tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/urban-299/articlesUrban – The Conversation2024-03-14T20:32:41Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2254252024-03-14T20:32:41Z2024-03-14T20:32:41ZHousing policies need to fully consider market dynamics to move beyond ‘tall and sprawl’ cities<p>The federal <a href="https://housingandclimate.ca/">Task Force for Housing and Climate</a> recently released its final recommendations for solving Canada’s housing crisis. The <a href="https://housingandclimate.ca/blueprint/">Blueprint for More and Better Housing</a> contains suggestions for adding new affordable and climate-friendly homes by 2030.</p>
<p>The task force was launched in September 2023 to help federal, provincial and municipal governments address housing affordability and the climate crises in Canada. The report is aimed at building 3.8 million new homes, in line with estimates of housing need from the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cmhc-housing-report-1.6965250">Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation</a>.</p>
<p>However, the task force’s report recommendations fall short by failing to fully consider land and housing market dynamics. </p>
<p>Its recommendations could incentivize the building of overly-dense urban cores, perpetuating something called “tall and sprawl,” a term that refers to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020434">development patterns in cities that have very high, dense urban cores</a> surrounded by large areas of lowrise housing.</p>
<h2>Protecting greenfield areas</h2>
<p>The report’s premise is on target in many ways. Considering <a href="https://climateatlas.ca/canadian-cities-and-climate-change">more than 80 per cent of Canadians live in cities</a> and most <a href="https://www.datalabto.ca/a-visual-guide-to-detached-houses-in-5-canadian-cities/">urban land is residential</a>, any effective urban climate solutions must consider housing.</p>
<p>The report argues that increasing urban density can help protect greenfield areas from being converted to housing. However, it doesn’t take into account that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.2237">too-high urban densities — densely paved and without sufficient green space — can exacerbate climate impacts</a>. </p>
<p>This can intensify <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/extreme-heat-report-university-waterloo-deaths-1.6426392">urban heat island effects</a>, a phenomenon where an urban area is warmer than surrounding areas, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c09588">leaving households more vulnerable</a> during <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c00024">combined extreme heat and power outage events</a>.</p>
<p>The report recommends governments implement province-wide zoning rules to better manage urban development. But it also suggests eliminating zoning regulations that ensure new buildings leave space for <a href="https://theconversation.com/residential-green-spaces-protect-growing-cities-against-climate-change-183513">the green infrastructure that is essential to address climate challenges in our cities</a>, like trees that provide urban cooling and absorb stormwater. </p>
<p>These actions contradict the report’s excellent suggestion that municipalities should plan for 40 per cent tree canopy cover, which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1817561116">research shows can help control daytime urban heat island impacts</a>.</p>
<p>Trees need places to grow and thrive, which is typically ensured by regulations like minimum setbacks, landscaping requirements and maximum building footprints. Without these measures, land and housing markets will likely overlook the importance of providing these public good aspects, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2006.12.004">leaving buildings too close together</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2003.09.007">encouraging sprawling development</a>.</p>
<p>Housing research tells us how households respond to too-dense, nature-deficient environments. We know that many households seek <a href="https://islandpress.org/books/missing-middle-housing#desc">“missing middle” housing</a>, which refers to medium-density, family-sized housing such as townhomes, duplexes and triplexes, and lowrise to midrise apartment buildings. </p>
<p>Without <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083231180610">this type of housing being built in the green and amenity-rich environments</a> they demand, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2020.102940">households will move further afield</a>, increasing pressures for greenfield conversion.</p>
<h2>De-incentivizing unaffordable housing</h2>
<p>The report encourages municipalities to <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-public-lands-can-help-unlock-the-housing-crisis-and-our-governments/">build affordable housing on their own land</a>, facilitated by financing, to help them acquire new land. </p>
<p>This is <a href="https://theconversation.com/publicly-owned-land-should-be-used-for-affordable-housing-not-sold-to-private-developers-198654">a strategy that has wide support</a>, but it could backfire by adding fuel to already-inflated land values because it fails to acknowledge <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2023.104676">how those inflated land values are created</a>.</p>
<p>Housing markets are more than builders who supply homes and residents who demand them. Markets for land, where housing is built and what homes are built are shaped by <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020434">investors who supply finance</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm16100446">developers who demand finance</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/housing-is-both-a-human-right-and-a-profitable-asset-and-thats-the-problem-172846">Housing is both a human right and a profitable asset, and that's the problem</a>
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<p>For the report’s strategy to succeed, additional policies must rein in investors and developers by de-incentivizing their participation and reducing their impact on land value.</p>
<p>The federal government can address this by <a href="https://mikemorricemp.ca/motion-71-one-solution-to-the-housing-crisis/">eliminating tax incentives for real estate investment trusts</a>. Provincial governments can implement requirements for a percentage of affordable homes <a href="https://housingrightscanada.com/resources/inclusionary-zoning-considerations-for-an-affordable-housing-policy/">(known as inclusionary zoning</a>) across municipalities — not just around transit stations — to prevent developers from leap-frogging regulation by building elsewhere. </p>
<p>Inclusionary zoning decreases <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-value-capture-and-what-does-it-mean-for-cities-58776">land value uplift </a>by reducing market developers’ profits, which creates an entry window for lower-cost and non-profit developers, as envisioned by the report.</p>
