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Patterns of Urban Development and Infrastructure

The development pattern of a place such as city, neighborhood deals how the building and human activities are arranged and organized on the landscape. Urban environments are composed of hard infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, and soft infrastructure, such as health and social services. The construction of urban areas is facilitated through urban planning and architecture. To combat the negative environmental effects of urban development, green infrastructure such as community gardens and parks, sewage and waste systems, and the use of solar energy have been implemented in many cities. The use of green infrastructure has been effective in responding to climate change and reducing flood risks. ^[1] Green infrastructure, such as home and urban gardens, have been found to not only improve air quality but also promote mental well-being. ^[2]

Flow of Economic and Natural Resources Within Urban Environments

Over the years, the development of urban environments has continued to increase due to globalization and urbanization. According to the UN, the world's population in urban areas is estimated to increase from 55% to 68% by the year 2050. ^[3] The increase in the development of urban environments lead to the increase in economic flow and utilization of natural resources. As the population in urban areas continue to grow, the use of direct energy and transport energy tends to increase and is estimated to increase in the future. ^[4] According to the study conducted by Creutzig et al. ^[4], the current energy usage is projected to increase from 240 EJ in 2005 to 730 EJ in the year 2050 if worldwide urbanization continues.

Human Interactions Within Urban Environments

The development of soft infrastructure within urban areas provide people with ways to connect with one another as a community as well as ways to seek support services. ^[5] Community infrastructure includes areas and services that allow human beings to interact with one another. Such interactions can be facilitated through health services, educational institutions, outreach centers, and community groups. Human interactions with their urban environments can lead to both positive and negative effects. Humans depend on their environment in order to get essential resources, such as good air quality, food and shelter. This natural environmental dependence can lead to the over exploitation of natural resources as the need for such resources increase. Human can also modify their environment in order to meet their goals. For instance, humans can clear land or agriculture in order to develop urbanized buildings such as commercial skyscrapers and public housing. The clearing of land to pave the way for urbanization leads to deforestation, decreased air quality, and wild animal displacement.

Social and Political Flow Within Urban Environments

As populations within cities grew over the years, the need to create forms of local government emerged. To maintain order within developing cities, politicians were elected to address societal issues within the population. For instance, the influence of local and state political dynamics plays an important role in how actions are taken place to combat climate change and housing issues.

Impact of Urban Geography

Environmental Impact

The environment of urban areas is developed through the concept of urbanization. Urbanization is the transition from rural town structured communities to urban city structured communities. This transition is because humans are pulled to cities because of jobs and even welfare. In cites, problems will arise such as environment degradation. The increasing of the population can lead to poor air quality and quality and availability of water. The growth of urbanization can lead to more use of energy which leads to air pollution and can impact human health. Flash flooding is another environmental hazard that can occur due to urban development. The concept of urbanization plays an important role in the study of urban geography because it involves the formation of urban infrastructures such as sanitation, sewage systems, and the distribution of electricity and gas.

Societal Impact

The gentrification of urban environments lead to an increase in income gaps, racial inequality, and displacement within metropolitan areas. The negative environmental impacts of urbanization disproportionately effects minority low income areas more than higher income communities. ^[6]

Climate Impact

The increasing demand for new building infrastructure within densely populated cities resulted in an increase in air pollution due to the high energy usage within these urban areas. The increasing energy use lead to an increase in heat emissions, which results in global warming. ^[7] Cities are a key contributor to climate change, because urban activities are a major sourse of greenhouse gas emission. It was estimated that cities are responsible for about 75% of global carbon dioxide emissions, with the inclusion of transportation and buildings being the largest contributor. It is important to make cities an essential part of the solution in fighting this issue. Some cities are already well on their way by using renewable energy sources, cutting their emissions from their local pollution from industries and transport which will eventually improve the urban air quality and the health of the city.

Biodiversity Impact

Urbanization has a main impact on biodiversity. As cities develop, vital habitats are destroyed or are fragmented into patches which lead to them not being big enough to support complex ecological communities. In cities, species can become endangered or locally extinct. The human population is the main contributor for the expansion of urban areas. As urban areas grow from increasing human population and from migration, this can result in deforestation, habitat loss and extraction of freshwater from the environment which can decrease biodiversity and alter the species ranges and interaction. Some additional cause and effect relationships between urban geography and ecosystems include habitat loss which decrease the species populations, ranges and interaction among organisms, the life cycles and traits can help species survive and reproduce in disturbed ecosystems. The paving of land with concrete can increase the water runoff, increase erosion and the soil quality can also decrease.

How fragmentation cause habitat loss.

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Research Interest

Urban geographers are primarily concerned with the ways in which cities and towns are constructed, governed and experienced. Alongside neighboring disciplines such as urban anthropology, urban planning and urban sociology, urban geography mostly investigates the impact of urban processes on the earth's surface's social and physical structures. Urban geographical research can be part of both human geography and physical geography. Urban geography can help us better understand the economics of cities and recognize the smaller things at the local, national and international levels.

The two fundamental aspects of cities and towns, from the geographic perspective are: ^[8]

1. Location ("systems of cities"): spatial distribution and the complex patterns of movement, flows and linkages that bind them in space; and
2. Urban structure ("cities as systems"): study of patterns of distribution and interaction within cities, from quantitative, qualitative, structural, and behavioral perspectives.

Research Topics

Cities as centers of manufacturing and services

Cities differ in their economic makeup, their social and demographic characteristics, and the roles they play within the city system. One can trace these differences back to regional variations in the local resources on which growth was based during the early development of the urban pattern, and in part to the subsequent shifts in the competitive advantage of regions brought about by changing locational forces affecting regional specialization within the framework of a market economy. The recognition of different city types is critical for the classification of cities in urban geography. For such classification, emphasis given in particular to functional town classification and the basic underlying dimensions of the city system. ^[9]

References

1. Faridi, Rashid. “What We Study in Urban Geography.” Rashid's Blog: An Educational Portal, 5 Oct. 2021, https://rashidfaridi.com/2017/03/13/what-we-study-in-urban-geography-meaning-and-scope/.