Sustainable Cities

Macy Rink

Part 1: Maximizing Personal Space

Part 1 Questions:
1. Describe the city you just designed.
We Made a city square in the middle of equally distributed housing units. The city square consists of all businesses,
power plants, hospitals, and other public spaces while the housing units are dispersed around the square, giving the
home owners more personal space.
2. Quantify the percentage of open/green space in the city you have designed:
Hint count the bumps on the grid. What percentage has been left for open/green space in the city you have created?
___70%_____

3. Describe the most important effects that are gained from maximizing personal living space that is privately owned
and utilized:
People like having more personal space because it is cheaper and there is generally less crime in these areas.

 
Part 2: Maximizing Public Space

 
Part 2 Questions:
1. Describe the city that you have designed for maximizing space.
  We created a central public park because we wanted to designate a location to public space. We decided to make
lots of apartments above buildings in order to conserve space.
2. Quantify the percentage of open/green space in the city you have designed:
  76.4%
3. Describe the effect of open/green space on each of the topics below:
a. Quality of life - green space boosts morale providing scenery
 
b. Urban animal life - provides homes for animals that may not survive in an urban space, also green space is
friendly for urban pet owners.
 
c. Weather and climate - with more green space, our city can contribute to global insolation and albedo, thus
avoiding low albedos that increase heat.
 
d. Noise - the gap in the city provides a space for sound to mellow out. The noise is dispersed evenly and not all in
one space.
  
e. Air quality - with more green space, more people are encouraged to walk and avoid cars. Also more plants are
present which contribute to the air quality.
 
f. Water quality - the water quality may not improve the water quality because the city’s waste might travel down to
the only natural water source in the area. But if the sewage is rerouted, the water will remain clean and an acceptable
habitat for fish and other animals.
 

Part 3: A Sustainable City

 
Part 3 Questions:
1. Describe the sustainable city you have designed.
  our city is aesthetically pleasing, with lots of green space, a centralized transportation system, centralized
businesses and apartments, with houses near a neighborhood park.
2. What are the strengths of this layout?
The layout encourages public transportation and walking because the streets do not cross the middle of the city.

3. What are the weaknesses of this layout?

Because the houses are all close to a park, they do not get their own individual back yards.
 
4. Consider the urban areas created by the other groups. Did everyone emphasize the same strengths and
weaknesses? Were some aspects of city life given greater priority?
 Housing was mainly given top priority because that is where people will be most of the time.
 
5. In your ideal urban area, what form of mass transportation would be most prominent? Explain how this form of
transportation fits into your city design.
In our city, we envisioned a subway system that transports people underground, leaving the streets free of cars.

Part 4: City Analysis

 
1. Which buildings need to be nearest to each other to minimize transportation and congestion?
  Businesses should be close to each other with housing around in order to minimize congestion in neighborhoods
2. Which buildings need to be placed apart from others due to sight, smell, noise or toxicity?
Which buildings need to be near others despite their negative attributes?
Power plants should probably be spread out in order to equally distribute the power, and also waste facilities should
be away from housing.
 
3. Which buildings should be buffered by open/green areas? How can adding green spaces (parks) be used to reduce
urban sprawl? I feel that businesses should be buffered with green space and also housing in order to keep home
owners happy. Urban sprawl may decrease if we put more green space around homes and not homes right next to
each other.
4. How can urban gardens and agriculture reduce the negative attributes of a city?
  plant life can increase the air quality and also animal quality. It can also encourage people to bike or walk places.
5. How do you design cities so that the people who live there have a sense of community?
  shared parks and other public spaces are great for creating communities.
6. How can the design of a city reduce crime, poverty, and injustice?
  more space generally leads to less crime rates.
7. What configuration of transportation pathways would be most useful?
  walking and bike transportation would be useful so that we reduce pollution.
8. How did you design your city to minimize the need for resources? Are there ways to reduce wastes or pollutants?
We designed our city to minimize the need for personal space and transportation. People can walk most places and
are living outside of a park.
 
9. If nothing could be imported into a city (resources) or exported out (pollutants/waste), would you alter your city
layout in any way during planning? Remember that local control is a major part of what makes a city “sustainable.”
Yes, in order to prepare for resources needed I would create more space for agriculture and farms. Also I would
disperse the power plants/water plants in order to maximize the output of these resources.
 
Part 5: Modern Sustainable Cities
In some cities, efforts have been made to improve the quality of life for residents; certain practices have been
implemented through government programs, the city layout has been redesigned and/or public works such as
schools, parks or mass transportation have been enhanced.
Below is a list of several cities that have made strides in one area or another. Choose 3 cities to research each
particular city’s improvement projects. Discuss what is unique about each city and why it is considered sustainable.
Write the long term effects that each of these major sustainable changes will have, next to the name of the city
below:
 
1. Davis, California
Davis has a wide array of bike lanes totaling 110 miles around the city. Also they are conscious of the wildlife
around the area and provide tunnels underground for animal crossings. The livability rating is top 50 in the nation.
The long term effects of this will lead to less pollution, due to biking and other transportation options, and also a
healthy wildlife outside the city due to their tunnel system.

 
3. Portland, Oregon
Portland has made great contributions to their air quality by making transportation more green. They offer many
different types of public transportation such as light rails, buses, and biking lanes. The long term effects of this will
lead to cleaner air and less congestions/traffic for cars on the road.
 
4. Chattanooga, Tennessee
The chattanooga airport has a substantial sustainability program including a solar farm, LEED certified facilities
and the world's first platinum aviation terminal. In the long term this will help the city to be more energy efficient.