Names: Caila, Carline, Jane, Jesse, Jessica, Julieta, Marla, Nichelle.
Readings: McDonald, Robert I. et. al. "Urban growth, climate change, and freshwater availability" PNAS, 2011.
Grimm, Nancy B. et. al. "Global Change and the Ecology of Cities" Science, 2008.
Summary of Readings:
Urban growth, climate change, and freshwater availability
This article explains how the growth of the population is negatively affecting the climate and therefore the hydrologic cycle. By increasing the population, the amount of people with water shortages is also increasing as well. The article suggests that planners should be informed of this water shortage and act on two solutions: creating more storage for cities that need water during certain seasons and saving water through landscape management. Unfortunately, this will cost money and also puts a risk on wildlife, as with any habitat that is being changed.
Global Change and the Ecology of Cities
This article explained how there is a dramatic shift to urban living and how it is causing greater demands on services, economic growth, and demographic changes. It lists 5 different types of global and environmental change: changes in land use and cover, biogeochemical chemical cycles, climate, hydro systems, and biodiversity. Land use and land cover are related to population growth because it demands environmental change. Because cities are one of the main contributors to CO2 emissions and greenhouse gases, urban areas become responsible for the biogeochemical cycles. Urbanization, along with other land use changes are responsible for around half of climate changes. When humans start modifying the hydrologic systems, many issues will arise such as: pollutants from buildings leaking into streams, point source pollution, etc. Finally biodiversity alters cities in that the urban footprint extends past just where people live. Native species are also being negatively affected when cities are created. It is important to incorporate biodiversity into city planning to conserve what is naturally here.
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| Image 1: Population and Climate Change |
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| Image 2: Urban Growth |
Minutes of Seminar Discussion: Should design and ecology become synonymous?
-there should be some collaboration between architects and ecologists
-you have to be a master at one thing, if you start trying to combine two professions, the individual won't be as experienced
Do you think if urban centres were dispersed across land, the impact we have upon the earth would be reduced?
-No, I think that the impact would be the same. Urban growth would still occur and the problem begins with peoples attitude and awareness towards how they treat the earth.
What are some of the impacts that climate change can have on the hydrolic cycle?
-ice melts quickly
Suggest a method for providing water for a city while protecting native fish species
-rainwater collection
Which factor is expected to have a more certain effect on water shortage: urban growth or climate change?
I think that both combined will have a greater effect because they impact one another.
Reflections: I did not know that population growth has such a negative effect on land use. It is important for us, as design students to take this into account when planning urban spaces. When we start incorporating the 5 steps outlined in the reading, Global Change and Ecology of Cities, then we will have sustainable cities. We cannot control population change as designers, but we can control how cities are planned. If we start incorporating biodiversity into city planning, it will become the norm and hopefully change the way we look at design.
Image 1: "Environmental boundaries to save Gaia" Thinking Shift. http://thinkingshift.wordpress.com/category/climate-change/ accessed April 18, 2013
Image 2: "Saving Suburbia?" The Freeman http://abcdunlimited.com/ideas/suburbia.html accessed April 18, 2013
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