Please see posted reading and questions on which to post for Monday April 4.
ECON2505 Env Econ, SP2016
A City Tech OpenLab Course Site
Please see posted reading and questions on which to post for Monday April 4.
The OpenLab is an open-source, digital platform designed to support teaching and learning at City Tech (New York City College of Technology), and to promote student and faculty engagement in the intellectual and social life of the college community.
Roman Pienkowski
1.Describe what the urban sustainability index proposes to do.
The urban sustainability index intends to measure cities in emerging markets on their performance in five sustainable categories including meeting their citizen’ basic needs, resource efficiency, environmental cleanliness, developed environment, and their obligation to sustainability.
2.Describe three components of this index and comment on whether you view this as achievable.
Three of index components that are achievable are resource efficiency, environmental cleanliness, and built environment. Resource efficiency has been in the works for years. I read an article recently that underdeveloped countries are investing twice as much in green energy as developed nations. The recent dip in oil prices will not deter investing in green energy. No one wants to pay high oil prices ever again. Water consumption will increase but so are the ways of preserving it. We do have water treatment plants like the one in Greenpoint, Brooklyn but we also have rain water recycling technology that feeds toilettes like in the Navy Yard. Our sinks and showers also use less water now. We recycle metals, plastics, and paper in New York but they also have collection of organic materials which can be used for compost. Environmental cleanliness gets a lot of media coverage because of the harmful effects on humans. We currently enforce regulations against air pollution. Carbon taxes and emissions trading are ideas that can be used else ware. There are government agencies and officers who enforce the laws of environmental protection. My friend is an Environmental Conservation Officer and he gives out tickets to companies polluting waterways and spilling chemicals into sewers, gives tickets out to large trucks that their exhaust is way above government standards. It is being done here and others could adopt it too. Built environment is a work in progress. In a growing city, plans for green space and mass transit can be easily implemented but in large cities who were built before these ideas came about is a little harder. I feel that in NYC we are just trying to build around what we already have, but its working. We do have the best transit system in the world and there is an expansion of the CITI bike program even though it is too expensive. Urban gardens, green roofs, and land set aside for parks is a step in the right direction. We have to preserve the earth for future generations.
1) The absence of accepted frameworks for evaluating success in emerging-market cities often prevents of officials from discovering and implementing effective solutions. The index is designed to measure the performance of cities in five sustainability categories: how well they are meeting their citizens’ basic needs, resource efficiency, environmental cleanliness, built environment, and commitment to future sustainability.
2) The three components of this index are measuring the environmental sustainability of cities, handling growing urban populations in a sustainable way and efficiency in using resources. A weak negative correlation between sustainability and wealth were power consumption, industrial sulfur dioxide emissions, and GDP from resource-intensive sectors. I think it is achievable because it is a start to improve cities. Everyone wants to be safe and have a sufficient living space as well as good health care and safe drinking water but steps need to be made. The urban sustainability index can measure success and identify initiatives that they can implement to achieve sustainable development.
1) The absence of accepted frameworks for evaluating success in emerging-market cities often prevents of officials from discovering and implementing effective solutions. The index is designed to measure the performance of cities in five sustainability categories: how well they are meeting their citizens’ basic needs, resource efficiency, environmental cleanliness, built environment, and commitment to future sustainability.
2) The three components of this index are measuring the environmental sustainability of cities, handling growing urban populations in a sustainable way and efficiency in using resources. A weak negative correlation between sustainability and wealth were power consumption, industrial sulfur dioxide emissions, and GDP from resource-intensive sectors. I think it is achievable because it is a start to improve cities. Everyone wants to be safe and have a sufficient living space as well as good health care and safe drinking water but steps need to be made. The urban sustainability index can measure success and identify initiatives that they can implement to achieve sustainable development.
Answer to Question 1
The index is designed to measure the performance of cities in five sustainability categories: how well they are meeting their citizens’ basic needs, resource efficiency, environmental cleanliness, built environment, and commitment to future sustainability.