<p>The report’s recommendations to eliminate height and density restrictions near transit will further inflate land values. While building more units on a given piece of land might appear to lower housing costs, this is not the case.</p>
<p>At present, <a href="https://www.altusgroup.com/insights/canadian-cost-guide/">highrise development costs are roughly 2.5 times that of lowrise</a> and demand high finance costs to compensate for their high risk. Land values reflect these high costs and profits, especially in areas where highrise builds are expected to be allowed.</p>
<h2>Rethinking urban spaces</h2>
<p>How can these conflicts be resolved? One approach is to establish both minimum and maximum residential zoning heights and densities, aligned with the typologies the report supports. </p>
<p>This would include building 10-unit apartments that follow pre-approved designs in residential neighbourhoods, zoning that encourages <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/growing-up-toronto-planner-jennifer-keesmaat-pushes-for-lots-of-mid-rise/article_bd1cb649-3dea-5506-b672-e9ebd01b5bb6.html">desirable midrise developments</a> along main streets and creating 16-storey maximum zones to encourage the building of single-stairwell 16-storey buildings recommended in the report.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2020/1/15/21058051/climate-change-building-materials-mass-timber-cross-laminated-clt">mass timber buildings</a> and other climate-friendlier highrise forms develop, zoning regulations should adapt to enable these typologies to facilitate and reward affordable, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/18/world/asia/singapore-heat.html">climate-friendly builds</a>. There can still be a place for highrise buildings in well-designed cities, particularly if <a href="https://smartdensity.com/scaling-down-creating-walkable-and-enjoyable-transit-oriented-communities/">we reimagine how higrise and lowrise buildings can be combined</a> to create <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-2046(02)00230-X">green and liveable cities</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dawn Parker receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Mitacs Canada</span></em></p>A new report on sustainable and affordable housing falls short by failing to fully consider land-and-housing market dynamics.Dawn Parker, Professor in the School of Planning, Faculty of Environment, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2183062024-02-14T16:55:05Z2024-02-14T16:55:05ZNew study reveals four critical barriers to building healthier Canadian cities<p>Many streets around the globe are becoming increasingly inhospitable to children and the elderly due to compounding traffic and road safety concerns which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15568318.2020.1858376">deter these groups from active transport, like walking or cycling</a>. The recent emphasis on designing cities that cater to the well-being of individuals from ages <a href="https://www.880cities.org/">eight to 80 isn’t just a catchy phrase, but a vital requirement to accommodate evolving demographic realities</a>.</p>
<p>Similarly, the concept of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-023-00749-4">15-minute city</a> has garnered significant attention in recent years — <a href="https://theconversation.com/forget-the-conspiracies-15-minute-cities-will-free-us-to-improve-our-mental-health-and-wellbeing-200823">despite baseless conspiracies accusing local authorities of plotting to limit residents to a small radius around their homes</a>. </p>
<p>The 15-minute city is all about accessibility, time efficiency and expanding options for everyone, not just the most well-off. Achieving this goal, and designing healthier spaces, begins with a comprehensive understanding of how urban environments impact our health and well-being — along with a realistic look at the current barriers to healthier urban design. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.05.23299446v1">recent research</a> — conducted with the help of research assistants Shanzey Ali and Agnes Fung and the City of Regina and Saskatchewan Health Authority and currently awaiting peer review — set out to understand these barriers.</p>
<h2>Designing better spaces</h2>
<p>Research shows that the layout of streets, access to grocery stores, choice of construction materials in dwelling design, and the distribution of public services <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30066-6">all play pivotal roles in influencing our health and well-being</a>. </p>
<p>Neighbourhoods with accessible public and community spaces and social events have been shown to improve mental health, increase happiness, and offer a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/issj.12472">sense of belonging and community</a>. At the same time, readily accessible grocery stores, community gardens and farmers’ markets have been shown to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041943">enhance mental, social and physical health</a>. </p>
<p>So, how do we create built environments that are more beneficial? This is where urban planning comes in as municipal policy-makers develop and implement policies, which can alter the structure, use and regulations of public spaces in cities.</p>
<p>The intricate dance between urban planning and health has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087406296390">deep historical roots</a>. The <a href="https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/leading-figures/john-snow-the-origin-new-medicine-time-of-cholera/">early use of sanitation and segregated zoning to control infectious disease outbreaks in the 19th century</a> is well established <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30066-6">and these efforts continue to this day</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, global agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN) have championed the integration of health and equity into urban governance. Indeed, the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11">UN Sustainable Development Goal 11</a> aims for inclusive, resilient, safe and sustainable cities. Accordingly, cities are well positioned to safeguard population health and reduce health inequities in a changing climate.</p>
<h2>Day-to-day challenges</h2>
<p>So, why are we not seeing more urban design policies focused on residents’ health and well-being? Our findings shed light on four key issues.</p>
<p><strong>1 – A lack of shared understanding of health equity</strong></p>
<p>Policy makers lacked a shared understanding of health and equity which highlights the complexity of addressing health inequities and implementing effective policies. While the importance of physical and mental health was widely acknowledged, a glaring gap exists in the recognition of the <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/social-determinants-of-health#tab=tab_1">social dimension of health</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/it-is-not-just-heat-waves-climate-change-is-also-a-crisis-of-disconnection-210594">It is not just heat waves — climate change is also a crisis of disconnection</a>
