In this series of blog posts I will discuss some of the assigned readings for the Sustainable Planning Seminar (Urban Planning/Geography/Landscape Architecture 446) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

The readings for this week were numerous. Discussing themes of ecology, land, and water [over]use.

The paper by Jackson, R.b., et al. (2001) titled, “Water in a Changing World,” in Issues in Ecology, as well as Gleick, P.H. (1998), discussed trajectories and potential impacts from current trends in water use. They each made suggestions for how to stay these negative outcomes – by improved land use and water planning. The article by Amy Vanderwarker argued for the importance of restoring the coastline and watersheds in Richmond, CA for environmental and ethical reasons (“water justice”). Lester Brown’s book Plan B: Mobilizing to Save Civilization catalogued the various stresses on water resources and explained that population will grow most rapidly in places that are already experiencing water scarcity.

These readings reminded me of the ecology of Mangrove forests in coastal regions, especially in Puerto Rico. These forests have been greatly reduced due to “development.” Mangroves naturally protect inland ecosystems from the sea. The loss of this protection aggravates the effect of tropical storms and sea level rise. This dynamic also impacts less affluent communities. I had an opportunity in 2018 to volunteer with the organization Caras con Causa and learn about equitable solutions to these issues.

Multiply and Subdue the Earth

I was unsure how to interpret McHarg’s work in “Multiply and Subdue the Earth.” The long version of the video was rather incoherent. Clips of McHarg talking cut with various scenes of nature and animals. From what I could piece together it seemed like McHarg argued that urbanization was responsible for the high prevalence of mental illness and returning to a less densely populated, carefully planned existence. From a physics perspective, this prescription would likely be more challenging and energy intensive than allowing urbanization to proceed because the growth cities follow a natural scaling law and enforcing low population density would require energy too.

I recommend the book Scale by Geoffrey West for a more detailed discussion of scaling laws and city growth.