History & NEPA Flashcards
Tennesee Valley Authority
TVA - created in 1933. Independent, multi- functional government agency created for regional planning and development of the Tennessee River Valley. Extensive programs ranged from flood protection and water management to recreational development and power generation. The TVA operated as a semi-independent federal corporation, working the Tennessee River for power production, navigation, flood control, and recreational purposes, and to promote improved agriculture and forestry throughout the Valley. Power production grew beyond hydroelectric to include coal and nuclear. Unique regional development organization, and forebear of contemporary COGs and MPOs.
Greenbelt Towns
(1930s) - Begun in 1935 with the New Deal Program “Rural Resettlement Administration” (RRA), within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency undertook to design and construct four communities collectively known as greenbelt towns: Greenbelt, Maryland, Greenhills, Ohio, Greendale, Wisconsin, Greenbrook, New Jersey (never built). These projects were planned to assist local employment and to create model communities to guide future development. Components: modified neighborhood units in countryside, surrounded by extensive greenbelts of public land. Served as dormitory suburbs for nearby metropolises. These towns were built and operated by the federal government.
What are Transects? Where did transects come from? How many zones are there? Which one is the most developed?
A transect is a line across a habitat or part of a habitat. It can be as simple as a string or rope placed in a line on the ground. The number of organisms of each species along a transect can be observed and recorded at regular intervals. Duany based it off Geddes. There are 6 zones. The most developed is the urban core.
What’s in a form-based code? How is it different from other codes?
Form-based codes differ considerably from conventional zoning, but they are still zoning. They divide a community into different districts based on the character and intensity of land development, as well as the desired urban form
NYC Tenement Laws
1901- The legislative basis for the revision of
city codes that outlawed tenements such as the “Dumbbell Tenement.”
Lawrence Veiller was the leading reformer.
What is Concentric Zone Theory?
A diagram of the ecological structure which, in the words of its author, ‘represents an ideal construction of the tendencies of any … city to expand radially from its central business district’ ( R. Park and and E. Burgess , The City, 1925)
NEPA
National Environmental Protection Act of 1969
Clean Water Act
This law controls all sources of water pollution in the U.S. including industrial, municipal, and agricultural wastes. Anyone seeking to discharge water pollutants into a body of water must apply for a permit to do so. Thus, almost any major project that would add significantly to the wastewater stream would be impacted by this law.
Clean Air Act
The Clean Air Act provides similar legislation for air quality controls. These laws are somewhat more complex in their implementation.
CERCLA/CERLA/SARA
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund, authorizes the President to respond to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances into the environment.
Brownfields
A brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. EPA’s Brownfields Program provides grants and technical assistance to communities, states, tribes and others to assess, safely clean up and sustainably reuse contaminated properties.
Safe Drinking Water Act
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
Protecting America’s drinking water is a top priority for EPA. EPA has established protective drinking water standards for more than 90 contaminants, including drinking water regulations issued since the 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act that strengthen public health protection. Over 92 percent of the population supplied by community water systems receives drinking water that meets all health-based standards all of the time.
Coastal Zone Management Act
- This act, administered by NOAA, provides for the management of the nation’s coastal resources, including the Great Lakes. The goal is to “preserve, protect, develop, and where possible, to restore or enhance the resources of the nation’s coastal zone.”
The CZMA outlines three national programs, the National Coastal Zone Management Program, the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, and the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP).
What is an Environmental Impact Statement? What are the 5 questions in an EIS? What are the requirements for citizen participation?
An environmental impact statement written to satisfy the requirements of NEPA or a related state law for major actions having a significant impact on the environment. The EIS is an extensive report detailing the consequences of such actions by answering the five major EIS questions.
, 1) The probable impact of the proposed action.
2) Any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented.
3) Alternatives to the proposed action.
4) The relationship between local short term uses of man’s environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long term productivity.
5) Any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources that would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented.
Point source
Point source pollutants are those coming out of a pipe into a body of water.
non-point source
Non point sources are those relating to overland run off of rainwater which enters the body of water at multiple, natural drainage points. Thus, these include both urban and agricultural runoff.
sustainability
Given the rise of sustainability as a concept over the last decade, there are many different
versions of definitions of sustainability. Most definitions reference the need to respect
environmental, economic, and social conditions. Another common element is managing
resources for both current and future generations. For the purposes of the Policy Framework, the
following definition of sustainability is used: Sustainability means improving the quality of
people’s lives while living within the capacities of supporting natural and human systems.
environmental justice
Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. This goal will be achieved when everyone enjoys: he same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards, and
Equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.
Executive order 12898
Executive Order (E.O.) 12898 - Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations - was issued by President William J. Clinton in 1994. Its purpose is to focus federal attention on the environmental and human health effects of federal actions on minority and low-income populations with the goal of achieving environmental protection for all communities.