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<p>Policy-makers often struggled to find common ground on what constitutes health and equity, which hindered meaningful action. As one policy-maker noted: “I don’t think our (design) standards have ever really been looked at from that health perspective.”</p>
<p><strong>2 – The evidence is usually inaccessible</strong></p>
<p>While policy-makers acknowledged evidence (data) as an essential building block of policy making, they explained there are significant barriers to accessing it. Administrative roadblocks, such as a lack of co-ordination between, and within, provincial and municipal governments, can prevent access to crucial data needed for policy making. </p>
<p>Financial barriers, such as paywalls, can lock access to scientific studies. Meanwhile, technical barriers — including the use of jargon and overly-technical language by the academic community — can interfere with the accessibility of academic literature. </p>
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<img alt="A large building stands in the background with a field and flower beds in the foregound." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575443/original/file-20240213-20-uh97si.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575443/original/file-20240213-20-uh97si.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575443/original/file-20240213-20-uh97si.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575443/original/file-20240213-20-uh97si.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575443/original/file-20240213-20-uh97si.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575443/original/file-20240213-20-uh97si.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575443/original/file-20240213-20-uh97si.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in the City of Regina, Sask. A lack of inter- and intra-governmental communication can inhibit free access to vital evidence and data across provincial and municipal governments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>As one policy-maker put it: “There’s a lot of academic acumen that’s used and terminology, and it can be overwhelming, and nobody wants to walk out of a room and feel stupid.” As a result, sometimes the best approach is also not well understood by the municipal actors, creating greater need for knowledge translation and accessible research. </p>
<p><strong>3 – Government structures are fragmented</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.2846">A fragmented governance structure, marked by silo-ing, is another stumbling block</a>. This lack of co-ordination among different branches and divisions within a municipality can result in missed opportunities for collaboration. Differences in the use of terminology can exacerbate the problem, causing confusion and impeding cross-sectoral work. </p>
<p>Conflicts between the objectives of various divisions, such as those between active transportation planners and traffic engineers, underscore the challenges posed by siloed governance. As one policy-maker noted: “There were lots of policies that we seem to put in place that very much favour the movement of vehicles over the movement of pedestrians, cyclists”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-arctic-landscapes-and-canadian-cityscapes-share-a-similar-pattern-213707">How Arctic landscapes and Canadian cityscapes share a similar pattern</a>
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<p>Adding complexity to the mix is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087416684380">limited legal power of local governments in Canada</a>. Deemed “creatures of the province,” municipalities can only exercise powers delegated to them by provincial governments – meaning municipal powers can be modified or revoked theoretically at will. </p>
<p>The ambiguity surrounding the roles and responsibilities of municipalities versus the provincial government creates tension and incurs costs, as municipalities grapple with disagreements over whose jurisdiction certain issues fall under. Most often, this results in funding decisions that impact healthy urban design. </p>
<p><strong>4 – Political ideologies get in the way</strong></p>
<p>Beyond bureaucratic challenges, differing political ideologies present a formidable barrier.</p>
<p>The integration of health in urban design is rooted in the idea of collectivism, which aims to maximize benefits to the community as a whole. While the current favouring of car-centric roads in most areas reflects a libertarian individualism at odds with collective ideals in urban design.</p>
<p>This imbalance is especially striking when one considers the <a href="https://thediscourse.ca/scarborough/full-cost-commute">considerably higher costs to society of driving over walking or biking</a>.</p>
<p>Policy-makers noted that these political ideologies permeate public perception, resulting in resistance to policies perceived as infringing on individual liberties — while policies benefiting only a minority face opposition if they entail personal drawbacks. </p>
<p>We found this issue was exemplified by a fierce resistance to proposals for safer conditions for sex workers by those who wanted them to remain in out-of-sight areas.</p>
<h2>Overcoming these barriers</h2>
<p>The journey towards creating healthier and more equitable cities is riddled with challenges. From a lack of shared understanding, to inaccessible evidence, fragmented governance and legal limitations of municipalities and differing political ideologies, the barriers are multifaceted. However, understanding these challenges is the first step towards meaningful change. </p>
<p>By fostering collaboration, restructuring governance, empowering local governments, and promoting a collective mindset, we can pave the way for more effective integration of health into urban policies that truly support the well-being of communities at large.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218306/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Akram Mahani holds funding from SHRF (Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation) and CIHR (Canadian Institutes of Health Research). This project was funded by SHRF Align program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nazeem Muhajarine receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He is affiliated with the Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit and is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joonsoo Sean Lyeo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canada’s cities must be planned around resident
