Curtis Pottle
Julian Franczyk
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Megacity Population Change Over Time
The Ecology of Cities
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Evolution of cities related to advances in transport (combustion engine
and cheap oil  mobility of people)
The amount of food, water, energy, and materials needed in cities is far
greater than the amount of those resources nature can provide.
Today’s cities draw resources from far away places
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Los Angeles water from Colorado River 600 miles away
Japanese wheat and corn comes from places like Kansas
The oil required to move resources comes from far away oil fields
Richard Register: we need to fundamentally rethink the design of cities
Design them for people, not cars. Integrate cities into local ecosystems,
not impose on them.
San Louis Obispo, CA creek restoration invigorated people, decreased
commercial vacancy along creek
When Designing Cities, we can take advantage of the local ecosystem
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Natural heating of buildings, urban food production, recycled water, etc
Redesigning Urban Transport
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Mixture of rail, bus, bike, walking transportation routes provides low-cost
transportation, mobility, and a healthy urban environment
Rail is geographically fixed and permanent, can develop around them
Buses can take people out of cars and put them into more efficient systems
BRT system, like a special HOV lane.
Some cities charge cars to enter their city centers
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USA—Complete Streets Movement (streets are friendly to pedestrians and
bikes)
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Singapore—Debit card system
London—Entrance fee, speed up traffic and cut down on pollution and noise
Paris—City Bike Rental Program
It is much cheaper to build-in sidewalks and bike lanes the first time rather than add them later
Movement stressing children walking to school (UK 1994, now in 40
Countries)
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40 years ago—40%walked. Now—15% walk
Safer, energy efficient, and more healthy
Bogotá BRT System
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Return of Bicycles
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Riding bicycles reduces congestion, lowers pollution, and has health
benefits, also they are easier to park and are affordable
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Chinese own the greatest number of bikes (increase since economic and
social reforms of 1970’s and 80’s.
European ownership rates are higher than those of China
United States police departments are employing bike cops
Bicycle courier services faster than car delivery
Need to promote bicycle friendly transportation systems (trails and street
lanes)
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6 Bicycles can fit into the space taken up by one car
Netherlands—27% of trips by bike; USA and UK—1% of trips (More trips by bike than car in
Amsterdam)
Netherlands policies make driving expensive and cars hard to buy
USA and UK lack such policies, so people drive more
“Attitude that bicycles are backwards and used only by the poor”
Connect bicycles and rail commuter systems (parking at rail stops)
Electric bikes powered by muscle and battery
Worldwide Production of Bicycles and
Passenger Cars
140
120
100
80
Bicycles
Passenger Cars
60
40
20
0
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
Urban Water Use
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Today:
 “Flush and forget” creates a lot of waste water
 Waste drains into closest bodies of water
 Creates “dead zones”
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In India
 The average family contaminates 150,000 liters of water
per year
 Sewer system becomes a “pathogen dispersal system”
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In The U.S.
 Toilets and showers account for half of indoor water use
 Average toilets use 6 gallons per flush
 Average Showers use 5 gallons per minute
Redefining Urban Water Use
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Composting toilets
 Low cost, simple, odorless toilets can be connected to a
nearby compost facility
 Urine can be collected separately and trucked to farms
 Fecal matter can be converted to a dry, soil-like product
and used as fertilizer
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Recycling water
 Treatment facilities can separate water from sewage
 This water can be filter, treated for pathogens and reused
as drinking water
 Creates “closed loop systems” requiring only small
amounts of fresh water for each cycle
Farming in Urban Centers
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Urban or peri-urban farms supply food for 700
million urban residents worldwide
 Originating from small plots or rooftops
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In countries like The U.S., Many cities have
potential for urban farming
 Chicago – 70,000 vacant lots
 Philadelphia – 31,000 vacant lots
Provides a sink for the potential of composting
toilets
 Reduces increased price of produce due to rising
oil prices
 Also increases intangible benefits such as
improved mental and physical health, as well as
higher quality produce
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Squatter Settlements
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Nearly all growth in the upcoming years will
occur in urban centers.
In developing nations, this growth will flow into
squatter settlements
 Favelas in Brazil
 Barriadas in Peru
 Gecekondu in Turkey
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Life is characterized by a severe lack of
services
 Generally little clean water
 No health care
 Small and rudimentary shelters
Reducing or Upgrading Squatter
Settlements
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Encourage rural investment
 Industrialization outside of the city reduces density of major
cities
 Reduces population movement into cities to a manageable
pace
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Create planned squatter settlements
 In developing cities, set aside plots of land for squatters
 Remove squatter settlements from high-risk areas such as
the favelas
 Provide potable water taps
 Provide bus transportation for workers living in squatter
settlements
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Provide micro-crediting options so that
squatters can slowly upgrade their situations
within the settlement
Percent of World Population in Urban
Areas
70
Share Urban Percent
60
50
40
%
30
20
10
0
1945
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020
2025
2030
Year
Predicted 30%
Increase over 85
Years
2035
Cities for people
Creating livable cities involves getting
people out of cars and into nature
 Provide incentives to bike or take public
transit
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 Subsidize employees for public transit or
bicycles has reduced automobile use in some
firms by 17 percent
 Declare car-free areas to make walking and
biking safe
 Make areas of congregation within public
transportation appealing
Two Ways to Deal With the Challenges of
a City
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Modify existing cities: “PlaNYC”
 130 initiatives to reduce carbon emissions in the city
 15% of cabs have been converted to hybrids
 200,000 trees have been planted
 Raising the energy efficiency of buildings
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Create entirely new cities
 91,000 acre Babcock Ranch in Florida
 Sold 73,000 acres to the state as a permanent
reserve
 Use the rest for a business and commercial center
as well as a high-density residential development