The three components of this index I see achievable are ;
(A) Basic needs which covers the categories such as water supply, Housing, health and education, these four factors are already plays a major in most communities today. Education can be achieved by everyone if they can excess it for free or a reasonable cost, the categories will automatically follow once everyone is educated. Education will get people better paying jobs which they can buy a decent home which interns reduce stress and improves health and eating habits of these individuals.
(B) Resource efficiency which covers the categories such as ; Power, Water demand,Waste, recycling % GDP from heavy industry are very essential in today’s society. Everyone is trying to develop new methods of a greener community. The drive to move away from fossil fuel to produce electricity see many states e.g New York, New Jersey pushing persons to go solar. Waste would be the only challenge but it can be done more education is needed to push for less wastage because of land to is becoming very scarce. water should not be a problem if properer mechanism is place to recycle water for human consumption which we all take part in when we live big cities.
(C) Environmental cleanliness which we see are areas such as; Air pollution Industrial pollution,Waste water treatment, Waste management are already a driving force in many big cities. Laws are being implemented for person stop polluting the environment. An HVAC mechanic can be fine up to $50000 for venting Ozone depleting Substance (ODS) refrigerant in the air and other areas in the industrial community has measures and guidelines they have to follow when it comes to waste.
All these factors i say can be achieve to have a sustainable development in communities once every individual is educated and are willing to adapt to these changes to will develop our lives and the future for our children.
1) Urban sustainability index proposes to measure cities in emerging markets on their performance. They’re testing on if they meet citizens basic needs, resource efficiency, envrionmental cleaness, developed environment, and other methods for sustainability.
2) Three thing that are achievable are enviromental cleaness, citizen basic needs, and resource efficiency. For a cleaner environment there should be a strict enforcement on littering. I’ve seen a lot of people spit on the floor and even gum. There are those that are to lazy to throw their garbage in the trash can and just throw it in the side. So if you make the people fear recieving a ticket for littering you must be strict, children don’t learn if they’re not reprimanded.
For meeting citizens needs there should be a local supermarket in every neighborhood. Having to travel miles away from your home for food is not convient or efficient in time spending. If the aupermarket might end up like pathmark maybe give them tax cuts since they might be the only supermarket in the area which is a life line in the community.
Resource efficiency can be achieved by having farmers not wasting fruits. From the video we watched in class about peaches, if they don’t look the part they’re thrown away and not even sold to consumers even if they’re fresh and edible. At least take them to an area for earthworms to decompose it, making the soil more rich wih nutrients thus better crops. Also having more recycling trash cans in the neighborhood with easy to read labels.
Urban sustainability Index
1) The urban sustainability index was made to measure the performance of cities under certain categories. These categories range from citizen needs, resource efficiency, environmental cleanliness, built environment, commitment to the future sustainability. This is also to fill the gap of the current analysis of sustainable developement. Also it relies on how a city deals with their urban population.
2) Three characteristics of this Urban Sustainability Index are;
A) Citizen Needs: this let’s the structure and architecture know what a human needs to be comfortable as well as live a healthy life. With the needs comes the consumerism of water, food, etc. If a structure can provide these needs without damaging the environment they earn points in the index.
B) Resource Efficiency: a city should not waste resources like it’s abundant. Structures can be made with reusable material incase it needs to be reused. Wood, steel, concrete, and other materials are easily located in the general vicinity and this saves money as well as gets rid of the garbage around.
C) Environmental Cleanliness: a structure and a city should always protect their environment no matter what. There are certain materials and certain little steps cities can take to protect the environment. Using materials in the vicinity is one way. This takes away waste from around and also stops industries from making more and sending bad gases up into the air. Also if the water is recyclable it reduces the amount of waste sent into the rivers.
These categories are easy to achieve, all you need to do is work around some things and do your research. Some people are lazy and look for the easy way out and most of the times it is the contractors that end up choosing a material because the architect forgot to place a material on a part of the plan. If us as a community and as a population start to work together anything is achievable.
