Human Interest

This is also an issue in Australia where the overwhelming majority of people live in single story dwellings and are very car reliant.

I can definitely see this as a real problem. Both my Uncle and my Great Uncle moved their condos from ones that had numerous steps to climb to the second floor to more elder-friendly options. My Great Uncle even went a step further to move him and his wife to a senior living community, where there food, entertainment, etc. is all provided within an enclosed neighbourhood with other people of their age group. More of these communities that act like oversized retirement homes could be the answer. They give the illusion of suburban living, something the baby boomers liked, while providing the accessibility they need.

APHG- HW Option 1

Perspective on suburban life 

Major cities in the world should take a deeper look into controlling pollution problems in their cities.  At some point, these places will no longer attract people to live in these areas, thus lowering the impact that these industries may have.  But as long as people are still living here by the millions and there is tourism, and buisness is booming, nothing will be done about the issue.

Summer reading KQ4: pollution, smog, megacity, sustainability

Pollution is a huge issue facing both Hong Kong, and the rest of China in general. So far the government  has done little to actually combat the problem. The Chinese governments response has been to pretend that the problem does not really exist. A fake skyline can just erase the problem. In reality dealing with the pollution issue would actually help the Chinese economy. When people seek to go on a vacation, they are seeking a destination that is clean and safe. Who wants to visit a place were, you have to ware a mask to prevent the breathing in of armful chemicals. A cleaner less polluted china would lead to an expanded tourism industry.

In a time where more people are moving away from their rural roots to try and make it big in the city, I think it's becoming more and more important that we focus on how to utilize our urban surroundings in a beneficial way. These photos are proof that it is possible, and I believe that cities in the United States should be more open to urban farming. It could be a way to not only take pressure off of families in cities trying to feed their children, but will also educate all sorts of people on where food comes from, and the importance of the environment. 

Urban agriculture is a reality in third world countries. In Dominican Republic almost everyone in the country side have its own land to plant necessary food and fruits. The most popular is plantain and fruit is orange.

In urban areas is rare to see this, so is surprising to see how central Asians are doing it.

I love Yann Arthus-Bertrand's photography; so many of them are geography lessons in and of themselves as he captures compelling images of the cultural landscape.  This particular gallery shows 32 stunning images including this one above showing urban agriculture in Geneva, Switzerland.    

"Worldwide, there are 800 million amateur farmers in built-up areas. In estates in south eastern Asia and some towns in central and South America, many people depend on this activity for survival. It’s the same story in Europe; in Berlin there are more than 80,000 urban farmers, and in Russia more than 72% of all urban homes till their own patch of land, balcony or even roof. Urban agriculture is on the [rise] and there could be twice as many people enjoying it within twenty years."

Tags: agriculture, food, landscape, images, urban, unit 5 agriculture, unit 7 cities. 

This article focuses on an Austin community with a Utopian atmosphere. Beginning the construction in 2007, Mueller neighborhoods are very uniform; two story, two car garage in the back, and a porch in the front. This article refers to Urbanization

Unit 7 Urban

      The article describes the master planned community of Mueller. Mueller is filled with parks and green spaces. In addition, every house has a porch and a garage in the back of the house to encourage communication between people and neighbors. Also everything is located close together so it is very easy to walk to the store instead of driving. Many houses employ solar panels for their energy and use fuel efficient hybrid cars.

       Located centrally near downtown Austin this community was based on the concepts of new urbanism and uses effective and efficient methods to create a healthy and fresh neighborhood for both the people and the environment.  New Urbanism is a concept which counters urban sprawl with urban revitalizations, sustainable development, and suburban reforms. The communities following the principles of New Urbanism are often designed compactly to promote a sense of community and place. 

The Mueller community was developed from an old airport. I had the chance to visit this community on an APHUG field trip because it was so close. We were able to see the reasons why the community was developed and learned about innovated communities.

APHG- HW Option 7

Pearl river delta

Cities in this region have experienced spectacular growth; they are at the heart of China's manufacturing and exporting boom.  For example, Shenzen was a small city with about 10,000 residents in 1980 but is now a megacity with over 10 million people.  China's SEZs (Special Economic Zones).  Cities that were once separate entities have coalesced into a large conurbation and if they are counted as one, it's now the largest metropolitan area.  Cities like London and New York become global cities over hundreds of years--this happened in one generation.  Click here for 5 infographics showing East Asia's massive urban growth.      