health and well-being, our research reveals the key barriers to developing truly healthy cities.Akram Mahani, Assistant Professor at Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of ReginaJoonsoo Sean Lyeo, Research Associate, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of TorontoNazeem Muhajarine, Professor, Department of Community Health and Epidemiology and Director, Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2183342024-01-17T21:08:01Z2024-01-17T21:08:01ZAnnual rankings don’t always tell us what it’s really like to live in a city<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568293/original/file-20240108-27-dzn9ni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C2751%2C1553&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rankings often focus on economic and developmental factors that overlook sustainability. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year various indices are released which rank the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/article-most-livable-cities-canada-2023/">livability</a>, <a href="https://www.arcadis.com/en/knowledge-hub/perspectives/global/sustainable-cities-index">sustainability</a>, <a href="https://innovation-cities.com/worlds-most-innovative-cities-2022-2023-city-rankings/26453/">innovation</a> and general quality of life in cities around the world. Canada’s major cities like Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto <a href="https://www.cicnews.com/2023/12/3-canadian-cities-ranked-among-the-most-liveable-in-the-world-1241721.html">frequently</a> top <a href="https://www.cicnews.com/2023/12/3-canadian-cities-ranked-among-the-most-liveable-in-the-world-1241721.html">these lists</a>, despite being some of the <a href="https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/local-news/vancouver-ranks-3rd-most-expensive-city-in-north-america-5490661">most costly</a> places to live. </p>
<p><em>Maclean’s</em> magazine’s ranking of “<a href="https://macleans.ca/canadas-best-communities-in-2021-full-ranking/">Canada’s best communities</a>” evaluated 415 communities according to various indicators, including economic prosperity, housing affordability, taxation, sustainable mobility, public safety as well as access to health services and cultural and leisure activities.</p>
<p>Quality of life indicators and indices can be useful for comparing cities or when deciding where to live. However, if cities base their policymaking on such metrics, it could lead to unsustainable development.</p>
<h2>Differences between sustainability and quality of life</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106879">recent study</a> highlighted the commonly used environmental and socio-economic criteria, using indicators such as green spaces, recycling, the use of public transport, unemployment and crime rates.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.espon.eu/programme/projects/espon-2020/applied-research/quality-of-life">international review</a> by the European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion evaluated cities based on criteria like employment, housing, access to health care and safety. Indicators included, among others, the cost of living, household income and the quality of public services.</p>
<p>Many of the indicators in these rankings are used to measure both the sustainability and the quality of life in a city. This convergence can be explained by the <a href="https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/pathways-sustainable-cities">common basis of these two concepts</a>: they are essentially about how a city satisfies the essential needs of its residents, such as housing, transport, health, education and leisure.</p>
<p>The ability to meet these needs is closely linked to economic factors, which play a key role in assessing both the sustainability and quality of life of cities. These factors include income, wealth and cost of living.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568733/original/file-20240110-21-uisy1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An elderly couple walking in a park with a bicycle" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568733/original/file-20240110-21-uisy1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568733/original/file-20240110-21-uisy1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568733/original/file-20240110-21-uisy1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568733/original/file-20240110-21-uisy1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568733/original/file-20240110-21-uisy1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568733/original/file-20240110-21-uisy1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568733/original/file-20240110-21-uisy1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Development aimed at improving city life can sometimes come at the expense of sustainability.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Despite these commonalities, they also present <a href="https://researcharchive.lincoln.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/81da68e3-f4cb-4b2c-a67b-506d41bd84e4/content">contradictions</a>. For example, initiatives aimed at improving city life, such as infrastructure expansion, can sometimes come at the expense of the environment, which goes against the principles of sustainable development.</p>
<p>Furthermore, an emphasis on sustainability does not necessarily guarantee improved living conditions. Indeed, sustainability may involve reducing the consumption of certain goods and services, reducing the size of housing to promote denser neighborhoods, or implementing taxes to reduce pollution. </p>
<p>These measures, although beneficial for the environment, can lower individual comfort and increase living costs, which affects the quality of life of residents.</p>
<h2>Traits of sustainable and livable cities</h2>
<p>We recently conducted a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275123004201">study aimed at answering the following question</a>: What are the characteristics of cities that perform better in terms of quality of life and sustainability?</p>
<p>To answer this question, we analyzed the similarities and differences between the factors underlying sustainability and quality of life rankings for 171 Canadian cities with more than 25,000 inhabitants.</p>
<p>Our results reveal a positive and statistically significant correlation between urban quality of life and sustainability indicators in Canadian cities. However, our findings also highlight important contradictions regarding sustainable living in the three main dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental.</p>
<p>Wood Buffalo, Alta. ranked in the top 20 per cent for sustainability, mainly due to its high-income and educated population, despite its low environmental performances. However, it is in the bottom 20 per cent for quality of life due to high living costs and limited cultural amenities. </p>
<p>Kamloops, B.C. performed well in quality of life, thanks to affordability, strong education and health care, and cultural richness. Yet it falls in the bottom 20 per cent for sustainability because of waste, greening and energy management challenges.</p>
