Topic 05 (week 06) Flashcards
urban planning theory in 20th century
often drew from the humanities and social sciences rather than the biophysical sciences
green used to bind the city and natural landscape
ecological literature, limited integration from….
urban sociology
urban geography
urban psychology
political economy
traditional approaches reflect HEP, explain
Human Exemptionalism Paradigm
human beings, by virtue of culture and humans ingenuity will overcome all social and envoropnmetal problems confronting humankind
humans are distinct species and higher than all others
emerging ecological approaches, NEP explain….
New Ecological Paradigm
cities depend on the biophysical environment for their survival and functioning
understanding the cities of dynamics
humans are unique WITHIN the environment
Catton and Dunlap argued that ….
mainstream sociology had largely ignored the biophysical environment
4 HEP assumptions
- humans are unique among all species
- social and cultural factors can always vary
- human affairs is the social and cultural environment
- limitless progression means social problems are utlimately solvable
Robert Park
theory of urban ecology uses forces similar to those of Darwinian evolution such as
competition, dominance, succession, invasion
theory of the division of urban space into specific “ecological niches” in which occupants shared similar social characteristics
Ernest Burgess
suggested that urban settlements develop by growing outwards in a series of concentrc rings over time
central place theory (christaller)
this is how things DID develop at one point but now it has changed, but the built environment still remains
Criticisms of Human Ecology
only works (burgess model) on cities with similar background and history, limited use on other cities
fails to explain how people make irrational or sentimental decisions
political economy
1970s David Harvey built on the ideas of the real estate circuit of capital
selective capitalist investing in the housing market resulted in highly uneven urban development
1980s Allen Scott
relationship between urban growth and economic globalization
horizontal integration
a process where companies, through absoption and consolidation, expand their operatins oftne moving manufacturing over seas to more advantageous locations
vertical integration
process where companies divest themselves of their production companies
ex. detroit
allowing companies to become mutlinational
True or False: consumption is both individual and collective
true
4 themes of Political Economy
urban development is not shaped by natural processes but by human decisions by those who control the wealth
urban social arrangements reflect conflicts between rich and poor
government plays a role in shaping urban life by allocating resources, and regulating economic policy/activity
economic restrcuturing in a global economy has significantly altered urban form
4 themes of NEP
- despite exeptional charactersitics, humans are only one specioes among manu involved in the global ecosystem
- human affairs are not only determined by social and cultural elements but by complex cause anmd effects as well
- a finite globe means physical and biological constraints restrict economic growth and social progress
- although humans appear to be able to overcome contrastins, ecological laws such as those of thermodynamics cannot be revoked
continued points about NEP
analysis of the interrelationships between humans and their surrounding environment
the city is conceived as a dynamic and complex ecosystem
urban metabolism
the city as an organism, utilizing the metaphor of biological metaboplism
provides a holistic framework for analyzing a citys input-output relationships with its surround environment
extended urban metabolism
physical and biological processes convert resource inputs into produces
underlying these processes are the physical laws of nature
energy analysis
a tool based on thermodynamics, entails the determination of the energy required both directly and indirectly in producing a good or service in an economic system
ecological footprinting
(EF) area of land required to produce the resources consumed
- it measures the total ecological cost of supplying goods and services for a population
- it invokes the ecological concept of carrying capacity. the carrying capacity reflects the ecological deficit
in an ecological sense, the city as a node of consumption cna be seen as an organism existing on avast external resource base
limitations of Ecological footprinting
- lack of common definitions and methodologies
- many have argued for other numeraires eg. embodied energyt or embodied solar energy
- the use of equivalence factors is contentious as these ignore cultural values
- EFS provide a snapshot of current population requirements, but fail to inform future scenarios
- relavance for EF policy has been questioned for overshooting
Limitations of NEP based on urban school of thought
1.ecological versus social variables
these variables creaste significant influence on urban ecosystems being linked to such human controls suich as landscaping choices
- proximity
metabolic efficiency is made possible by proximity , thus minimizing energy loss - open vs closed systems
cyclical metabolisms. regnerative feedback.
material and energy
driven by postitive feedback processes
critiques of NEP
seeing the NEP as modern-day manifestation of “environmental determinism” or “ biological determinism”
fails to account for behavioural factors
people dismiss it because it seem to run counter to the central view in social sciences of humans being malleable and totally conditioned by the social environment
iintegration of HEP and NEP
have been presented as dichotomous choices
they fial to take account of biophysical contrainsts
these 2 need to synthesize together when planning for the built and natural environment
