Geography 1500F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Urban Metabolism, Hydrosphere, Food Security
27 Oct 2017
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Document Summary
Cities have a metabolism: food, energy, water, materials, wastes. Cities are hubs of social, cultural, economic exchange. Cities are experimental spaces for new ideas and decentralized democracy. Urban ecosystem urban atmosphere, urban biosphere, urban hydrosphere, urban pedo- and lithosphere, built system. Temperature: paved surfaces retain heat (urban hear island) Wood, materials, energy, materials: largely import these too. Clean water: imperfect pollution control/ water treatment. Biodiversity, photosynthesis, habitat: variable but generally low. Nearly all future population growth will be in cities. 95% of this growth will occur in urban areas of developing countries. What energy sources, means of transportation, building materials are available? (t) Spatial pattern, built environment, culture, governance affect these things. Infrastructure choices affect long-term ghg emission patterns (path dependency) Choices about new infrastructure have long-lasting impacts on environmental impacts on environmental impacts and quality of life. Retrofitting old infrastructure is possible but costly.