<p>Evaluations of quality of life are mainly based on economic dimensions and take into account indicators such as the unemployment rate and average income. Some indicators also concern the social dimension of sustainable development, including crime, housing affordability, health and the arts.</p>
<p>However, some fundamental social aspects of sustainable development, like wealth distribution and education, are not addressed directly.</p>
<p>The environmental dimension is also largely neglected, with the exception of sustainable mobility (for example, how many people use public transport). For instance, there were no direct measurements of greenhouse gas emissions, the quality of green spaces or the quality of a city’s water.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568734/original/file-20240110-21-au3gwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A busy city sidewalk" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568734/original/file-20240110-21-au3gwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568734/original/file-20240110-21-au3gwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568734/original/file-20240110-21-au3gwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568734/original/file-20240110-21-au3gwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568734/original/file-20240110-21-au3gwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568734/original/file-20240110-21-au3gwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568734/original/file-20240110-21-au3gwa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Quality of life indices can be useful for comparing cities, however, if cities base their policymaking on such metrics, it could lead to unsustainable development.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cities should put sustainability first</h2>
<p>These differences between quality of life and sustainable development are concerning for two main reasons. Firstly, because people might use these rankings when deciding where to live, it can make cities with high rankings but poor sustainability appear attractive. </p>
<p>Second, as cities generally seek to attract residents, they may be tempted to make decisions based on variables that increase their quality of life ranking to the detriment of sustainable development. </p>
<p>The most highly ranked cities are likely to maintain the status quo with regard to their development strategy in order to stay at the top of the list. Moreover, lower ranked cities are likely to mimic the urban conditions that characterize the most successful cities.</p>
<p>However, these objectives are not always compatible with urban sustainability, which takes into account broader environmental and collective concerns, such as preserving environmental quality and reducing pressure on natural resources and green spaces.</p>
<p>This means quality of life becomes unsustainable if it does not take into account environmental impacts such as waste management and car use. The same goes for how wealth is distributed. </p>
<p>Prioritizing sustainability, even if it means a lower quality of life ranking in the short term, ensures cities remain viable in the future. Integrating sustainability measures into public policies, such as improving public transportation and maintaining green spaces, is essential to meet current needs and anticipate future challenges, ensuring long-term well-being.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218334/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Focusing on metrics that measure a city’s quality of life could be detrimental to its long-term sustainable development.Georges A. Tanguay, Full Professor, School of Management, Department of Urban Studies and Tourism, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Juste Rajaonson, Professor, School of Management, Department of Urban Studies and Tourism, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2203232024-01-16T13:41:58Z2024-01-16T13:41:58ZHow to prevent America’s aging buildings from collapsing – 4 high-profile disasters send a warning<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568330/original/file-20240108-26-byn97e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C316%2C5087%2C3291&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This six-story apartment building in Davenport, Iowa, had clear signs of trouble before it partially collapsed in May 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BuildingCollapseIowa/de2d6d38aa2e4925a6bc2a585b6266df/photo">AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Four recent catastrophic building collapses and a near miss are raising concerns about the state of America’s aging buildings and questions about who, if anyone, is checking their safety.</p>
<p>Many cities have buildings showing signs of aging and in need of repair. In New York City, where a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/15/nyregion/bronx-collapse-engineer.html">seven-story apartment building partially collapsed</a> in December 2023, the <a href="https://www.renthop.com/research/building-age-and-rents-in-new-york/">median building age is about 90 years</a>, and many neighborhoods were built before 1900.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://drexel.edu/engineering/about/faculty-staff/A/aghayere-abieyuwa/">a civil engineer</a>, I study building failures, and I have seen how crucial structural inspections and careful maintenance are – and how often the signs of trouble are ignored in the U.S. until a problem becomes a crisis. Too often, it is up to residents to call attention to the risks.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cAiIte8i2oM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A video from 2020 shows moisture stains and evidence of failed repairs at the bottom of the basement level parking garage slab in Champlain Towers South condominium before it collapsed. Fiorella Terenzi.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Many disasters had clear warning signs</h2>
<p>There were two common threads prior to many of the recent building collapses: visible signs of the defects that eventually led to the building’s demise and a history of documents submitted to city building departments clearly showing deteriorating conditions. </p>
<p>For example:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>In June 2021, the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/federal-investigators-surfside-condo-tower-collapsed-meet-building/story?id=100142150">sudden collapse of the Champlain Towers South</a> condominium in Surfside, Florida, killed 98 people and stunned the nation. Three years earlier, an <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-miami-area-condo-collapse/2021/06/29/1010976101/timeline-what-we-know-so-far-about-what-led-up-to-the-surfside-condo-collapse">engineers report had raised concerns</a> about the structural integrity of concrete in the pool deck area that later collapsed, but the strength of the pool deck slab was not thoroughly investigated. Federal investigators in a 2023 preliminary report found that the original design of the pool deck <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida/2023/06/16/surfside-condo-collapse-investigation-pool-deck-champlain/">did not follow building standards</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>In May 2023, three people died when part of a <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2023/09/07/davenport-apartment-building-collapse-cause-revealed-in-new-report/70787740007/">116-year-old apartment building in Davenport, Iowa</a>, collapsed. Inspectors pointed to a history of improper maintenance, and photos show clear signs of trouble, such as walls that were bowed.</p></li>
