MODULE 10 Urban Geography

Content to be delivered;
1. Challenges to Urban Growth

2. Building Cities for the Future

Intended Learning Outcomes

1. Identify the challenges to Urban Growth; and

2. Analyze how cities should be built in the future.

Uncover Your Prior Knowledge!

Direction: Define the meaning of the following terms and provide as many examples as you can.

1. What is meant by the geographical term: push factor?

2. What is meant by the geographical term: pull factor?

Challenges to Urban Growth

Urban Threats

Urbanization spurs a unique set of issues to both humans and animals.

The promise of jobs and prosperity, among other factors, pulls people to cities. Half of the global
population already lives in cities, and by 2050 two-thirds of the world's people are expected to live
in urban areas. But in cities two of the most pressing problems facing the world today also come
together: poverty and environmental degradation.

Poor air and water quality, insufficient water availability, waste-disposal problems, and high energy
consumption are exacerbated by the increasing population density and demands
of urban environments. Strong city planning will be essential in managing these and other difficulties
as the world's urban areas swell.

Threats
 Intensive urban growth can lead to greater poverty, with local governments unable to provide services
for all people.
 Concentrated energy use leads to greater air pollution with significant impact on human health.
 Automobile exhaust produces elevated lead levels in urban air.
 Large volumes of uncollected waste create multiple health hazards.
 Urban development can magnify the risk of environmental hazards such as flash flooding.
 Pollution and physical barriers to root growth promote loss of urban tree cover.
 Animal populations are inhibited by toxic substances, vehicles, and the loss of habitat and food sources.

Solutions
 Combat poverty by promoting economic development and job creation.
 Involve local community in local government.
 Reduce air pollution by upgrading energy use and alternative transport systems.
 Create private-public partnerships to provide services such as waste disposal and housing.
 Plant trees and incorporate the care of city green spaces as a key element in urban planning.

(Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/urban-threats)

How cities should be built in the future?

Two-thirds of the world will live in cities by the year 2050. But how much will the cities of tomorrow
resemble the cities of today? ‘City 4.0’ -- as the development towards smart cities is sometimes called --
will be the home of new populations with new needs, problems, and solutions. But it is being built on
cities that already exist. Big data, the ‘internet of (urban) things’, and other innovations need to function
with existing cultures and infrastructure if they are to evolve in a sustainable manner that is respectful
to each city’s unique history and population. What do urban designers need to think about if the cities
of the future are to flourish? And how can students with an interest in urban development be part of
that change?

The impact of a changing population

By 2050, the United States looks set to be home to 438 million people -- 111 million more than today.
Three-quarters of them are estimated to live in cities and urban areas. Statistically, the cities of America
will home the same amount of people that live in the entire nation now. And a similar pattern is
emerging worldwide.

But numbers alone do not explain the changes we face. There will be more people in the cities, but they
will be different people. For example, we are living longer, which leads to an older population. In fact,
2050 will mark the first time in history when more people in the world are over 60 than under 15.
However, older people themselves will be different. They are already working longer, thinking younger,
and receiving their pensions later.

So that means planners are needed who can design homes and the built environment with older
residents in mind; homes which are accessible, hazard-free, and amenable to their physical needs and
preferences, but also inspiring, social, and participatory.

Previous generations have met old age with easy acquiescence, more or less going along with what they
were told and where they were put. But from the baby boomer generation onwards, older people are
becoming more informed, mobile, driven, and involved. Generations X, Y, and Z will demand to be part
of the decision-making process in their cities as well as in their immediate circumstances.

A glimpse into the future

How you imagine the future city to look depends on your priorities and expertise. But almost every area
of life will be touched by new technology, design trends, and environmental solutions.

Transport immediately stands out. Wider cities will need vaster transport solutions, but they need to be
sympathetic to the climate crisis. Emerging solutions are already highly visible today, from electric cars
to the (vaguely sci-fi) autonomous vehicles and networked road systems, to powered scooters
whooshing past on the streets of, for example, LA, Seoul, and Oslo. By 2050, we will likely see driverless
flying cars above our heads!