Tags: APHG, urban, industry, manufacturing, economic, unit 7 cities, megacities, China, East Asia.

and wuhan inside

This article asks and answered the question of how and when we will reach a time and place where we live will be limited (as we weigh down the world)? -UNIT 1

The squatters have made their own community complete with services and mini marts.  This tells me there is not enough affordable housing if the people of Caracas are willing to live in dangerous conditions.  Caracas government needs to build affordable housing or create better paying jobs so the citizens can spend the money in the community.  Its a cycle that needs everyone's participation to work to build a sustaining economy.  

I found this article interesting

we have talked about this in class. These people have learned to adapt and find ways to use electricity, running water. We have seen videos of other cities in countries with electrical cables and sewage water out in the open and people find ways to tap into it. The building reminds me of the abandon mills in R.I. where homeless people frequent to beat the harsh elements and sleep at night. They build small fires and use different areas for bathroom visits. The difference is our brick unoccupied mills find a way to catch fire and the city levels them to the ground. This is definitely unsafe but goes to show when you have no place to live its amazing how people find ways to survive and kind of build their own community. What I found disturbing is the people outside the neighborhood angry because the squatters took over the building. All of a sudden they complained about the safety of the squatters when in all reality they are safer because they are acting as a self community and know they need each other to survive. If the government or city officials or citizens of the neighborhood are that concerned then they can find a way to fix up the building.

I'd never really taken notice, or heard of some,  of the architectural deterrents mentioned here. I can't believe that we, as a society, go to such lengths to make life even more difficult for those already struggling. 

APHG-U7

Its amazing how much traffic can affect air pollution, especially in such a small place. Dhaka is heavily populated, traffic in this small but heavily populated community is very stressful, even to look at in the photo provided above. I can't imagine living in such a heavily populated area. I guess you can compare it to downtown New York City. However the pollution is more intense in Dhaka than it is in NYC.

This is a prime example of a megacity and the population that it cohabits the city. The huge populaiton that is se densley populated in such a small area creates for a large traffic and pedestrian issues. After watching the video you would think that there would be more accidents but living in a city like this you would get use to the population ways and learn the ways of life.

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, suffers from overpopulation. As funny and nerve-wrecking this video was, it shows an instability on how important technology is in order for safety. In the video we can see cars just passing by fast and furociuosly within centimeters of crashing in the car in front of it. There is no one guiding traffic and nonetheless, any stop and traffic lights on the streets. It is a free for all in the middle of the capital when it comes to driving and this is a lack of safety for the people in Bangladesh. It is almost impossible for people to cross the road without a high risk of getting driven over. We can also see how there are so many cars in the are was well. The region is very overpopulated and to think how worse it would be if everyone in the area owned a car. 

Urban ecology, environmental justice, gendered inequities, primate city politics, the struggle of growing megacities…it’s all here in this fantastic piece of investigative reporting.  The article highlights the ecological problems that Mexico City faces (high-altitude exacerbates air pollution, interior drainage worsens water pollution, limited aquifers that are overworked lead to subsidence, importing water outside of the basin requires enormous amounts of energy, etc.).  just because the article doesn't use the word 'geography' doesn't mean that it isn't incredibly geographic. All of these problems are at the heart of human-environmental nexus of 21st century urbanization. 

Tags: urban, megacities, water, environment, Mexico.

This article focuses on an Austin community with a Utopian atmosphere. Beginning the construction in 2007, Mueller neighborhoods are very uniform; two story, two car garage in the back, and a porch in the front. This article refers to Urbanization

Unit 7 Urban

      The article describes the master planned community of Mueller. Mueller is filled with parks and green spaces. In addition, every house has a porch and a garage in the back of the house to encourage communication between people and neighbors. Also everything is located close together so it is very easy to walk to the store instead of driving. Many houses employ solar panels for their energy and use fuel efficient hybrid cars.

       Located centrally near downtown Austin this community was based on the concepts of new urbanism and uses effective and efficient methods to create a healthy and fresh neighborhood for both the people and the environment.  New Urbanism is a concept which counters urban sprawl with urban revitalizations, sustainable development, and suburban reforms. The communities following the principles of New Urbanism are often designed compactly to promote a sense of community and place. 