<li><p>In April 2023, one person was killed when a New York City <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/15/nyregion/nyc-garage-collapse.html">parking garage collapsed</a>. The nearly-100-year-old building had several past violations, and its collapse triggered a swift check of similar garages that turned up more potential hazards. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>In a near-miss, in November 2023, a large hole <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/11/13/metro/gaping-hole-opens-in-nyc-garage-above-amtrak-tracks/">opened in the base of another New York City parking garage</a>, offering a <a href="https://abc7ny.com/nyc-amtrak-suspended-trains-structural-issues/14049092/">view to the Amtrak rail line below</a>. It forced the closure of the line while the building was repaired.</p>
<h2>What cities and states can do</h2>
<p>Many buildings today are designed to last from as little as <a href="https://www.builderspace.com/how-long-do-modern-buildings-last">50 years to over 100 years</a>, depending on the materials used and assuming periodic maintenance and repairs.</p>
<p>Just as human beings need to see their physicians on a more regular basis as they age, older buildings also require more care and attention. That is even more important when they are exposed to adverse environmental conditions, such as corrosive de-icing salts in the Northeast and saltwater and salt air moisture in coastal regions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568331/original/file-20240108-22-eeetre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An aerial photo of four condo towers on the beach. In the center is Champlain Towers South, which partially collapsed in June 2021." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568331/original/file-20240108-22-eeetre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568331/original/file-20240108-22-eeetre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568331/original/file-20240108-22-eeetre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568331/original/file-20240108-22-eeetre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568331/original/file-20240108-22-eeetre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568331/original/file-20240108-22-eeetre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568331/original/file-20240108-22-eeetre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Champlain Towers South’s collapse in Surfside, Fla., near Miami, killed 98 people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ApartmentBuildingEvacuatedFlorida/e05b4770e98c4f9e852c944a0474b4d1/photo">AP Photo/Gerald Herbert</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet, inspections of buildings primarily happen <a href="https://www.park.edu/blog/building-inspections-101-what-to-know-in-2023-and-beyond">only as they are being built</a>, resold or remodeled. Policies vary by state, but there are currently few widespread mandated rules for structural inspections of entire existing buildings. Some <a href="https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/154/BillText/er/HTML">exceptions are in Florida</a>, where structural inspections are required for condominium and co-op buildings statewide at age 25 to 30 years, and every 10 years thereafter, and <a href="https://library.municode.com/nj/jersey_city/ordinances/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=1153837">Jersey City</a>, New Jersey, where periodic structural inspections are required every 10 years for all buildings. Several <a href="https://www.fortlauderdale.gov/government/departments-a-h/development-services/building-services/building-safety-inspection-program">Florida cities</a> and counties have extended the state-mandated periodic inspections to commercial buildings.</p>
<p>Some cities have enacted ordinances governing <a href="https://www.concrete.org/publications/internationalconcreteabstractsportal.aspx?m=details&i=51740203">periodic inspections of specific structural elements</a>, such as balconies and facades. And a few require periodic inspections or condition assessments for parking garages. After the Surfside condo tower collapse, the International Code Council initiated efforts to develop <a href="https://www.floridabuilding.org/fbc/commission/fbc_1021/hrac-101221/21-20724_CORP_FL_Report_Oct_Update_BRO_v3_MIDrez-002.pdf">condition-assessment guidelines</a> for existing buildings that local governments could choose to adopt.</p>
<h2>Cities need to prioritize inspections</h2>
<p>In each of the recent collapses, there were signs of the problems that, had they been addressed, might have prevented the tragedy. </p>
<p>In the New York City apartment building, a visible, vertical crack in the corner column, which should have been a glaring red flag, was ignored. The <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bronx-building-collapse-engineer-made-grave-errors-inspection-report/">NYC Buildings Department commissioner</a> recently said that “The Department of Buildings does not have enough of its own staff to inspect every building in New York City.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568142/original/file-20240108-23-5ec61g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of the corner of a building with a deli and a giant crack down the front support column." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568142/original/file-20240108-23-5ec61g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568142/original/file-20240108-23-5ec61g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568142/original/file-20240108-23-5ec61g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568142/original/file-20240108-23-5ec61g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568142/original/file-20240108-23-5ec61g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568142/original/file-20240108-23-5ec61g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568142/original/file-20240108-23-5ec61g.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A corner column in the New York City building that collapsed in December 2023 had a large crack in 2020, as this photo in a city buildings department report shows.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://a810-dobnow.nyc.gov/Publish/DocumentStage/PortalDownloadedDocuments/BRONX/912259/TR6-912259-9A-I1/Supporting%20Documents/Elevation%20Photographs881950890.pdf">NYC Buildings Department</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This problem is <a href="https://www.americancityandcounty.com/2021/08/30/a-low-cost-approach-to-managing-building-inspections-and-risk-mitigation-challenges-facing-local-and-county-governments/">not unique to New York</a>. Building departments across the country are <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/a-decade-after-philly-s-deadly-market-street-collapse-residents-are-still-endangered-by-construction-destruction/ar-AA1lHB1C">understaffed and have oversight challenges</a>. </p>
