urban environments

• -       India’s ‘Silicon Valley’

  -       80%of IT firms have offices there

  -       200 engineering colleges

  -       2015:10.8 million population(double 2001 population)

  -       $17 billion in Government funding for startups (only $2 billion in Delhi)

  -       90% of lakes in Bengaluru are polluted

  -       Now a larger divide between rich and poor(Richmond town(rich/exclusive) vs slums(15% of Bengaluru population live in slums)

  -       Wages are 10% of that in London, making it attractive for investment as they have a low paid, skilled workforce
• -       Albert Docks were too small for containerisation & Manchester were not importing as many textiles so less demand at port. 

  o   Caused population to halve (800,000 to 400,000)

  o   Toxteth riots (wanted gov to change policies)

  -       £960 million shopping centre set up in 2008

  -       Tate modern museum and knowledge quarter 

  -       Liverpool waters: £5 million plan to regenerate the dockland area
• -       London Docklands (UDC):

  o   Loss of docks due to containerisation (50% of dockland was derelict in 1981 and 30,000 jobs lost)

  o   £20 million spent on local community 

  o   5000 new homes built

  o   employment increased from 28,000 to 105,000 due to regeneration
• -       Hulme, Manchester (City Partnership Scheme):

  o   Post-war housing from 1960's needed regenerating 

  o   £37.5 million regeneration started in 1992

  §  300 homes improved

  §  600 new homes built

  o   300 new homes established due to regeneration
• -       Aston Pride (new deal for communities): 

  o   £54 million Birmingham regeneration project

  o   2500 free computers to LI households

  o   1300 people found work (target was 400)

  o   Burglary decreased by 54%
• o   £160 million revamp of leeds city station

  o   £270 million development to bring new homes, hotels and offices to Lisbon Square

  o   £18.6 million from ‘getting building fund’ (to transform city park, renovate houses in holbeck
• South Oxford Science Village(edge city):

  -       Plan for 3000 new houses(50% of them are affordable)

  -       2 potential transport links

  -       Incorporates blackbird leys (estate)

  -       Retrofitting oxford science park to attract investment
• Las Vegas(PMWC):

  -       Hotels with ‘western themes’

  o   Paris hotel, venetian hotel

  o   Luxor( $375 million Egypt themed hotel)

  -       Fragmentation as builders can build anywhere they want

  -       Privatisation:F1 race demanded anyone with a view to board up windows or pay to view

  -       100 000 jobs rely on tourism

  -       44% of employment in tourism 

  -       Gentrification in downtown Las Vegas

  -       The strip: edge city paragon 
• Brick Lane(London)

  Banglatown: most deprived area in London(2010)

  20% of children in low income households

  41% of population is muslim

  300 000 new, affordable homes

  Tower Hamlets Community Plan-2015

  Old Truman Brewery transformed into a multi-purpose venue

  Lesson plans on equality,hate crime,diversity etc

  Creative communities set up to build cohesion between residents(funded by council)
• Batley(west Yorkshire)

  1/3 of population is of asian origin

  10% of households contain more than one ethnic group

  6th least integrated city in the UK in 2016

  Batley festival-celebrated multi culturalism

  ‘Al Hashim’ academy for muslims opened in 2014

  Indian-muslim welfare society

  Purwell lane: large mosque(fundraises for local community)
• Lamb Grove, Cambourne (SuDS):

  -       Use water butts, permeable pavements, green rooves, retention ponds etc

  -       Cost £11k, which is 10% less than a conventional drainage system

  -       £30/year/household financial benefit
• Los Angeles(polluted city)

  -       60% more emissions in the city than the state average

  -       Most polluted out of 2,400 US cities analysed

  -       Shipping industry and personal emissions 

  -       Container trade increased by 18%

  -       Proposed ‘clean fleet’ of trucks could save 5000 lives

  -       1947: first unified air pollution bill passed 

  -       New gas fuel nozzles catch 95% of fumes which would otherwise be released

