The reading brought to light many of the different aspects of city structure and the profound impacts that they have on a city’s development. Firstly, the governmental structure of cities are highly interesting because many have grown to consume smaller outlying towns and districts. The way that the governments handled theses new areas was and is very important because if a small government retains its power the city as a whole may suffer. This is because large metropolitan areas require massive infrastructure in order to handle water, waste, and services. Interestingly the reading stated that Toronto created federal governments to handle the management of these service. I wonder if New York has any semblances of that because as far as I know it seems to be much more of a city, state, and federal mess of a system.
This brings us to a similar aspect of urban development. We are seeing new southern and western cities develop in a much more orderly fashion but in at least one aspect this appears to be hurting them. Old cities have grown into their space and have been enclosed by surrounding municipalities, whereas southern cities have been allowed to grow out with much more ease. Some even have built in mechanisms for annexing outlying areas as needed. This leads to less dense cities which in turn require more driving and a decreased reliance on public transportation. This leads to increased pollution in the air. Southern cities also have issues in ensuring future supplies of water. This is in contrast to the cramped norther cities that nearly preclude the idea of cars as a major mode of transportation. In New York we have relatively low air pollution (though it is still omnipresent) and we are also fortunate to be located in a well hydrated area.
Finally, I find it interesting that city centers were emptied of upper class individuals to the suburbs where there was more room. This left the city centers in the slums and therefore less expensive. Now things are moving in the other direction and so called “yuppies” are moving back into the city centers which means that the economically disadvantaged are now trapped in an unaffordable city center, surrounded by suburbs which they also can’t afford. This makes clear the problems that this city is coming to face.
Discussion Question: How does the fact that housing close public transportation is more expensive affect economically disadvantaged people in New York? And conversely, does the increased prevalence of commuting in cars alleviate the problem of high housing prices by allowing people to commute from areas which are too far away for effective public transportation?
