I think this is one of the most important articles we had to read so far. All the problems we’ve spoken about in class are issues that are or should be dealt with in urban planning through resource management and sustainable development. We are always talking about how humans are destroying the environment and using up the resources. We have gotten to the point that there are not enough resources to sustain the entire population, and we’re running out of space to put the resources we use. It is interesting to see how urban planning and resource management have been around for a long time, but UP, RM, and SD have all continuously evolved and developed throughout history and will continue to change in the future. Before reading this, I knew a little bit about urban planning and resource management, but it really cleared up the specific definitions and the difference between urban planning and sustainable development and showed me the major focuses of each as they have evolved through time. It is important to remember that no method of resource management, urban planning, or sustainable development is permanent, because the environment, technology, and society’s expectations are constantly changing. That is why this article goes through all the different stages throughout history. The most significant time in history was when urban planning was developed during the industrial revolution. Cities became packed and the resource consumption increased and changed from the consumption of organic to inorganic resources. New technology and other resources enabled the population to grow dramatically. A big problem with the increased use of inorganic resources was the waste management and pollution. Then the population quadrupled in the 20th century, and consumption increased even more (2299). I found it interesting how centuries earlier, Plato “recommended zero population growth for his utopian republic” (2298). This shows us that while RM, UP, and SD can all aim to make sure everything is done as efficiently as possible, they will not solve all our problems unless the population significantly shrinks.
SD is probably the component that I knew the least about before reading this. One of the definitions given for sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (2296). I do not think the government always practices effective sustainable development, because the government, who often gives in to society, is too focused on currently pleasing the people, as opposed to doing what would be best long term. To connect this to one of the previous topics we’ve spoken about, I do not believe there is adequate sustainable development when it comes to storm preparation and flooding. We spoke about how the government has spent a ton of the urban planning money on building dunes and groins and providing flood insurance for the people who have beachfront properties in major flood zones. However, in McCully’s Weathering chapter, she proved to us that the groins only cause worse problems for the future. Therefore, when it comes to UP and SD, it would be more effective for the government to find a way to force people to move out of the dangerous flood zones in order to protect future generations and put the city’s urban planning budget to better use.
