#13 – Sustainable Focus

     I read an article published by Scott Campbell last week and agree completely with his thoughts on sustainable planning. Campbell puts forward that there are three major tenants of sustainability; Social, Environmental, and Economic. Each of these tenants often conflict with each other and lead to problems.  For example, planning involving Environmental Protection and Economic Developments often to lead to resource conflicts, where there are not enough resources to produce goods, or too much consumption of natural resources leads to environmental disasters. It is important to look at these issues and see how they affect our lives.  Let’s break down some of today’s issues and examine how these are related to sustainable planning.

Gasoline:

     Relatively cheap fuel source, efficient. Gasoline can be used in a wide variety of applications because it of how it stores it energy. Practically all automobiles and transport are dependent on gasoline and it has become a necessary ingredient to further economic development in many countries.

     On the other hand the reserve of gasoline on the planet is limited. The majority of our gas is derived from oil which is located in only select places. Further more oil isn’t a resource that replenishes itself within a reasonable timeframe. Because of the resource conflict, the price of the fuel has been steadily increasing over the years. It also has been controlled by a select few oil producing countries (OPEC) which control the majority share of oil, and control the price. This price controlling limits access of the fuel to underdeveloped countries as well. Gasoline also produces carbon dioxide which is responsible for Global Warming which has negative effects on both the economy and global equity.

Table1:  Sustainability of Gasoline
	Economic	Environmental		Social	Overall
Economic Development	Cheap Energy Source, Various Industrial/Commercial Applications	Pollution	Access Controlled OPEC, Dependency		ED	+2
					EP	-1
					SJ	-2
Environmental Protection	Limited Supply, Non Renewable	Contributes to Global Warming	Underdeveloped Countries Effected the Most		ED	-2
					EP	-1
					SJ	-1
Social Justice, Equity	Necessary for Development	Developed Countries are the most Pollutant	Underdeveloped Countries lack Access		ED	-1
					EP	-1
					SJ	-1

     The table shows that using gasoline has a clearly more issues then positives associated with it. Because are system is built on using gasoline there has been little or no alternative that has been able to replace gasoline usage effectively. The table also illustrates the various negative feedback loops associated with gasoline and how it is an unsustainable source of energy. The current system has a narrow focus on the economy and fails to address the need to have a sustainable environment and social culture. We won’t be able to solve the problem unless we are able to look at all of these issues equally.  

References:

Campbell, Scott. “Green Cities, Growing Cities, Just Cities?”. Journal of the American Planning Association. Summer 1996

Sustainability Priorities and Their Conflicts

#12: Choices But No Options

     Chicago has a lot to offer, and plenty of different types of foods to try. A bunch of world class restaurants. But one of the worse things about Chicago is that it makes it nearly impossible to cook for a family on the budget. Having grown up in Chicago, I have experience this first hand. I grew up in a single parent home with two brothers. I remember the family having to drive half an hour to River Oaks to grocery shopping for the next two weeks. The pilgrimage was made because local grocery was subpar and more expensive compared to those in the suburbs.

Orange represents Fast Foods, Blue is Grocery Stores.

     The Chicago South side is a virtual food desert. Every major street is loaded with fast food restaurants like: McDonalds, Burger King, and the local fast food restaurants. Sit down restaurants are far and few in between.  Most of the big chain grocery stores like Jewels and Dominick’s are located usually where two major arteries meet, which makes since too an urban planner but makes little since to have a grocery locations that far apart. To add further injury, the groceries are usually more expensive then the exact same brands in stores in the suburbs. My family was fortunate enough to have car to travel the distance, but those who rely on transportation on south side (which are a vast amount) don’t have access to those stores and have little option but to go to the overpriced grocery store or buy the underpriced fast food item.

Plenty of Choices.

The desert of grocery on south side is not limited to the price and location but also the quality. There are practically no whole food stores within walking distance or even a manageable bus distance. Whole Foods Stores are mostly located in the north side and require ownership or access to a car to be able to drive to those places. Even then the premium for whole foods is much higher than that of the cheaper less quality food sold at the local chain. Many will settle for the cheaper options because they just don’t have the money to pay the premium on more sustainable food.