Carrying Capacity
Carrying capacity can be defined as a species’ average population size in a particular habitat. The species population size is limited by environmental factors like adequate food, shelter, water, and mates. If these needs are not met, the population will decrease until the resource rebounds.
Aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock, rock fractures or unconsolidated materials. Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well.
Sole Source Aquifer
A Sole Source Aquifer is an aquifer that has been designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as the sole or principal source of drinking water for an area. By definition, SSA is an aquifer that supplies at least 50% of the drinking water consumed in the area overlying the aquifer
Water Table
The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as, the upper level, below which the ground is saturated.
Riparian vs. prior appropriation
Under riparian doctrine, water rights belong to those landowners whose land physically touches a river, pond, or lake. The doctrine of prior appropriation offers no benefit to riparian landowners. Prior appropriation may be paraphrased as, “first in time-first in right.” Under this doctrine, the right to use the water is allocated (or appropriated) by a permit, and the first person permitted to divert water has priority over those who come later. So under prior appropriation, the water is publicly owned and the right to use it is administered by the state.
wellhead protection area
A wellhead protection area is defined as the surface and subsurface area surrounding a water well owellfield, supplying a public water system, through which contaminants are reasonably likely to move toward and reach such water well or wellfield. The SDWA required states to develop and obtain EPA approval for wellhead protection programs (WHPP).
zone of contribution
The area surrounding a well that encompasses all areas and features that supply groundwater to the well.
Garden City
1898: In reaction to the industrialization and poor living conditions in cities, Howard proposed public greenbelts and agricultural areas surrounding self-supporting, satellite communities ringing a central garden city housing around 32,000 people on 6,000 acres to prevent sprawl. The movement led to suburban neighborhood designs in the 1920s and post-WWII New Towns. First two Garden cities were Letchworth (1903) and Welwyn (1919) in England. Notable U.S. use was in Radburn, NJ (1929) and Greenbelt towns.
City Beautiful
The first explicit attempt to utilize the vaguely classical Beaux-Arts architectural style, which emerged as the “City Beautiful” movement” from the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, was the Senate Park Commission’s redesign of the monumental core of Washington D.C. to commemorate the city’s centennial.
Public Health Movement
Developed from a concern for public health in urban slums and workforce safety
Movement focused on industrial safety, limiting work hours, establishing minimum housing standards, public recreation amenities, and ensuring the provision of light and air in cities
1867 - San Francisco banned slaughter houses in certain zones
1867/1879/1901 – NYC Tenement acts
City Humane
Planning response associated with the New Deal efforts under Roosevelt to address Great Depression
Planning efforts focused on social and economic issues and ways of alleviating the problems of unemployment, poverty, and urban plight.
Greenbelt Towns (1933-1935; Guy Rexford Tugwell)
City Functional
Developed in the 1940s with the growth of the military and renewed industrialization
Emphasized functionalism and administrative efficiency, and contributed to the federal government’s increased involvement in local planning after WWII
e.g. Section 701 of the Housing Act passed in 1954 subsidized thousands of comprehensive plans for small cities (less than 25,000 population)
New Urbanism
1981 - Andres Duany- New Urbanism is a planning and development approach based on the principles of how cities and towns had been built for the last several centuries: walkable blocks and streets, housing and shopping in close proximity, and accessible public spaces. In other words: New Urbanism focuses on human-scaled urban design.
Settlement House Movement
1880s: The movement began in Europe, but in the U.S. attempted to assist some of the poorer, new immigrants.
Hull House
The most famous U.S. Settlement House was Chicago's Hull House, founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr in 1889 and focused on providing education, social, and recreational opportunities for neighborhood working class European immigrant women and children. Women volunteers at Hull House held classes in literature, history, art, domestic activities (e.g. sewing), and many other subjects.
Patrick Geddes
Father of Regional Planning, “Cities in Evolution”
Edward Basset
Father of American Zoning, 1916 – NYC: first comprehensive zoning ordinance
Daniel Burnham
Father of City Planning, Plan for San Fransisco - City Beautiful Movement Utopian Visionary, Plan of Chicago - Regional Planning, “White City” - from worlds fair & colombian exposition inspired City Beautiful
Lawrence Veiller
Father of Modern Housing Code,
Ian McHarg
Father of Ecological Planning
Paul Davidoff
Father of Advocacy Planning, Paul Davidoff (1930-1984) founded the Suburban Action Institute in 1969. The institute challenged exclusionary zoning in the courts, winning a notable success in the Mt. Laurel case. This led to the requirement by the state supreme court of New Jersey that communities must supply their “regional fair share” of low-income housing. Davidoff developed the concept of “advocacy planner” where a planner serves a given client group’s interests and should do so openly; a planner could develop plans for a particular project and speak for interests of the group or individuals affected by these plans.
