URBAN INVESTIGATION

I.    Rationale
During the freeway era the automobile pushed the extreme of metropolitan development to fringe locations many miles from older downtown areas. The suburban city, a truly American phenomenon, has become increasingly independent of the downtown area. Many American inner cities became blighted as more middle and upper class residents moved out of the cities and into the suburbs. Beginning in the 1990s, however, Americans began to move increasingly back toward the cities. The sprawling suburban structured proved to be limited in their ability to efficiently handle expansion and growth. As a result, new "smart growth" approaches have been implemented to establish more convenient and walkable cityscapes.

This investigation focuses on contemporary issues cocnerning urbanization in the United States, and more specifically, within your local area. Key points of interest will concentrate on centers of transportation and trade known as "edge cities," the incresed interest in "New Urbanism" and smart growth concepts, as well as a comparison with inner city plight.

II.   Introduction

Think about the environment in which your home is located.  Would you classify it as rural, suburban, or urban?  What about the environment in which Pine Crest is located?  Where are the places where you usually buy gas, eat fast food, shop for clothes, or frequently trave locally? How long does it take you to travel to these places?  How long does it take you to commute to school?

 

III.   Instructional Procedures

Answer the following questions independently (the questions you must answer are in bold).  Be sure to paraphrase all of your answers; I know you can cut and paste - I want to know what you think, and see that you have learned something.

 


1) Edge Cities
The recent phenomenon of edge cities has attracted economic activities away from downtown areas (central business district - or CBD).  However, not all the development away from the downtown area (CBD) has been constructive or organized, leading to sprawl. Furthermore, not all edge cities are the same. Read this article briefly describing the history of edge cities, and read this article discussing one view of future city planning and sustainablity.

Define the term edge city, highlighting at least FOUR attributes one must possess.  Describe the THREE stages in which edge cities developed, and the THREE different types of edge cities that have emerged (for help on this you can click here). Discuss TWO positive aspects and TWO negative aspects of the growth of edge cities.


 2) Local Cultural Landscape
Go to Google Maps and type in your home address.  Select the Satellite button in the upper right-hand side of the map for a more detailed image.  Scan out and analyze the structure of the cultural landscape around your home (pay attention to road grids, canals, shopping centers, downtown areas, etc.).

 

Describe your immediate surroundings referring to any of the classic urban models (Concentric Zone, Sector, Multiple Nuclei, and/or Galactic City; you may use more than one). Go to this site and detemine which housing pattern fits your immediate surroundings. Identify any edge city that has developed in South Florida (do your immediate surroundings qualify?). Explain your reasoning.


3) New Urbanism
In many cases, the phenomenon of the edge city has led to suburban and urban sprawl - haphazard growth, or to spread out in a straggling or disorganized manner.  This has led to another recent phenomenon known as "new urbanism" - the development of more compact, integrated, and complete communities.  New Urbanist projects typically attempt to develop housing, work places, shops, entertainment, schools, parks, and civic facilities essential to the daily lives of the residents, all within easy walking distance of each other.  Go to "The New Suburb?" and explore a new urbanist neighborhood.

Briefly compare the following aspects of a new urbanist neighborhood with a typically-sprawled region:

 

4) Place Matters
The environment in which you are raised can definitely have a profound influence on your life and future. In many respects, a few miles difference - can make all the difference. Watch this video clip (more information on food deserts). Look at this interactive map comparing poverty in the US from 1980 to 2010. Investigate many cities, but pay particular attention to South Florida. Go to this site and enter in your ZIP Code, then go to this Zip Code Look Up which features Nielsen Prizm (used by many companies to analyze their customers spending habits, lifestyle choices and spatial patterns). Be sure to investigate further by clicking on the most common segments in the left hand margin of the Nielsen Prizm site. Now look around South Florida and enter in a few lower income ZIP Codes (into both the ZIP Code site and the Nielsen Prizm site).

Comparing at least THREE cities in the US (including Miami), what information can you reliably deduce from the map data comparing poverty from 1980 to 2010? Discuss TWO ways in which the map data is incomplete (think about population, migration, concentration, etc.). Describe the relative wealth and tendencies of the ZIP Code in which you live in with lower income ZIP Codes in South Florida (median household income, education level, lifestyle & media traits, demographic data, population by age, race, and ethnicity, etc.).


5) Final Thoughts

Discuss the implications of the importance of place. What do you believe are the best solutions in facilitating future growth of living spaces that provide the greatest benefits for the majority of people?

 

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