Moving People: Traffic Congestion, Road Building, and Sustainable Transportation Solutions in Urban Areas, страница 9

Highway infrastructure also frequently divides communities in a literal sense. Fast-moving traffic may isolate communities, especially those with elderly and disabled citizens, who may be prevented from crossing busy roadways; this limits the citizens’ networks of support and this limitation is associated with higher mortality and morbidity in the elderly (Greenwood, 1999).

Instead of simply displacing ecological problems and perpetuating environmental injustice problems, metropolitan regions must determine where they fall in the scale of environmental burdens, based on the severity of the environmental problems and the affluence of the urban population.  McGranahan and Satterthwaite (2002) developed an idea that with decreased urban affluence, environmental problems tend to be more localized (i.e., “inadequate household access to water”).  On the flip side, increased urban affluence brings unique, global ecological challenges, such as greenhouse gas emission increases (McGranahan and Satterthwaite, 2002). 

This concept ties closely to another notion that McGranahan and Satterthwaite (2003) presented regarding connections to “brown” and “green” agendas.  The customary concerns in the brown environmental agenda (e.g., provision of basic sanitation) and the green environmental agenda (e.g., reduction of greenhouse gas emissions) are dissimilar in regards to the affluence levels of their supporters.  

Expanding on this green and brown dichotomy, Marcotullio and Boyle (2003) advocate for an ecosystem approach to urban policy development and management.  Cities are divided into low-, middle-, and high-income world cities, and each type has its unique economic and environmental challenges.  The Washington DC metropolitan area could be classified as a high-income area focused on green environmental agenda issues.  Marcotullio and Boyle (2003) echo this notion in describing woes of low-income cities (e.g., garbage) and of high-income cities (e.g., sprawl).  

Parallels may be drawn between low-income cities and brown agenda items, while parallels between high-income cities and green agenda items also exist.  There are distinctions in the objectives of brown (i.e., localized, imminent) and green (i.e., possibly global, delayed) agenda items, yet there is similarity when “self interest inevitably permeates the politics” that impact these agendas (McGranahan and Satterthwaite, 2002).  

Lord, Strauss, and Tofler in “Natural Cities: Urban Ecology and the Restoration of Urban Ecosystems” (2003) highlight the need to study urban ecosystems, in part because most of the present population worldwide resides in cities.  Platt’s analysis in “Toward Ecological Cities”

(2004) focuses on the challenges faced by populations in urban areas; these challenges stem from managing finite resources and the impacts on social, economic, and environmental programs.  Platt reinforces the notion that a balance must be found between urban populations’ growing demands and any damage to the environment.  Yet areas surrounding city borders cannot be neglected.  A city may be considered sustainable when it minimizes the “transfer of environmental costs to its surrounds” (McGranahan and Satterthwaite, 2002).      

Many times, discussions on road building, particularly in the suburbs, are coupled with smart growth ideals.  Yet many see the value of thinking beyond the limits of smart growth and moving towards sustainability (Beatley and Collins, 2000).  Smart growth tactics primarily aim to change land use patterns to increase density and curb sprawl.  While growth is inherent in increased densities, it is not a sustainable practice.  A shift to sustainability may require citizens to rethink “in a hundred different ways the ways they live their lives – from the goods they buy…to the amount of electricity and water they consume” (Beatley and Collins, 2000).  This type of shift regarding resource consumption in urban areas is overdue, especially as related to traffic congestion’s impacts on the environment.