  -       South Coast Air Quality Management District (want to reduce nitrous oxide emissions by 90%)

   
• Beijing(polluted city)

  -       Pollution levels 5x higher than London

  -       560 pollution related deaths in January 2024

   

  -       Motorised vehicles:70% of emissions 

  -       Beijing Clean air action plan: reduce coal consumption by 10% by 2025

  -       700km long subway to encourage public transport use

  -        

  -       70% decline in heavy dust in the air since 1960’s 

  -       Pollution level declined by 50% since 2013
• Cheonggyecheon river restoration:

  -       Stream was covered fully by squatter communities due to heavy overcrowding

  -       2003: $281 million, 2 year scheme to restore the river. 

  o   22 smaler bridges built and old freeway dismantled

  o   Water from nearby river treated and redirected to ensure continuous flow

  -       Was restoration successful?

  o   64,000 visitors daily 

  o   Biodiversity increased by 639% 

  o   Design ‘not inclusive’ so had to put in 7 lifts 
• Amsterdam waste management (incineration):

  -       Dutch want to avoid creating waste, so useful waste is recycled and non useful waste is incinerated  

  -       Landfill Tax creates an incentive for recycling etc 

  -       Landfill ban on 35 waste categories

  -       Incineration produced 300 000 gigajoules of heat annually
• •  Uk uses 2.5 billion cups per year(and there’s only 5 coffee cup recycling locations in the uk)     
  • National Cup recycling scheme: 8 major retailers joined to target paper cup recycling
• Dereliction: Hull fruit market:

  -       Development on a brownfield site 

  -       At fruit markets height they sold 20 000 lettuces per week (in 2009 thr council moved the traders to a new out of town site

  -       Reasons for regeneration: cultural decay, community disintegration, war  damage, loss of economic activity.

  -       £24million residential development (109 homes, 300 residents)

  -       £80million total regeneration (part of hulls big city plan)

  -       20 new businesses (providing 250 jobs)

  -       12% year-on-year footfall increase
• Litter collection in River Soar (Leicestershire):

  -       Cost £25 000 (installed for 18 months)

  -       Plastic barrier dipped 30cm into water so fish can still pass under 

  -       Volunteers pulled out 10 000 kilos of litter from the river in the past 3 years, so barrier very much needed

  -       Seabins: can collect 1.4 tonnes of litter per year and only cost £1/day to run
• Copenhagen Sustainability:

  -       546km of bicycle paths to encourage biking to commute 

  -       50% of people travel to work/school by bike

  -       25% of Copenhagen is green space

  -       22% of denmarks energy is from renewable sources

  -       24% of all food sold is organic

  -       Copenhagen climate plan (want to be carbon neutral by 2025)

  -       $440 million investment to redesign their wastewater system(so no longer overflows into harbour)

  -       85% of citys cars are electric

  -       96.4 in liveability rankings 
• London

  Thames valley floodplain (15% of London at risk to flooding)

  East: poverty in 1980’s, unemployment of men 60%

  Central: finance and tourism hub 

  Outer areas: rich

  -       Inequality: 16% in poorest tenth, 17% in richest tenth 

  -       Life expectancy: can vary by 5 years at the extremes. 

  -       Air quality: causes 8.6% of deaths in Kensington and Chelsea

  -       Margaret Thatcher investment into east end

  -       London Living wage

  -       Congestion charge

  -      4600 new jobs in International Broadcast Centre

  -      30 000 tonnes of rubbish collected 
• Rio: beaches and mountains- favelas (6% of population live in favelas)

  North: industrial Central: historic West:modern

  South: Favela- 29 year difference in life expectancy between favela (Rocinha) and luxury areas (Ipanema)

  -       100,000 migrants per year

  -       1/3 of inhabitants have no access to sewers / electricity

  -       Crime: 6000 people killed every year

  -       Barrio Project: 250,000 residents provided with basic sanitation

  -       Pacifying Police Units to control favelas

  -       Cable cars (for Olympics) now broken

  -       olympics cost Brazil $13.1 billion