Joke
"Well, I got a cactus plant and after a couple days it died. It made me very depressed and got me thinking... "Man! I'm worse than a desert!"
November 27, 2007
November 05, 2007
Chinese Urban Development
As China continues to grow and prosper, development of proper planning techniques are often neglected and put off to the side for more urgent needs of the population. Growing cities such as Beijing are always under fire for their growing use of resources and massive amounts of pollution among its citizenry. Problems stemming from untreated sewage, a population that’s soaring, and the environmental damage currently underway presents itself into a unique challenge for urban planners. With birthrates as high as it is now, urban planners need to take into consideration the future of their country and how development needs to be catered to plan for a more sustainable urban landscape.
Under the new plan, designers have created a concept where they put the pressure of infrastructure not on the outside of the community but utilize a containment type of planning where everything needed is generated within the neighborhood without needing to use resources (i.e. land, power, etc) outside of the city. This type of planning not only promotes energy conservation and water efficiency; it also creates an energy efficient layout where pedestrian walkways, cycling, and the use of public transportation are widely used. Waste is also handled within the community where wetlands and swales are going to be created within this huge 56 acre development project.
This is a huge undertaking from China where their “superblock” model relies heavily on outside infrastructure to handle its waste and energy production. These “superblocks” are very typical around China and as many as 11 of these supersized “superblocks” are built yearly to account for over 11 million units per year. The impact of these “superblocks” is stacking against Chinese officials, where they estimate that their environmental damage and sustainability efforts are often close to impossible to achieve in these designs.
The United States and urban planners across the country should note this grand experiment in China. To develop for the masses, energy, pollution, and consumption needs to be planned meticulously and scientifically to reduce the impact on the environment.
Pakistan? A new source of destabilization?
The tension surrounding Pakistan is growing steadily as recent moves by President Pervez Musharraf tightens his grip upon the country and detains hundreds of opposition leaders around the country while suspending the Constitution. Pakistani news media sources are still off the air as President Musharraf continues to call for independent elections this coming January even though nothing was said publically to Pakistani citizens. The U.S. embassy issued the following comments noting that Pakistan is falling gravely ill with its recent detention strategies rounding up human activists and lawyers around the country. That the country should not take a step backwards in democracy and allow open and clear dialogue by allowing media and citizens to take a “constructive role” in bringing back peace into the country. Citizenship participation is key to growing a successful democracy and with Pakistan’s recent move in tightening public media stations and rounding up opposition leaders; it’s hard to think whether or not Pakistan would come out of this normally. When the rights of citizens can be thrown away and detained without due process to protect the power of the President, it can be viewed as a very bad step to a more fundamental government swayed easily by the threats and concerns of growing Islamic body in Pakistan. The growing tension is in the growing mist of the war on terror and its ties to the unpopular war in Iraq. With President Musharraf holding the post as general in the country, its viewed as unlikely that Musharraf will be stepping down anytime soon with the recent disbarment of Supreme Court leaders taken days before a decision whether or not his re-election on Oct. 6 was still valid. This is truly a test of Musharraf and to see if he would buckle under the stress of his own population, the international community, and within his own political party. To resume democratic elections and to restore citizenship participation is the only clear option into restoring the faith and transparency of this government or else the future of Pakistan will become another key breeding ground for “Talibanization”
Los Angeles QUIMBY Program
With the recent discovery that the Recreation and Parks Department of Los Angeles has collected more than $120 million dollars in fees (Quimby) without building adequate parks comes at a time when government transparency is at an all time low. The QUIMBY program is a fee charged to developers in the city of Los Angeles on each unit they build ranging from $9,000 - $12,000 per unit for the development of public parks and recreation. If the developer chooses to pay for this, the developer has the option to skip the construction of their own recreational area for their residents.
The admission from the Recreation and Parks Department not only shows its incompetence in management and planning, but it also gives an unsavory light on how gross the accounting and accountability is within Los Angeles city’s general city manager’s office. The reason why funding of this size hasn’t been dispersed is the time it requires to plan out appropriate projects and to find suitable locations to fit the Quimby ordinance requirements. As Recreation and Parks General Manager Jon Kirk said, “The department has neither the staff nor infrastructure to efficiently track and manage Quimby funds” (LA Downtown).
With this insight, why doesn’t the city take over the department and refocus the agency to partner up with another agency such as the CRA/LA? The Community Redevelopment Agency seems positioned to really make an impact and propose radical changes that can benefit the residents of Downtown LA. With over $120 million collected and only $17 million dollars allocated, a major shift needs to happen to increase the rate of development in parks and recreational areas. Major sources of these funds were from new downtown development sites (such as luxury condos/apts) and residents worry that these fees wouldn’t stay near downtown because of the high cost of land and the scarcity of available sites for parks.
Advocates worry that these fees would be used by other areas of the city even though Quimby ordinance restricts funding outside of the 2-mile range of the collected development site. City officials are looking over to reversing that ruling which is expected to pass without much resistance but is a wrong move if the City wants to see an improvement in the façade of Downtown Los Angeles.
-Phillip Yang