The Mueller community was developed from an old airport. I had the chance to visit this community on an APHUG field trip because it was so close. We were able to see the reasons why the community was developed and learned about innovated communities.

Mega city to Meta city...

This blog really made me realize what an impact humans are to the environment. They compare different cities and talk about the impacts and it really showed me how humans have built up cities.

A side by side comparison at first blush is striking but the devil is in the details. Florence, Italy is a city of only 368,000 while the Atlanta metro area is about 4.5 million. Agree that sprawl is ineffective real estate and efficiency wise, but fuel prices may be having a counter effect on the reduction of sprawl. It is much less expensive to commute given the price of oil at its current levels and the millennials will have a say in this urban sprawl contracting or expanding. Many do not own cars, relying on commuter systems within the city to get around. This in theory should drive down demand for fossil fuels, culminating in reduced prices for gasoline. If the infrastructure is already built, was is the cost to maintain it, given the static population of the large metro areas? Interesting to see how this plays out.

http://www.bharatemployment.com/

I definitely think that it would. It is impressive to see how a urban planning affected the land designed by the refuges. Within a few years through satellite imaging, we can witness and appreciate how  the Zaatarie refugee campus went from a few refugees to a total urbanized area receiving and distributed more than 85,000 refuges in the area. Urban planning plays a big role in regards to how display all populations. However, we have to take in consideration that when a massive population in one area is displayed, urban area is also relevant in terms of disciplines, public healthy, collaboration to live under a community rules. On other hand, natural disasters and destruction by war can wipe out entire cities within seconds. The satellite images were able to show the destruction that took place in the Syrian city of Hamas after natural diasters devastated the region and the wartorn afternmath of Gaza city. Natural disasters and war trigger a massive migration of refugees in search for better a life and opportunity.

This report refers to the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan which is experiencing rapid growth in population with 85,000 citizens and is even starting to look as a "city built form scratch". The reason geographers think that satellite imagery can save refugee lives is because it allows them to view areas of the camp in which they are unable to reach on ground. This information will help health workers pinpoint these certain hidden areas and tend to the people who are there. This use of satellite imagery centers around the camps rapid growth in population, making it quite a challenge to scale on ground. 

differences of opinion about how to classify city age

Since the beginning of civilization, rivers have been communities' main job source. Even before B.C., the only one way to survive was to construct houses close to the nearest body of water. In the case of Crocodile City near the Nile river in Africa,the city was built close to the river due to the fertile soil and water supplied by the Nile. This enabled ancient civilizations to survive. Unfortunately, due to religious conflict between communities, some of these original civilizations were forced to relocate. Another reason for relocation is due to the movement of the bodies of water. As the paths of the rivers change, communities are forced to abandon their homes and start new civilizations so to remain close to the waters. All these communities around the river Nile relied on agriculture for its wealth and power. All these cities are examples of civilizations that have inhabited areas near rivers for centuries, even before B.C. Given their habitat, rivers will provide the necessar resources and tools for current and future generations to be able to survive.

Although the question is misleading, it should say what is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, I enjoyed the article as once again I learned quite a bit about ancient history. Seems Aleppo, Syria is the apparent winner. They have dated the city to 6000 BC and nomads were there 5000 years before that. Shows the importance of trade as most of the contenders were on a trade route near a body of water. In fact, the article says that Aleppo was very much involved in trade until the opening of the Suez canal. Let's hope that with all the turmoil in Syria that Aleppo continues to thrive for centuries to come. Constantinople and Damascus were serious contenders but could not show continuous habitation. Aleppo according to the article, was a strong contender for commerce alongside Cairo, Egypt. Another contender, Jericho, dates back to 9000 BC but again was not continually inhabited and thus cannot lay claim to the world's oldest city.

Very good!

This is also an issue in Australia where the overwhelming majority of people live in single story dwellings and are very car reliant.

I can definitely see this as a real problem. Both my Uncle and my Great Uncle moved their condos from ones that had numerous steps to climb to the second floor to more elder-friendly options. My Great Uncle even went a step further to move him and his wife to a senior living community, where there food, entertainment, etc. is all provided within an enclosed neighbourhood with other people of their age group. More of these communities that act like oversized retirement homes could be the answer. They give the illusion of suburban living, something the baby boomers liked, while providing the accessibility they need.

APHG- HW Option 1

possibly useful for studying complexity

APHG-U7