Urban Ecology
Module 1
Session 4
Boudhayan Bandyopadhyay
Urban Ecology
An interdisciplinary study of the urban ecosystem
Inspiration
• Philip Slater –
“In Pursuit of Loneliness”
• James Howard Kunstler –
“The Geography of Nowhere”
• Howard T. Odum
“Environment, Power, and Society”
• Jay Forrester
“Urban Dynamics”
What is Urban ???
Urbanization
• Urbanization refers to the population shift from rural to
urban residency, the gradual increase in the proportion of
people living in urban areas, and the ways in which each
society adapts to this change.
• It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities
are formed and become larger as more people begin living
and working in central areas.
• Although the two concepts are sometimes used
interchangeably, urbanization should be distinguished from
urban growth: urbanization is "the proportion of the total
national population living in areas classed as urban", while
urban growth refers to "the absolute number of people
living in areas classed as urban"
What is “Urbanization?”
• Often related to industrialization
• Up until very recently -- about 200 years
ago -- the proportion of the world’s urban
population was limited to about 5%
History of Urbanization
Oldest Continuously Inhabited City?
City of Damascus
Over time, the largest city worldwide has moved around, e.g.,
Constantinople (now Istanbul) with 700 000 people in 1700, to Peking
with 1.1 million people in 1800, to Tokyo today.
Over time, the largest city worldwide has moved around, e.g.,
Constantinople (now Istanbul) with 700 000 people in 1700, to Peking
with 1.1 million people in 1800, to Tokyo today.
Speed of Urbanization
Speed of Urbanization
• In 18003%
• By 190014 %
• In 1950 30%
• In 2000 47 % (about 2.8 billion)
• In 2008 > 50% (3.7 billion)
See: http://www.xist.org/default1.aspx
Human Numbers Through Time
Ten Largest Cities of 1900
Name Population
1 London, United Kingdom 6,480,000
2 New York, United States 4,242,000
3 Paris, France 3,330,000
4 Berlin, Germany 2,707,000
5 Chicago, United States 1,717,000
6 Vienna, Austria 1,698,000
7 Tokyo, Japan 1,497,000
8 St. Petersburg, Russia 1,439,000
9 Manchester, United Kingdom 1,435,000
10 Philadelphia, United States 1,418,000
http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201f.htm
http://www.xist.org/charts/cy_agg2005.aspx
Rank City1 Population
1. Shanghai, China 13,278,500
2. Mumbai (Bombay), India 12,622,500
3. Buenos Aires, Argentina 11,928,400
4. Moscow, Russia 11,273,400
5. Karachi, Pakistan 10,889,100
6. Delhi, India 10,400,900
7. Manila, Philippines 10,330,100
8. Sao Paulo, Brazil 10,260,100
9. Seoul, South Korea 10,165,400
10. Istanbul, Turkey 9,631,700
11. Jakarta, Indonesia 8,987,800
12. Mexico City, Mexico 8,705,100
13. Lagos, Nigeria 8,682,200
14. Lima, Peru 8,380,600
15. Tokyo, Japan 8,294,200
16. New York City, U.S. 8,091,700
17. Cairo, Egypt 7,609,700
18. London, United Kingdom 7,593,300
19. Teheran, Iran 7,317,200
20. Beijing, China 7,209,900
Global Urbanization Trends (cont’d)
Size of Urban Population in the World
(Source: United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects, The 1999 Revision)
Earth at Night
2000 November 27
Credit: C. Mayhew & R. Simmon (NASA/GSFC), NOAA/ NGDC,
DMSP Digital Archive
Global Urbanization Trends (cont’d)
Comparison of Urban Population in Developed
Countries and Developing Countries
(Source: United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects, The 1999 Revision)
Class room activities
• Find the pace of urbanization in INDIA
compared to other developing countries and
explain.
• What is the pace of India’s urbanization? Find
and discuss.
Explain the correlation between
URBANIZATION and Industrilization
Impacts of Urbanization
By concentrating humans and the resources they consume,
metropolitan areas alter
• soil drainage,
• water flow, and
• light availability
Think of how architecture, such as sidewalks and rooftops,
impacts the way rainwater is received and transported.
Or the way garbage dumps and sewage plants centralize waste
products.
Nairobi (Kibera), Kenya; Mumbai (Dharavi), India; Jakarta,
Indonesia; and Caracas, Venezuela
What does it mean to be an urban citizen on
planet earth in the 21st century?
Reinventing Cities for People and the Planet
Molly O’Meara, of the The Worldwatch Institute states that “changes in six
areas are needed to meet the challenge to make cities and the vast areas
they affect more viable
• Water
• Waste
• Food
• Energy
• Transportation
• Land Use
…. One of the guiding principles will be to reform urban systems so that they
mimic the metabolism of nature.”
Emerging Precepts of Biological Design
from Todd and Todd (1993)
1.The Living World is the matrix for all design.
The Todds refer to the concept of Gaia, the whole system
which is a positive metaphor for the interconnectedness of life,
and the self-regulating protection of e.g. the earth’s
atmosphere. The hypothesis, defined by researcher James
Lovelock, states that Gaia is “a complex entity involving the
Earth’s biosphere, atmosphere, oceans , and soil: the totality
constituting a feedback of cybernetic systems which seeks an
optimal physical and chemical environment for life on this
planet.”
2. Design should follow, not oppose, the laws of life.
3. Biological equity must determine design.
4. Design must reflect bioregionality
5. Projects should be based on renewable energy resources.
6. Design should be sustainable through the integration of living
systems.
7. Design should be coevolutionary with the natural world.
8. Building and Design should help to heal the planet.
9. Design should follow a sacred ecology.
Do these designs meet the test?
Or these common practices?
Urban Ecology – how should we approach it ???
Systems Dynamic Approach
To analyze a system’s inflows and outflows you
must first draw the boundary.
With the urban ecosystem you can look at the
block, the neighborhood, the city line, the
watershed, the state, the region, the country,
the globe, or even the
Sewershed!
Source:
http://www.esf.edu/erfeg/end
reny/papers/Endreny-
IJWRD-2004.pdf