Architecture, neighborhoods, and infrastructure will also be re-thought. How can a city expand its
physical footprint without expanding its environmental footprint? Bioswales, green roofs, and urban
farms sound wonderful in theory, but each instance will require sensitive handling as it is plugged into
an existing cityscape.
Moscow 2050

In October 2019, international laboratory of experimental urban design HSE Laboratory

Within two weeks the selected participants of the workshop, together with students of the Master's
program ‘Prototyping future cities’, were developing a vision of Moscow 2050 for the pavilion at
the Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2019 in Shenzhen (China). Following such elements of future
cities as decentralization, re-naturalization, renewable energy sources, water regeneration, local food
production, smart transport, use of local and renewable materials in construction, waste collection and
processing, joint consumption, digitalization and big data, distributed co-workings, robotics, and
industrialization, students develop concepts, animation and 3D modeling, diagrams and maps, collages,
photos and videos.

The results of the workshop will be exhibited as part of the 'Moscow 2050' vision at the Shenzhen
Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.

The role of technology

Big data, ubiquitous sensors, and overlapping networks make for a smart city that puts the internet of
things (IoT) on an urban scale. City authorities can map and analyze Information and behavior, then
pump the data back into smart grids, optimizing utilities usage, emergency services, and highly-
coordinated transportation networks. Nearly every facet of urban life has the potential for cost
reduction and improved usability and sustainability thanks to advanced analytics and user interfaces.

However, designing for life like this comes with substantial social and ethical responsibilities. The
interfaces and algorithms that process all this data are subject to the same biases as the human workers
who they may succeed. Smart buildings and systems may offer solutions for sustainability, but the
information and communication technology they require itself takes a heavy ecological toll, and should
not be accepted uncritically.

The smart 21st-century city must be ‘useful’ for its inhabitants and visitors while sidestepping the
wasteful convenience that characterized the 20th century. And it requires an engaged and vigilant
userbase (what we used to call a ‘population’!) to navigate the often self-interested private, public, and
corporate interests that play out from home to street, from mall to city hall.

Cities already leading the way

The city of the future is already underway, with mixed examples of new ways to live and care appearing
in every part of the world.
Los Angeles is known for being the city of Blade Runner, the 1982 cyberpunk science-fiction movie set in
a ‘futuristic’ 2019. Tech solutions are indeed a big part of the city’s evolution. But the city is also thinking
organically, for example, through the landscape architects fighting drought by replacing thirsty non-
native flora with endemic desert plants.

In Medellín, Colombia, a new cable-car system has drastically reduced the fragmentation of the city (and
the class divide that ghettoization exacerbates). The city next added beautifully-designed ‘library-parks’
and other features usually reserved for middle-class areas. “A good building, a well-designed space, a
dignified public transit system, a quality cultural event—these all work on a psychological level to
generate a feeling that you are included in the city,” says Alejandro Echeverri, Medellín’s director of
urban projects.

Historically, cities tend to get a major overhaul ahead of hosting a major sports event. Tokyo is no
exception, except that the Japanese capital is preparing a welcoming committee of robot taxis, smart
wheelchairs, and multilingual service bots for the 2020 Olympics. A trip to Tokyo will never be the same
again.

And in Europe, "the future is more likely to be defined by quieter upgrades to existing infrastructure and
new partnerships that better represent residents, than flashy new developments that resemble visions
from science fiction," writes James Ransom, a PhD candidate researching the role of universities in cities
around the world, in The Conservation. Ransom found thoughtful partnerships and consultation
between universities and residents are helping shape a future model of the city that puts people ahead
of corporate and political interests.

Policy-makers, designers, and engineers face an exciting challenge: to realize the potential of the future
city while figuring their way around the issues it provokes. Indeed, they need to figure out what those
issues may even be. There is much to learn from urban history, but there are also unprecedented
developments ahead.

(Retrieved from https://www.masterstudies.com/article/what-students-should-know-about-the-cities-

Activity 1
(Divergent Thinking)

Direction: This activity will challenge you to think beyond what is “right” answers are. Pleas answer
carefully the question below.

1. On which aspect can you agree that even technological intervention may offer sustainable solutions
and in effect still causes ecological toll is apparently acceptable and deemed necessary for urbanization?

Let’s Try It!

I. Open Ended. Write a comprehensive answer of the question below.

1. If population growth is one of the many reasons of rapid Urbanization, then what should be the
solution to this problem especially to the 3rd world countries?
References

https://www.masterstudies.com/article/what-students-should-know-about-the-cities-of-the-future/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/urban-threats