Session 5 - July 5

[Nia Gipson]

I really appreciated Dr. Bharne talking about how just having hi-rises doesn't necessarily mean that the city is becoming more densely populated and more efficiently planned. I think that we all know about the urban city centers and financial districts that were all but abandoned during the pandemic because people from the suburbs just used them as office spaces and not as living spaces. I think that the distance between the lived and work environments is something that needs to be more readily discussed when considering sustainable living.

[Nia Gipson]

Taylor, I feel you on your comment about finding authentic city life when traveling! I would much rather purchase items from local craftsmen when I travel than generic tourist items. But economics dictates that vendors will supply whatever people are willing to buy, and that has just been historically true. I just went to the Peabody Essex Museum to see their exhibit on Asian Export Art from the 1400s to the 1800s and every one of the items in the exhibit is a blend of local artisanship and western consumer desires, that I wonder what is the authentic tourist experience anyways.

[Nia Gipson]

Amy, you might find the concept of vertical farming interesting. It isn't the same thing as the vertical parks that you were talking about or like the rooftop park in Osaka that Professor Bharne mentioned. Instead, they are hydroponic/aquaponic indoor farms in urban settings that are supposed to reduce the distance from farm to table in urban environments using less water and resources than traditional farming methods. Also look at vertical greening in Singapore as well, like the Parkroyal Hotel.

[Taylor Bub]

This is an amazing concept.  I have mentioned before that I am super interested in having my students explore how they might reclaim old buildings that may not be being used anymore due to so many companies choosing to have workers work from home.  I think there will be a big change in what these spaces are used for and farming is something I never even thought of.  I definitely want to have my students research this more and see how it could be incorporated into our city and community.  They also are so beautiful and would add much needed greenery to our cities!

[Betsy Ures]

This is a topic I've personally been wondering about. How can we increase transparency around the negative impacts of tourism, while maintaining the benefits of sharing culture, nature, and more? As a class project, students could create a brochure guide for low-carbon travel. It is possible to travel within certain distances using transit and railroads, but it's costly and takes extra time. Discussing this will probably lead to students becoming advocates for alternatives to air travel, and more comprehensive transit. 

[Betsy Ures]

This also stood out to me. I work near downtown Los Angeles, and empty office buildings are slowly reopening, but I don't think it's possible to utlize all the space since people have shifted to working remotely. We have towers that could be converted into living spaces, but there is no financial incentive for this to be done (hopefully one day). I would love to hear student ideas and see designs for converting empty floors to sustainable housing for working people. Our downtown area has been designed for commuting workers and corporations, and it should be for everyone. It's neither efficiently planned nor sustainable to keep it as is.

[Miguel Diaz]

I would like to know more about urban informality, specifically, I would like to know more about how city planners in East Asian cities (and elsewhere) view vendors, hawkers, and unskilled laborers. Are hawkers and vendors allowed to go about their business by policymakers because they lessen the financial burden on cities? And what type of economic benefits does urban informality bring to city coffers?

[Miguel Diaz]

I watched a documentary about Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong a couple of years ago. It would be interesting to learn where the former residents of this walled city relocated. Present day Hong Kong suffers from a severe shortage of affordable housing. My assumption is that the former inhabitants of the walled city moved to buildings with similar living conditions. Many cities across America suffer from the availability of affordable housing. Affordable housing would make a great research topic for my students.

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