Cities Flashcards
What does Girardet define a sustainable city as?
‘A city that works hard so that all it’s citizens are able to meet their own needs without endangering the wellbeing of the natural world or the living conditions of other people, now or in the future’
When was the Sustainable Cities programme established?
1990
A mega city is one with
A population of over 10 mill that are centres of the global economy
In N America, what proportion are expected to live in cities by 2050?
90.2%
Urbanisation facts
1900- 5% of world lived in cities
2008- over half lived in cities
2050- 70% expected
Rural to urban migration accounts for
Roughly the pop of Swansea ever month!
In African cities-
40% people live in poverty
25-50% of these live in ‘informal settlements’
Gini index figures-
0.25 Czech Republic (communism)
0.57 Brazil - 0.41 in Curitiba!
Highest city is 0.76 (East London of S. Africa
Low density cities-> excessive energy use. e.g.
Atlanta- 6ppl/hectare and 4.5% trips made by public transport
Barcelona- 171 ppl/hectare and 30% trips made by public transport
Disease in slums example
Freetown (capital of Sierra Leone)
Cholera outbreak in 2012 affected mainly slum dwellers
(Slums on seafront where waste water is flushed out by the shoreline)
Crime in slums example
Curitiba- violent crime remains confined to shanty towns
-80% of murders can be linked to drug trafficking
Example of disparity in city
Bangalore, India
Slum dwellers live next to gated communities (Bascanagudi) and technology parks (Google, Microsoft, Infosys) that has swimming pools and cricket pitches
50% slum dwellers have no access to piped water and low LE of 55-60 yrs
Water problems
Pollution
leakages
Flood management
Water pollution e.g.
New Delhi generates 950 mill gallons of sewage a day (over 1/2 untreated)
R. Ganges contains 70 times max WHO level of chromium dueto Kanpurs leather industry
Air pollution example
Delhi has acute air pollution of >360 micrograms/mcubed
WHO threshold is 150
