module 5 worksheet
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University Of Connecticut *
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Course
2400
Subject
Geography
Date
Feb 20, 2024
Type
Pages
5
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GEOG2400: INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABLE CITIES MODULE 5 WORKSHEET
TOTAL POINTS: 75
SECTION 1: RIGHT TO THE CITY
1.
Summarize the Right to the City according to David Harvey in his piece of the
same name (10 points).
a.
The right to the city encompasses much more than just the freedom for
each person to use urban resources, It also includes the right to alter the
city in order to alter ourselves. Furthermore, because this change
unavoidable depends on the use of a social authority to alter the
urbanization processes, it is a common rather than an individual right. One
of the most important but underappreciated human rights is the freedom to
create and transform our cities and ourselves. Cities have always
developed as a result of the social and geographic concentration of an
excess good. The surpluses are extracted from someplace and from
someone, while the power to distribute them often rests in a few hands,
urbanization has always been a class phenomenon. The right to the city
must be seen as a collective right and not an individual right. It can
constitute the rights of several kinds whether it be collective, positive, or
negative. It is when all the residents of a city, town, or village have an
equal share of the benefits and participate in the development.
2.
Explain the relationship between cities and social values based on the Right to
the City article (10 points).
a.
Efficient planning should take into account a city’s link to its surrounding
communities spiritual values as well as its physical layouts and economic
purposes. Urban dwellers' personalities are dynamic and multifaceted and
how they go beyond “conventional” expressions of society standards. The
interrelationship of institutions like schools, theaters, community centers,
and the like forms the framework of an integrated city, and planners must
acknowledge this as the social foundation of cities. Capitalism maintains
this general state of affairs but since urbanization depends on the
mobilization of a surplus good, a close link between the growth of
capitalism and urbanization is shown. To create surplus value, capitalists
must create a surplus good, which then has to be reinvested to create
additional surplus value.
SECTION 2: SEGREGATION
Race and Ethnicity in the US by Dot Density (Census 2020) (arcgis.com)
1.
Use the website link above to identify a place of interest to you and take a
screenshot of the racial composition. Do some research on the income, health
outcomes, environmental quality, and school quality of the location, and write a
short summary about the relationship between racial composition and the quality
of life indicators mentioned above. Upload a screenshot of the racial composition
along with this worksheet. (25 points)
a.
Philadelphia’s median household income is $49,127 annually, compared
to the average household income of $72,419 in the city. The median
income for those aged 25 to 44 is $58,547, while that of those aged 45 to
64 is $51,945. Conversely, individuals over 65 and those under 25 make
less money, at $31,150 and $34,445 respectively. The overall population
health score is 52 for Philadelphia. 9 percent of the population does not
have health insurance. 20.2 percent of the population smokes. The life
expectancy is 76 years old. Their score in terms of having access to care
for them which with doctor availability, and hospital bed availability is 73.
The health behaviors score is 57, and these behaviors include flu
vaccination rate which is 47 percent. The health in Philadelphia is lagging
behind other major cities. It has the highest rates of premature death,
infant and child mortality, cardiovascular diseases, HIVs, hypertension,
etc. The people that are living in poverty are likely to develop chronic
diseases. It is ranked in the top 25 for being the most polluted in the
United States. The air quality is afflicted by the ozone layer which is a gas
pollutant. The precursor pollutants creating the ozone layer makes it
difficult to manage. This leads to there being large population groups at
risk, especially infants, childrens, and elders. The pollutants are a result of
burning carbon based fossil fuels. It also has several rivers and streams
that are polluted, more than any other state. The fish are too contaminated
to eat, and several homeowners can not even drink tap water from their
own house. Lead poisoning is increasing and kids are losing futures
because of it. There were 4 Philadelphia area school districts in the top
100 of the country. However, there are several low-achieving schools there
as well and research shows that 6/10 students attend a low-achieving
school. The good news is that these schools are improving every year,
some by even more than 10% on achievement tests, and these
low-achieving schools are showing consistent academic improvement.
