Paolo Blanchi
END 302
Dr. Kelly Gregg
December 14, 2020
Final Assignment
Part A
1A. How is the existing built urban form in the United States a challenge for achieving a more
sustainable future?
Many of the challenges faced within the sustainability movement today have to do with
undoing the many policies of the twentieth century. They were enacted in erratic, short-term
thinking and have left us with an urban landscape that is completely unsustainable in the longterm1. Effects from such planning are seen both inside cities and outside, as transportation as a
whole in the United States is contributing to the climate change crisis in several ways.
Travel within cities is very limited in mode choices. Most are forced to use a private
automobile to perform the same trips that a more comprehensive public transit system would
make possible. Throughout the twentieth century, countless opportunities to invest in public
transport were missed2. As more wealthy people left the cities for the suburbs, there was a lesser
perceived need for it, even though the actual need was increasing3. Now, most cities have vastly
underdeveloped public transit systems that seem to constantly be trying to catch up to the private
automobile as a mode of transport instead of directly competing with it.
Outside of the dense cores of cities, there is an even larger problem. Suburban sprawl
reached extraordinary proportions in the mid- to late-twentieth century4. Without other options,
cars were the only way to commute between locations inside and outside the city. This required a
great deal of infrastructure. Massive interstate highways were built, many of them plowing
directly through the middle of urban downtowns5. Now, in a society that is trying to move away
from cars, these present a significant obstacle to transform the urban landscape6.
Beauregard, R, 2006, When America became suburban.
Giuliano, G., 2004, Land Use Impacts of Transportation Investments.
3 Pucher, J., 2004, Public Transportation.
4 Gillham, O., 2002, What is Sprawl?
5 Boarnet, M., 2008, Transportation Infrastructure And Sustainable Development: New Planning Approaches For Urban
Growth.
6 Kelbaugh, D., 2002, Repairing the American Metropolis.
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Both of these situations contributed to not only an urban landscape that must be quickly
rethought, but also a collective social mindset that is making enacting the necessary changes
quite difficult. The twentieth century fostered a car-centric perception of transport, cementing it
as the quintessential mode to get from point A to B7. Whether it is by placing points A and B
extraordinarily far from each other, or by suffocating sufficient alternatives8, the car became
ingrained in consumers’ minds as the only way to get around. As a result, it is an uphill battle to
shift the public’s perceptions as to what transport should truly look like in developed cities.
2A. What is climate change ‘adaptation’ and what is climate change ‘mitigation’ and how are
each related to climate change policy?
Climate change is an ever-growing problem. It is particularly important for planners to
understand it, as they have the responsibility to lead the world into a future threatened by climate
change9. Planners have two main approaches when it comes to handling this issue: mitigation
and adaptation. While they each have their merits and disadvantages, the inevitability of climate
change means that the more comprehensive solutions will ultimately require adaptation10.
Mitigation is the practice of trying to curb climate change’s causes. Primarily, it is caused
by increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. Most of these emissions
come from fossil fuel consumption. 34% percent of fossil fuels in the United States are
consumed by the transportation sector11. Thus, a large part of climate change mitigation falls on
rethinking transportation to be less energy-consuming.
While it would be ideal to slow climate change to a near-halt, that is simply impossible.
The rate it is increasing at is irreversible, and the most impactful solutions will have to do with
Urry, J., 2004, The ‘system’ of automobility.
Slater, C., 1997, General Motors and the Demise of Streetcars.
9 Condon, P.M., Cavens, D. and Miller, N., 2009. Urban planning tools for climate change mitigation.
10 Henstra, D., 2012, Toward the Climate-Resilient City: Extreme Weather and Urban Climate Adaptation Policies in
Two Canadian Provinces.
11 Rubin, Jonathan D. and R.B. Noland, 2010, Transportation and Climate Change: Developing Technologies, Policies,
and Strategies.
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adaptation12. In other words, planners need to consider ways in which to lessen the effects of
climate change, rather than trying to prevent them.
There are various policies that can be implemented on both ends. As mentioned before,
mitigation can be achieved by innovations in transportation and decreasing energy use in general.
Overall, development must trend in a more sustainable direction in order to successfully mitigate
climate change13. Mitigation initiatives often involve international agreements to meet a certain
threshold of carbon emissions, such as the Kyoto Protocol14.
For adaptation, there are multitudes of examples as well. Most of these involve methods
to curb the effects of extreme weather events, which are some of the deadliest products of
climate change.
For example, in Long Beach, NY, dunes were erected along the coast and were
successful in decreasing the damage to residential properties following coastal storms15. In other
cases, comprehensive response plans are established in order to withstand the effects of blizzards
and windstorms16.
Part B
3B. What are climate change impacts and in what ways are they exaggerating equity issues
across the United States?
In the most general terms, the impacts of climate change result in extreme weather
patterns. This has a large array of meanings: it results in hurricanes, extremely cold weather, heat
waves, and tidal waves, among others. These events can have devastating effects on urban
infrastructure, landscapes, and most importantly, human lives. Most directly, the more
devastating disasters can cause casualties, or destruction of property so significant that people are
forced to relocate and start their lives anew. This effect reveals significant issues in equity in the
Ford, J., 2008, Emerging trends in climate change policy: The role of adaptation.
Adger, N. et al, 2007, Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability.