Saul Alinsky
“Rules for Radicals”, Advocacy Planning
Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs’ 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities includes a critique of planning and planners, especially of ongoing New York City urban renewal and Robert Moses’ efforts. She was well known for organizing grassroots efforts to protect existing neighborhoods from “slum clearance” and particularly for her opposition to Robert Moses in his plans to overhaul her neighborhood, Greenwich Village.
Paolo Soleri
“Arcology”
John DeGrove
“Florida’s Growth Management”
Jean Gottman
Jean Gottmann used the expression, “megalopolis”, in 1957 when referring to the extended urban region that appears to form a single huge metropolitan area along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. extending from Boston through New York City; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland and ending in Washington, D.C.
Norman Krumholtz
Equity Planning
Jane Addams
The most famous U.S. Settlement House was Chicago’s Hull House, founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr in 1889 and focused on providing education, social, and recreational opportunities for neighborhood working class European immigrant women and children.
Andres Duany
Utopian Visionary for “New Urbanism”. Duany is a co-founder and emeritus board member of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), established in 1993.[1] He has co-authored five books: Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream; The New Civic Art; The Smart Growth Manual; Garden Cities; and Landscape Urbanism and Its Discontents.
Utopianism
Utopian planning seeks to fire the public's imagination by proposing sweeping new approaches to traditional urban problems Goals are clearly and powerfully stated, usually by a single person recognized as a “visionary” Daniel Burnham’s “White City” Ebenezer Howard’s “Garden City” Le Corbusier's “Radiant City” Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Broadacre City” Andres Duany’s “New Urbanism”
Synoptic “Comprehensive” Rationality
Most commonly used planning approach Four classical elements (often more): 1. Goal-setting 2. Identification of policy alternatives 3. Evaluation of means against ends 4. Implementation of the preferred alternative The real advantage of the synoptic approach is its basic simplicity
Incremental
Charles Lindbloom- “Muddling Through” Incremental planning uses a mixture of intuition, experience, rules of thumb, and various techniques combined with an endless series of consultations to produce results.
Some considerations:
Select goals and policies simultaneously
Consider alternatives only marginally different from status quo
Make simplified, limited comparisons among alternatives
Trust results of social experimentation over theory
Act incrementally through repetitive attacks on the problems being addressed
Satisfice rather than maximize
Mixed Scanning
Mixed Scanning was proposed by Amitai Etzioni in 1978 as an alternative developed from using aspects of radical and incremental planning
Components:
Rational decision-making and policymaking processes establish the basic policy goals and direction.
Administrators then apply incremental processes to choose and effectively carry out decisions.
This allows for using aspects of the rational or the incremental approach, depending on the situation, in order to avoid the individual disadvantages of each approach under particular circumstances
Transactive
Transactive planning relies on using the experience of people’s lives to examine policy issues.
This type of planning is often performed in face-to-face contact and dialogue with people affected by decisions and policy, rather than analyzing field surveys or data analysis.
Plans are evaluated not in terms of what they do for people through the delivery of goods and services, but in terms of the plan’s effect on people, including their values, behavior and capacity for growth through cooperation
Advocacy Planning
Coined in 1965 by Paul Davidoff (“Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning”)
Planning theory where planners seek to represent the interests of various groups within society
Grew out of the 1960’s needs to represent low-income, minority and environmental activist groups who were not always on equal footing with the rich and powerful on issues of discrimination and land use decisions
Davidoff founded the Suburban Action Institute in 1969, which challenged exclusionary zoning in the suburbs, including involvement in the famous Mt. Laurel housing NJ Supreme Court decision that required NJ communities to supply their “regional fair share” of low-income housing needs
Radical
Radical planning arose from the 1973 publication of Foundations for a Radical Concept in Planning by Stephen Grabow and Allen Heskin
It calls for a minimum amount of intervention by bureaucracies and maximum participation of people in defining, controlling and experimenting with solutions to their own problems
e.g. neighborhood planning decisions made by the neighborhood or neighborhood representatives rather than the city council
Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals is often considered an activist form of radical planning
Methodism
Methodism describes a planning activity for which the method to be employed is clear but the ends to be achieved are largely undefined or unknown.
The kind of information collected or generated by following certain standardized procedures is likely to be useful in a wide variety of situations, even when the ends for which the information is to be used are not known.
Examples: Population projections, GIS data, zoning & subdivision standard review processes
Charles Lindbloom
Incremental Planning: Charles Lindbloom described decision making as a series of small, incremental steps in his article, “The Science of Muddling Through” (1959), such that major policy changes are best made in little increments over long periods of time.