Number of Whole Foods: 0.

     So the people are left a variety of choices among fast foods, and expensive yet low-quality groceries. The choice is merely an illusion to disguise the fact that there really isn’t an option to be healthy. Adding a Wal-Mart, which provides more cheap and sub-quality groceries, will not solve the food desert that is south side Chicago. South-siders need access to better food not more food, we have plenty of big chain fast foods, groceries, and convenience stores in the neighbor but little or no quality grocery stores that offer alternatives or that can compete with the chains that choke out quality via cost savings. What the south side needs is complete neighbor transformation which provides access to different options of food rather than the choice between to evils.

The Chicago Food Desert

References:

Personal Experience

Mari Gallagher. 2008. Chicago Food Deserts: examining the impact of food on public health in Chicago. Mari Gallagher Research and Consulting Group.

#11 Smart Growth: Too Little Too Late?

Smart Growth is an urban planning idea to reorganize how cities grow and develop in the future. City sprawl has become a major problem among urban and regional planners for many reasons. One of the major reasons for the problems caused by urban sprawl is that people have the tendency to move further away from work the more they make. This causes several issues such as increased traffic, suburbia where walking or local amenities are miles away and etc. Smart growth seeks to correct that by putting boundaries on city growth, redeveloping the city to be more mixed use, and having other alternatives to driving. But are these ideas too little, and too late. Have we already sprawled too much to make a major impact on the sustainability of the system?

Let’s first mention the problems caused by urban sprawl. The first problem is that urban sprawl creates communities that rely on one mode of transportation, the car. The automobile industry is sort of dependent on how much people depend on cars. Designing cities and town growth so that people don’t have to use cars is ultimately detrimental to industry witch accounted for 33% of the nations carbon dioxide emissions in 2008.  Another problem with urban sprawl is that people still demand necessities like water and energy. In Illinois along there are 11 active nuclear plants with 9 of them within 70 miles of Chicago, and 31 coal plants.  The nuclear and coal plants provide the an equal 48% each of the energy Illinois uses despite the pollution caused by burning coal and the dangers posed by nuclear power. Water also becomes an issue as many counties in Illinois rely on ground water which needs time to recharge.

Map of Nuclear Power Plants in Illinois

But can smart growth solve this problem. Smart growth seeks to limit growth by placing boundaries on city growth and refocus on redeveloping urban areas for mixed residential urban use. Also connect areas with alternatives transportation modes like trains, bus, and bike. These modes of transport reduce the amount of fuel consumption needed for long distant single passenger travel.  One of smart growth most beneficial aspects is that it focuses on the problem in the context of maintaining growth. Cities still grow but they grow with a keener eye towards sustainability, but this is ultimately why smart growth is too meager. Smart growth focuses on the minimum required to maintain growth instead of a shift in values. Smart growth can be just as inefficient as it is today. People will use fewer cars but then people will demand cheaper urban living meaning more energy draining buildings which also use about third of the energy supply. So in a sense we are exchanging one demon for another. Also Smart Growth requires planning from the start in order to have any significant benefits. Most of the criticism of smart growth is that the policies are ineffective or unable to measure the reduction in traffic congestion and fuel emissions.

In order to become more sustainable we need to attack the problem at its source. We need to focus on reducing pollution and restoring the environment so that it can support the planet for centuries to come. Everything else will adapt to those changes. If carbon fuel prices were too high, people would start commuting less, start living closer together, working more efficiently, and do everything smart growth purports to do. In essence the goal of smart growth is a favorable one, but the theory’s means lacks the ability for meaningful change in the way of improving society's sustainability.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_Illinois

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggrpt/carbon.html#transportation

http://www.neis.org/Content/Nuclear_Illinois.shtml

http://www.urban.illinois.edu/courses/up446/sp11/Reader/13_growingcoolerCH1.pdf