14 Ford, J., 2008.
15 Navarro, M., Nuwer, R., 2012, Resisted for Blocking the View, Dunes Prove They Blunt Storms.
16 Henstra, D. 2012.
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United States that consistently leave certain people more vulnerable than others in nearly every
imaginable way17. In short, the social disparities result in cases where poor inhabitants are left
with no choice but to live in the more vulnerable areas, where disasters such as tropical storms
and tsunamis are likelier to be at their most devastating. After the event has passed, these people
are also at a significant disadvantage, as many are without the means to recuperate the losses
incurred by the disaster.
To quickly summarize, the effects of climate change result in dangerous weather
extremities. Whether it be high winds, extremely warm or cold temperatures, or irregular rain
patterns. These are most devastating when they befall upon densely populated areas18. Events
such as hurricanes and tidal waves can cause hundreds of casualties just due to the number of
people in an affected area. Some less common threats include heat waves, as they can occur in
landlocked areas that would otherwise be safe from tropical storms19. Severe heat can cause
breathing difficulties and exacerbate them in people with existing conditions.
The true impacts of climate change on people’s health and safety is varied. They depend
on an area’s geographic location and the kinds of weather that the environment is more
vulnerable to. Besides directly affecting people’s safety, events such as tropical storms can
damage critical infrastructure like roads, bridges, highways, etc20. This can potentially cut off
certain parts of an affected area from receiving timely emergency help, or block evacuation
routes, further putting people in danger21.
To understand the part that social equality plays in this discussion, it is important to
understand that certain areas, by default, are more vulnerable to natural disasters than others,
simply due to their geography. For an obvious example, residences near a coastline are going to
be more severely affected by a tropical storm than residences farther away from it. They are
going to suffer more as a result, sustaining worse property damage, and experiencing a higher
Wagner, G. and Zeckhauser, R., 2012, Climate policy: Hard problem, soft thinking.
McBean, G., 2004, Climate change and extreme weather: A basis for action.
19 Solomon, S. et al, 2007, Summary for policymakers.
20 Schweikert, A., et al., 2014. Climate change and infrastructure impacts: Comparing the impact on roads in ten
countries through 2100.
21 Ramroth, W., 2007, Learning From Disasters.
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number of casualties. In the case of severe flooding, areas near bodies of water, such as rivers,
are also in greater risk22.
There are always certain areas that are more vulnerable than others23. They are also fairly
simple to locate, as in most cases it is due to simple geography. Given this, it is natural that in an
area where natural disasters are common, these areas would be less desirable to live in. Very few
people would willingly choose to live in a house that has a greater risk of being swept away in a
tsunami. Because of this, it is very often the case that the people living in these areas are the ones
without another choice. For many low-income people, vulnerable areas are the only ones they
can afford to live in24. In this manner, they are only stuck in the cycle as they are more likely to
lose a significant amount of their possessions in disasters, after which they would have even
more trouble affording a safer place to live. As climate change accelerates and natural disasters
become more common, this cycle will only get worse25.
Besides where people live, another factor that can exacerbate social inequalities in the
event of natural disasters is how people live. As mentioned above, natural disasters can cause
significant property damage. As a result, those with fewer or nonexistent savings or insurance
will be at a drastic disadvantage when trying to recuperate from the disaster26. Things such as
finding a new residence and replacing vital goods such as vehicles, computers, and appliances
are much harder for somebody with no savings or low income. Losing things such as cars and
electronics could even set a person back in their profession, as for many people these are crucial
goods for doing their job.
The event of heat waves is also crucial to explore. Severe heat does not cause as much
property damage as a hurricane or tsunami. It does, however, affect people’s physical well-being
in a much different way than the aforementioned events. Besides possibly causing a food
shortage in areas where local agriculture is a vital part of the food supply, heat waves are
notorious for causing significant fatigue and respiratory issues, not to mention death from
Yoon, D.K., 2012. Assessment of social vulnerability to natural disasters: a comparative study.
Cannon, T., 1994. Vulnerability analysis and the explanation of ‘natural’disasters.
24 Mahler, J., 2012, How the Coastline Became a Place to Put the Poor.
25 Rawat, P.K. et al., 2012. Climate change accelerating land use dynamic and its environmental and socio‐economic
risks in the Himalayas.
26 Rygel, L. et al., 2006. A method for constructing a social vulnerability index: an application to hurricane storm surges
in a developed country.
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heatstroke27. The case is even worse for those who already had respiratory conditions such as
asthma, as their lives are in even greater risk of death. Not only do heat waves disproportionately
affect those with preexisting conditions, but again, lower-income people are at a disadvantage.
Whether it is seeking medical help for the aforementioned conditions, or relieving heat by using
more air conditioning and water, increasing their bills. The increased expenditures from
increased electric and water usage could simply be too much for some, and they may sacrifice
their own well-being in order to continue being able to afford their utilities28.
Across the board, the various disasters from climate change continue to
disproportionately affect low-income people. As is the case in the United States, ethnic
minorities are more likely to fall into that group of people as well29. Even in the case of natural
disasters, where in an ideal society, everyone would have the same access to safety and
recuperation, it is evident that certain people are destined to suffer more than others.
References
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Beauregard, R, 2006, When America became suburban. University of Minnesota Press. p. 1- 18
Boarnet, M., 2008, Transportation Infrastructure And Sustainable Development: New Planning
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28
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