1.)What The urban sustainability index proposes to do is to measure the performance of cities in five sustainability categories, how well they are meeting their citizens’s basic needs, resource efficiency, environmental cleanliness, built environment and commitment to future sustainability.
2.) 3 components of Index: 1.)Basic needs. It includes access to safe water, sufficient living space, adequete health care, and education are fundemental priorities for urban population. 2.) resource efficiency. A city’s efficiency in such areas as the use of water and energy and the effective recycling of waste directly correlates to a quality of life of its citizen. 3.) environmental cleanliness. Limiting exposure to harmful pollutants is fundamental to a city’s livablity. In conclusion, yes all this 3 components are achievable. As long as everyone will do their part . The citizens should Do as much as they can to keep the community clean, the Goverment should help those people who cant have basic needs and large companies, mostly factory companies, powerplants, should be more concern about the Environment and find alternative less harmful ways.
the urban sustainability index is to address the gap and
help policy makers in emerging markets
identify approaches that will work in their
cities. the index is designed to measure
the performance of cities in five sustainability
categories: how well they are meeting
their citizens’ basic needs, resource efficiency,
environmental cleanliness, built environment,
and commitment to future sustainability.
three of index components that are achievable are resource efficiency, environmental cleanliness, and built environment.
resources efficiency i believe is achievable because you use what is around you
environmental cleanliness because you need to clean the environment where we live in
Dao Zheng Li
April 4 2016
1) People created a new metric, the urban sustainability index, to address this gap and help policy makers that will work in their cities. The index is designed to measure the performance of cities in five sustainability categories: how well they are meeting their citizens’ basic needs, resources efficiency, and commitment to future sustainability.
2) basic need means access to safe water, sufficient living space, adequate health care, and education are fundamental priorities for urban population. Environmental cleaning means limiting exposure to harmful pollutants is fundamental to a city’s livability. Built environment means equitable access to green space, public transportation, and dense , efficient buildings makes communities more livable and efficient. I think that is achievable, because these index can solve the urban’ s basic living problem and also keep the living space clean. It also can keep the city’s development sustainability.
Dao Zheng Li
April 4 2016
1) People created a new metric, the urban sustainability index, to address this gap and help policy makers that will work in their cities. The index is designed to measure the performance of cities in five sustainability categories: how well they are meeting their citizens’ basic needs, resources efficiency, and commitment to future sustainability.
2) basic need means access to safe water, sufficient living space, adequate health care, and education are fundamental priorities for urban population. Environmental cleaning means limiting exposure to harmful pollutants is fundamental to a city’s livability. Built environment means equitable access to green space, public transportation, and dense , efficient buildings makes communities more livable and efficient. I think that is achievable, because these index can solve the urban’ s basic living problem and also keep the living space clean. It also can keep the city’s development sustainability.
1) Emerging markets are pursuing sustainable development but the need for frameworks to measure if this developments are working prevents officials from discovering and implementing effective solutions. Thus the urban sustainability index was created to help officials in emerging markets identify possible solutions than work in their cities. China was used as basis for this index, since has the most emerging cities of any other country an they are growing rapidly.
2) All of the components from the urban sustainability index seem achievable. Many of them have been started already not only in China but in other countries too, and with time they will develop and the difference that they are making will be noticeable. Three of the ones that are the most important are Industrial restructuring, green urban planning and cross-departamental coordination. These three are in a way linked together. With industrial restructuring, big companies that are major pollutants in cities will stop polluting the air which will help people be healthier, and by combining it with green urban planning the space left can be used to create parks, city farms or other projects to take advantage of the space and give the people green recreational areas. By combining the last piece; cross-department coordination the projects created to bring green areas to the people will be finished quicker, and won’t be many obstacles that would impede projects from getting done on time.
1. Describe what the urban sustainability index proposes to do.
Urban Sustainability Index (USI) is comprised of a group of indicators that provide a comprehensive assessment of a city’s sustainability performance across some categories: economy,society,resources, and environment. USI also accounts for the relationship between sub-categories.
USI data not only provides a rich resource for academic research, it also serves as a point of reference for national policy makers as they evaluate the country’s sustainable development efforts and craft urban development policy.
