Discussion Questions

The Sustainable Urban Reader: Through page 38

1) What struck you as the most important, interesting, or relevant concept you read? Why?

  I thought that article by Mumford was very interesting, in particular the part where he discusses the reasoning behind the downfall of cities.  Mumford states that the main reason that cities turned into chaos is that physical organization and mechanical technologies have increased but social organizations and civic associations could not keep up. This lead to metropolitan slim, industrial factor districts with social derangement (20). I feel that some cities today have this same issues Mumford is discussing, in particular very industrial cities and cities with urban sprawl.  This highlights the social aspect of sustainable development. 

In the article by Leopold, his land ethic is very important and inspirational. One importance piece of the "land ethic", is that it's not enough to take care of the land so you can continue to reap it's benefits; but the land has inherit beauty and should be regarded in it own not just as a means to gather resources.  

2) Are there any topics discussed that were unclear to you or you feel need further illumination?

In the article by Mumford the author at the end asks several very important questions, but Mumford does not answer the questions.  The questions are "have we yet found an adequate urban form to harness all the complex technical and social forces in our civilization; ...what steps are necessary in order to redefine and reconstruct the region itself, as a collective human habitation? (22). I thing theses questions go into urban sustainable development. I would like to go into more details on the question and discuss some possible answers. 

3) Howard's Garden City complex was one of 250,000 population in a circle 10 miles in diameter with a central city and six ringed residential centers all linked by boulevards, canals and rail lines. How would your ideal sustainable city plan differ from his? Does the "garden city" concept relate to Bloomington today? How?


Howard's Garden City focused on separation and there was not much connection between the different rings (circles) to his city.  Once issue I have with his city plan is the placement of undesirable populations.  Howard places undesirable populations on the outer rings of the city, in isolation and away from all the resources are are being brought in to the city.  Here is an issue of social equity, and in my sustainable city plan I would not have those people isolated outside the center city.  

4) What was Mumford refering to when he contrasted a "cult of life" with a "cult of death?"

Cult of death is the lack of social capitol, interpersonal, overconsumption.  The Cult of life is the opposite and has lots of social capitol.

5) What is the "land ethic" of Aldo Leopold? Do you agree with this philosophy?

The idea of Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic is that people should think of the land as more then just one's property. We should think more highly of land and respect it.  I agree with Leopold's philosophy and think that the environment should not just be looked at in the terms of how it is beneficial to human growth and survival. I think that nature has inherent value and should be respected and conserved, for the land and for all of the it's wildlife/inhabitants.  

How did Leopold equate the hanging of slave girls on a single rope by Odysseus to our relationship to land?

Odysseus owned the slave girls, they were regarded as his property.  Leopold relates Odysseus' slave girls to the land by saying, people regard the land as property. People own land and can do what they want to the land, just as Odysseus can do what he wants with his slaves.

6) How did Jane Jacobs connect bloodletting and modern urban redevelopment?


Jacobs connected bloodletting and modern urban redevelopment to point out that we do not know much about urban redevelopment.  We are experimenting with urban redevelopment and working with different theories, just as our ancestors conducted bloodletting because they did not know much about the human body or medicine.   Also modern urban redevelopment is a new concept that is just being formed and will change over time, just as bloodletting changed and stopped as science and medicine advanced.    

Sustainable Communities: Chapter 1

1) What struck you as the most important, interesting, or relevant concept you read? Why?

What I thought was most interesting and thought provoking was the question Roseland posed "are we capable of knowing the full costs and benefits of destroying or conserving natural capitol stock? (6).  We know that the earth's ecological systems, and natural resources are important, but is there a quantifiable amount to them?  Since people in general are ruled by money, I feel that placing prices on natural capitol stocks will show people how valuable they are, how we cannot deplete them so rapidly and with out consideration for our future.   

2) Are any topics discussed that were unclear to you or you feel need further illumination?

I was a little unclear about figure 1 on page 13.  I would have liked to have a more detailed explanation about how the different forms of capital correlate and effect each other.