Good morning, afternoon, evening, night, whenever you're watching this, welcome back to the Mr. Sin channel. Today, we are going to review different challenges of urban changes. Urbanization has transformed how we live, work, and interact with one another. When looking at urban areas, we can see different economic, political, cultural, and environmental challenges.
In the United States today, we can see that many cities are struggling with both segregation, with cities often being segregated along both economic and racial lines. The days of Jim Crow laws and slavery are gone, but the impact from these different policies still shapes our cities today. Here you can see the racial dot map which visualize. the distribution of race and ethnicity across the United States.
Notice that regardless of the city, you can see clear distinct neighborhoods separated along racial lines. Some of this is due to de facto segregation, which refers to the separation of people along racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic lines that is not officially enforced by laws or regulations. For example, many urban areas have seen rising housing prices as new development occurs in the city.
This has led to lower income residents being pushed out due to no longer having a place being able to afford the increased cost of living in the city, which results in segregated neighborhoods by socioeconomic status. Now in order to fully understand why cities today remain segregated, we also have to understand the impact of the discriminatory practice that was known as redlining. The term redlining started when the federal government created maps of urban areas and color-coded them to visualize the level of risk associated with providing mortgage loans to different neighborhoods. Individuals who lived in neighborhoods that were deemed high risk could be denied loans from the bank. Whereas neighborhoods with low risk were often given loans with favorable terms.
The problem was that areas that were deemed to be high risk were typically areas with black and Hispanic residents. While areas that were predominantly white were deemed to be low risk. This practice allowed for banks to effectively deny loans to communities of color, which ended up segregating cities across the United States. Today, the practice of redlining is no more. However, the effects of this practice can still be seen today.
Redlining not only only segregated cities, but also denied communities of color the ability to build generational wealth through home ownership and other investments. Individuals who are excluded from getting a loan often ended up having to remain in low-income areas, where homes appreciated at a much lower rate. Or the individual may have been forced to rent instead of purchasing their own home, which means that the individual is not building equity in their own home and helping build their own wealth.
We can also see the impact of another discriminatory practice known as blockbusting. This was a practice where real estate agents would use fear and misinformation to scare white homeowners in predominantly white neighborhoods to sell their homes at a low price. They would do this by convincing people that minority groups were going to move into the neighborhood. Once the real estate agents got the homes at a cheap rate, they would then mark up the homes and sell them to people of color and other minority groups, resulting in segregated neighborhoods, distrust between communities, and a concept known as white flight, which was a phenomenon in which white residents migrated out of an urban neighborhood to move into a more urban neighborhood.
urban area to a suburban area in large numbers, typically due to the arrival of minority residents in the city. All of these practices unfortunately led to the creation of racial and economic segregation, the creation of urban ghettos and unequal distribution of resources. Segregated urban neighborhoods that have less affluent residents traditionally have higher crime rates, less job opportunities, less access to important services like healthcare or education, more pollution, and more urban blight, also known as urban and decay.
These neighborhoods are also disproportionately exposed to more environmental hazards such as air pollution, water pollution, different toxins, and sound pollution. Highways are often built near or through marginalized communities, which decreases the amount of green space in the area. We can also see factories and disposal sites located more frequently in these areas, which lead to more pollution and also more environmental hazards, resulting in health issues for residents in the area. These environmental injustices often happen. to vulnerable communities more frequently, since these communities often lack the same political representation and access to financial resources as other communities.
If we connect back to Unit 5, we can also see urban areas with less wealth are more susceptible to becoming a food desert, where fresh, healthy food is scarce, leading to higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and other health concerns for individuals in the area. Another challenge that urban areas face is disamenity zones, also known as zones of abandonment. These These are urban areas that often have high crime rates, vacant buildings, few public resources and services, and lack quality infrastructure.
These zones are often created due to a lack of affordable housing, lack of investment from both the private and public sector, and due to deindustrialization, which is the decline of industrial production and manufacturing, which can end up decimating communities whose economy They relied on those jobs. Oftentimes these areas become the very poorest parts of a city. Around the world we can see these zones take place in a variety of different ways.
These zones often see the formation of informal settlements, which are also known as squatter settlements, homeless encampments or shanty town. An informal settlement is a residential area that has developed without the people who live there having a legal claim to the land. Often these settlements are created due to rapid urbanization and a lack of effective zoning policies and affordable housing. These types Types of settlements most commonly occur on the edge of a city or on land that is vacant or undesirable to other residents. Generally, people who live in these areas do not have access to public resources and services such as water, sewage, trash, or electricity.
