standards should not be misleading, the houses are not McMansions and most do not have gigantic lawns, though some have pools and other amenities. Most importantly, there is a grid system that is far better and efficient than cul-de-sacs but is in no way similar to traditional city grids. As seen in in the picture, the area is very green and has low-rise, luxurious residences with high walls and secure gates. However, the highway connecting the port and beach towns to the city crosses right through the heart of Narlider, creating two different yet similar worlds. Giant malls with giant parking lots occupy the other side of the highway. Transportation to either sides is provided with bridges and tunnels designed exclusively for cars, all of which are not suitable for pedestrians. Although the area is about eight miles to downtown, public transportation is limited to only buses and residents are dependent on cars.

Starting from a distant fishermen's village, Narlidere became a populous suburb which attracts people from every corner of town to its shopping malls and seaside attractions. The traditional texture of the neighborhood does not exist anymore due to dependence on cars and traffic congestions.

Can Amado