2. Described three components of this index and comment on whether your view.
The three components of this index are resource efficiency, environmental cleanliness and built environment. They show how much land and water area a city requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb its wastes, and the total amount of greenhouse gas produced in cities
More than half of the world’s population lives in cities and that percentage continues to rise. Using the USI to preserve natural resources would make cities critical areas, and this is cause for some hope and could offer direction on effective city planning.
1. Describe what the urban sustainability index proposes to do.
The urban sustainability index was made to measure the performance of cities under certain categories. Economy,society,resources, and environment. It also shows how well they are meeting their citizens’ basic needs, resources efficiency, and commitment to future sustainability.
2. Described three components of this index and comment on whether your view
The three components in this index are , environmental cleanliness and built environment and resources efficiency.
Environmental cleanliness refers to limiting exposure to harmful pollutants is fundamental to a city’s envelopment.
Built environment refers to equitable access to green space, public transportation, and dense to the people.
Resource Efficiency are Wood, steel, concrete, and other materials are easily located in the general vicinity.
1.
In this reading, author introduced us with the parameter to measure sustainability in cities. The parameter is called Urban sustainability index. Urban sustainability index is categorized in five parts:
* how well they are meeting their citizens basic needs.
* Resource efficiency
* Environmental cleanliness
* Built environment
* commitment to future sustainability
To ensure the sustainability of a city China’s government has evaluated 114 cities in China comparing data from 2004 to 2008. From this evaluation, 18 indicators were determined which is necessary for sustainable development in emerging economics. For example % of GDP from heavy industry indicates how efficiently we are using our resources. Other than that five themes were proposed: industrial re structuring linked to land renewal, green urban planning, transparent standards & charges, integrated large scale recycling, cross departmental coordination.
2.
Components of sustainability index
Basic needs: Ensuring the availability of safe water, health care, living space & educations are fundamental of basic needs.
Environmental cleanliness: It involves minimizing the pollution of environment.
Built environment: Having eccess to green space, public transportation are the catalyst of built environment. However, in my opinion, its quite hard to ensure as government intervention and investments are vital for that. Vastly dense population especially in New York city would make it even tough.
1.Describe what the urban sustainability index proposes to do?
The index is designed to measure the performance of cities in five sustainability categories: A)how well they are meeting their citizens’ basic needs, B)resource efficiency, C) environmental cleanliness, D) built environment, E) commitment to future sustainability.
2. Described three components of this index and comment on whether your view.
1. how well they are meeting their citizens basic needs – basic need means access to safe water, sufficient living space, adequate health care, and education are fundamental priorities for urban population. This things should be available to people because it is a need to survive. Everybody should have access to clean water, clean shelter and access of healthcare.
2 .Environmental cleanliness- help to promote clean environment and less pollution of environment. Government should implement policies that help conserve our environment while achieving good economic growth.
3 .Built environment – equitable access to green space, public transportation, and dense , efficient buildings makes communities more livable and efficient. People should have this things so they can have access to their workplace and have a stable workplace like sturdy buildings to protect them from natural calamities.
Question 1
The index is designed to measure the performance of cities in five categories which are how well they are meeting their citizens basic needs, resource efficiency, environmental cleanliness, built environment, and commitment to future sustainability.
Question 2
Three components of the index
1. Basic needs. Access to safe water, sufficient living space, health care, and education
These categories are everyday things that we need to survive. i believe that education can be achieved if its made affordable for everyone to pay. Having an education means you will be able to get a better job and make more money to live a sustainable life
2. Resource efficiency is a city’s efficiency such as use of water and energy and the effective recycling of waste. Everyone is trying to find a way for their to be less Co2 emissions in the air which correlates to the quality citizens life.
3.Environmental cleanliness. Limiting exposure to harmful pollutants. Having eccess to green space, public transportation are the catalyst of built environment. However, in my opinion, its quite hard to ensure as government intervention. For example a high dense and populated city like New York City it would be hard to make that happen.