One interesting thing that I found was that there was 48% of students in
elementary school that chose a school other than their assigned
neighborhood school and there were more than half of the seats empty in
school for students. (PICTURE ATTACHED AT END)
SECTION 3: GENTRIFICATION
1.
Define the concept of gentrification and the specific case of green gentrification
and consider what can be done to avoid existing residents from being displaced
when neighborhood quality improves (10 points).
a.
Gentrification is a process of neighborhood change that includes
economic change in a historically disinvented neighborhood by means of
real estate investment and new higher-income residents moving in as well
as demographic changes not only in terms of income level but also in
terms of changes in the education level or racial makeup of residents.
There are 3 key points to understanding gentrification. They are the
historic conditions, especially the policies and practices that made
communities susceptible to gentrification, the way that central city
disinvestment and investment patterns are taking place today as a result
of these conditions, and the way gentrification impacts communities.
Green gentrification is when local perceptions of the area become more
desirable, which raises property prices and rentals. In the context of
climate change, “greening" refers to a variety of win-win strategies,
including environmental investments, sustainability initiatives and green
rhetoric. The greening techniques are used to promote capital and wealth
accumulation in gentrifying environments. A mix of new, wealthy
inhabitants and businesses that appeal to their interests may occur, while
lower-income may experience increased living expenses, disappearing
local institutions. Green gentrification is inevitable only if the assumption of
our political, economic, and development processes cannot be changed
incorrectly.
b.
Enacting new residential zoning regulations, taxing vacant properties, and
encouraging locals to pool their money to purchase real estate, it is
possible to combat the negative effects of gentrification and prevent the
eviction of long-time minority residents.
SECTION 4: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
1.
Explain how EJ and segregation interrelate. (10 points)
a.
When there is segregation, there are situations where certain societies are
treated as sacrifice zones who bear a burden of economic, environmental,
and social costs. It is when the cities are segregated, the neighborhoods
are treated as sacrifice zones meaning that segregation pretty much
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eases environmental justice. This was unwanted in a sustainable city but
segregation is an underlying platform allowing environmental injustice to
take place so if all the people had to live with pollution that they were
generating, people would be more mindful of how to deal with pollution
itself but because people have lower incomes and there are minority
groups are put in places where there is more exposure to the pollution,
there is a tendency to not worry about it as much. This means that
segregation supports environmental justice. In some cities where there are
less problems with environmental justice, the drawbacks are not equally
distributed.
2.
Summarize the Flint water crisis and to local, regional, and federal government
response to it (10 points).
a.
Michigan had failed to provide the protections to its citizens. The children
of Flint, had high levels of lead in their blood. There was a national
emergency declared by President Obama. In 2011, the city of Flint was
broke by losing half of its population after the car factories closed. The
solution for that was emergency managers who can make cost-cutting
measures without following the normal political procedure, and they ended
up deciding that the city can save money on water so Flint was going to
stop buying water from Detroit and would join a new regional water
system. This is why they decided to use water from the Flint River
temporarily. In 2014, they had made the switch, and the citizens saw the
water was brown, smelled, and tasted it and started to complain about it.
In turn, the city showed the residents the federal tests that showed that the
water was safe to drink. However, there was an employee at the EPA that
had leaked a report to activists that showed to the people that the water
had lead levels that were higher than normal. The city responded to that
by saying that the extra lead was there from her plumbing. There was an
outside investigation then made by Virginia Tech researchers that
revealed that the state had to admit the lead levels were high. It was the
corrosion that was eating the iron pipes up, causing main breaks and
water that was discolored and that led to 20% of homes having too much
lead. This is why the government bought filters for water for the citizens
and switched back to water from Detroit. The emergency managers
wanted to save money but reversing the effects will cost a great amount in
fact just switching back to the water of Detroit will cost 12 million dollars.