<p>If increasing budgets for municipal inspection departments is not an option, another route is to contract with structural engineering firms to review submitted documents. While this comes at a cost, so do legal settlements <a href="https://therealdeal.com/miami/2022/05/27/surfside-collapse-1b-settlement-breakdown-revealed/">after building disasters</a>.</p>
<p>If cities and states enact periodic structural condition assessment rules for existing buildings within their jurisdiction, problems could also be spotted by expert inspectors before they develop into failures. </p>
<p>Insurance companies could also be a partner in this effort by requiring periodic inspection and maintenance by licensed design professionals as a condition of continuing coverage.</p>
<h2>If you see something, say something</h2>
<p>Residents also must adopt a more vigilant and proactive approach to identify and prevent structural problems.</p>
<p>Anyone can learn to identify the <a href="https://www.tjpa.org/files/2018/09/9.26.18-Press-Release-Temporary-Closure-of-Salesforce-Transit-Center-with-pics.pdf">telltale signs of building deterioration and defects</a>, though there may be some <a href="https://www.dezeen.com/2018/09/26/salesforce-transit-center-closed-cracked-beam-san-francisco/">hidden structural deterioration</a> behind architectural finishes that may not be visible. If these problems are spotted and addressed in a timely manner, that could help reduce the likelihood of structural failures and more costly repairs in the future.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568319/original/file-20240108-19-ff6j3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A basement with metal clearly showing through the cracked cement on the ceiling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568319/original/file-20240108-19-ff6j3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568319/original/file-20240108-19-ff6j3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568319/original/file-20240108-19-ff6j3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568319/original/file-20240108-19-ff6j3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568319/original/file-20240108-19-ff6j3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568319/original/file-20240108-19-ff6j3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568319/original/file-20240108-19-ff6j3c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Deteriorating reinforced concrete and rusted or exposed reinforcing steel are warning signs to watch for.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Jensen/BRV Engineering</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If you see any of the following problems, report them to your landlord or the city building department – they could be signs of structural trouble:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://macleans.ca/news/canada/elliot-lake-how-could-so-many-engineers-be-so-wrong/">Water intrusion, ponding, leaks</a>, water stains, rust stains and peeling paint on floors or ceilings.</p></li>
<li><p>Sagging floors, roofs and ceilings and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iowa-davenport-building-collapse-621844c0d6c206ced4639ddcf443eb80">bulging or bowed walls</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Cracks that are expanding in elevated floors or roof slabs, walls, beams and columns.</p></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><p>Cracks on a floor slab that create a trip hazard, or wall cracks, which may be the result of the foundation settling.</p></li>
<li><p>Chunks of concrete falling from slabs, beams, walls and columns; and exposed rusted steel reinforcement.</p></li>
<li><p>Rusting or corroded steel beams and columns.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568324/original/file-20240108-17-cvpgay.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A rusted steel beam sticking up through a cracked sidewalk." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568324/original/file-20240108-17-cvpgay.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568324/original/file-20240108-17-cvpgay.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568324/original/file-20240108-17-cvpgay.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568324/original/file-20240108-17-cvpgay.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568324/original/file-20240108-17-cvpgay.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568324/original/file-20240108-17-cvpgay.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568324/original/file-20240108-17-cvpgay.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exposed and rusted steel canopy roof support columns are a structural stability problem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Jensen/BRV Engineering</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ul>
<li><p>Balconies where the rainwater drains toward the interior of the building, rather than away from it.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.berkeleyside.org/2017/11/21/deadly-berkeley-balcony-collapse-lawsuit-settled">Rotted wood</a> structural parts, such as floor joists or wall studs.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Everyone needs to understand the warning signs and be willing to speak up so officials and building owners take the necessary steps to stem this <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/12/15/opinion/bronx-building-collapse-is-a-warning-of-disasters-likely-to-get-ever-more-common/">scary tide</a> and protect residents.</p>
<p>Our buildings are talking to us, and in some cases crying out for help – it’s time everyone listened.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220323/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abieyuwa Aghayere does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Too often, signs of trouble are ignored until a problem becomes a crisis. Here are some clear warning signs residents should watch for.Abieyuwa Aghayere, Professor of Structural Engineering, Drexel UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2194742024-01-07T12:34:38Z2024-01-07T12:34:38ZNeighbourhood amenities may have helped youth mental health and stress early in the pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567975/original/file-20240105-25-yskfll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=245%2C1003%2C3621%2C1984&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers investigated how the availability of neighbourhood amenities may have contributed to changes in youth mental health and stress levels during the first six months of the pandemic.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash/Paul Hanaoka)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/neighbourhood-amenities-may-have-helped-youth-mental-health-and-stress-early-in-the-pandemic" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>During the COVID-19 pandemic, youth as a population group <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210201/dq210201b-eng.htm">reported some of the largest declines in their mental health</a> compared to other age groups in Canada. </p>