These areas often have high rates of poverty, with many people participating in the informal economy instead of the formal economy. And these people often lack legal protection from local government agencies and national agencies. These settlements often pose significant challenges to urban areas.
urban areas as they're more likely to have higher crime rates, contribute to the destruction of the environment, lack formal economic and social opportunities, public utilities, and legal regulation. When looking at the world today, we can see examples of squatter settlements in India. Brazil and Nigeria, just to name a few.
Now cities that wish to reduce disamenity zones can implement revitalization programs. Which are programs that seek to promote economic growth and increase new opportunities for residents in an area, which will ultimately attract people back. back to the area. This is often done by providing more affordable housing, improving the infrastructure in the area, implementing new sustainable initiatives, or rezoning areas to allow for more residential and commercial integration. Now, one way in which governments can help create more affordable housing is by creating inclusionary zones and passing inclusionary housing policies, which are programs and policies which seek to encourage the development of new housing projects that are catered towards more affordable housing, with homes being set for lower-income residents.
These are often used in areas that have a lack of affordable housing and can help reduce economic segregation of cities and promote more economic diversity in an area. When cities implement revitalization programs and implement urban renewal policies and can revitalize an area that has experienced a decline over the years. All of which sounds like a good thing, however, it can also lead to gentrification, which displaces original residents of an area in favor of attracting more affluent residents to the area. Leading to increased segregation and separation based on socioeconomic status. Gentrification often occurs because people are trying to locate closer to the CBD due to the unique historical history of a neighborhood.
And because of the difference in economic and social opportunities that exist in the area. As cities reshape the spatial layout of their urban areas, offer more public services, create new infrastructure, incorporate mixed-use areas, and implement sustainable practices, they will start to attract more affluent residents. Which on one hand we can see leads to a decrease in crime, more productivity, and more opportunity for residents. But on the other hand we can see it can cause a place to lose its historical characteristics, its sense of place, and can cause a place to become segregated. lower income residents can no longer afford to live in the area.
Now we've been talking a lot about different ways in which governments can impact urban areas, and this can lead to another challenge that cities and urban areas face, and that's government bureaucracy. You know, everyone's favorite thing, different government organizations coming together to form a hierarchical structure, all trying to make important decisions for individuals and society. Now all jokes aside, we can see that each level of the government has different impacts on cities. So if you're a government traditionally does not have the power to direct urban planning for cities. However, the federal government can influence city development by using financial incentives that come with some specific requirements.
If a city or region wants to use certain federal funds, they will need to follow the guidelines set by the federal government, which often will impact life in the city and urban planning. For example, in the United States, the federal government implemented a variety of urban renewal policies with the goal of promoting economic and social development in urban areas. that were experiencing decay.
The government did this by using eminent domain, which allows the government to acquire private property and repurpose it for public use. And by using also federal funds to help support their goal. One example of these programs is the Housing Act of 1949, which allowed the federal funds to be used in American cities to help stop the decline of urban areas. Unlike the federal government, states can directly influence local city planning. For example, in Oregon, the state limits urban sprawl by implementing growth boundaries for cities preventing them from expanding outwards and destroying farmland.
Here we can see the state is very involved in the planning of cities as it seeks to increase cities population density and decrease urban sprawl. Now at the regional level we can see regional Governments work to coordinate between different municipalities within a region. This helps make sure that larger projects such as infrastructure projects are rolled out in a manner that benefits the residents of the cities and settlements across the region, and do not conflict with other projects.
Most of the times, regional governments focus on transportation planning, economic development, and environmental protection policies for a region. Then there is the local government, such as a city government or a county government. Cities exist inside a county, but both have their own power over their territory. City governments are in charge of the day-to-day life inside the city's limits, while county governments control the hinterland and the unincorporated county, which is an area that does not have a separate local government entity.
By having so many different levels of government involved in the operation and planning of settlements, we can see how things can become complicated fast and how this could create challenges for cities. Sometimes we can see that a city government may have a set idea for what they want to do with their policy. But in order for them to keep state and federal funds, they will have to change those plans. in order to meet the wants and needs of higher levels of government. Plus, we didn't even get into special districts, which are units of government that provide specific services for residents in an area.
As you can see, cities struggle with a variety of challenges. And when cities are up to those challenges and work to continue to adapt to the wants and needs of their residents in a sustainable and equitable manner. we can see cities thrive.
However, we can also see the impact when cities fail to do this, with negative impacts on public health, economic growth, and social well-being. Alright, now comes the time to practice what we have learned. After answering the questions on the screen, check your answers down below.
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