<p>Research on youth mental health during the pandemic has focused on <a href="https://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/full/10.1139/facets-2021-0096">poor academic engagement</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2021-0080">loss of peer networks</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30109-7">missed milestone events</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-023-00653-4">challenging summer employment experiences</a>. Yet little is known about how the places where young people lived played a role in changes to their mental health during the pandemic.</p>
<p>From walking in a park to ordering takeout food, there was not much to do out in public during the early months of the pandemic. Youth were attending school remotely and no longer participating in organized sports and indoor recreation. </p>
<p>For many, that meant their daily activities outside the home often consisted of what could be reached within walking distance of where they lived. Parks and food-related retail became the main places for physically distanced social interactions. They became a break in the routines of remote school, activities and virtual social networks available at home.</p>
<h2>Neighbourhood amenities</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2023.2282850">Our study</a> included Canadian youth between the ages of 13 and 19 in London, Ont. We investigated how the availability of neighbourhood amenities may have contributed to positive or negative changes in mental health — interpreted as their own perception of their mood and outlook on life — and stress levels during the first six months of the pandemic.</p>
<p>Amenities included parks, food outlets and convenience stores in close proximity to home.</p>
<p>We investigated whether these amenities could have protected against declines in mental health and increases in stress levels, and also if youth living in suburban neighbourhoods had different perceptions of mental health and stress levels than those living in urban ones.</p>
<h2>The missing role of parks</h2>
<p>Surprisingly, the availability of parks near the home had no significant impact on mental health and stress levels of youth. This finding runs counter to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13148-2">evidence that suggests these places were crucial to supporting well-being</a> during the pandemic. </p>
<p>Given the pre-pandemic challenges of <a href="https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.40.4.02">engaging young people in using their local parks</a>, these places may have not played as substantial a role in supporting better mental health and lowering stress levels for youth compared to other neighbourhood amenities.</p>
<h2>Youth experiences in urban neighbourhoods</h2>
<p>For youth in urban neighbourhoods, having more fast-food outlets available near young people’s homes resulted in lower levels of stress, but worse declines in mental health. When coupled with the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2023.2282850">observed decline in eating habits</a>, urban youth were almost seven times more likely to report worse mental health. </p>
<p>While the places near young people’s homes can make a difference to their mental health, we found that the impact is greater on their stress levels. </p>
<p>It may be that food-based amenities in urban neighbourhoods provided places for young people to relieve their stress and try to cope with declines in their mental health by eating fast-food and convenience-store snacks and socializing.</p>
<h2>Youth experiences in suburban neighbourhoods</h2>
<p>Youth in suburban neighbourhoods were more likely to report changes (both improvements and declines) to their mental health and stress levels. They also had a greater availability of food outlets near them compared to urban youth. In particular, having more convenience stores near the home was associated with more drastic changes to mental health and higher stress levels. </p>
<p>In addition, youth residing in suburban neighbourhoods who reported a decline in their physical activity levels were also at nearly three times the risk of having worsened mental health than their peers who reported their physical activity levels had not changed since the pandemic. </p>
<p>Overall, boys were substantially less likely than girls to have improved mental health during the study period, and this was especially true for those residing in suburban areas.</p>
<p>One possible reason for this trend could be that boys are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2019.03.015">more likely to play organized sports</a> than girls, which are often delivered by schools as extracurricular activities. In addition, boys tend to have less <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2021.2011189">extensive social networks</a> on digital platforms outside of their school than girls. </p>
<p>The loss of opportunities for physical activity and transition away from in-person social networks at schools may have created feelings of isolation and loneliness for boys.</p>
<h2>The role of neighbourhood amenities</h2>
<p>The first six months of the pandemic revealed the importance of neighbourhood amenities in protecting against declines in mental health and reducing stress levels. </p>
<p>Parks may have been a helpful feature for other population groups, but we found their role was limited for youth in terms of mental health and stress. Planners and landscape architects can reflect on how these places could be changed to be more attractive to youth, thereby ensuring they receive the same benefits from them as younger and older groups. </p>
<p>In addition, it is important to consider that the experiences of youth living in suburban and urban neighbourhoods may differ. This highlights the need to include youth perspectives in the planning of public spaces that contribute to healthy and thriving communities. </p>
<p>The pandemic exposed long-standing issues in how youth can access amenities in their community, and how to best meet their needs in Canadian communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219474/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Wray receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Sport Canada. He is President of the Town and Gown Association of Ontario. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kendra Nelson Ferguson was provided with funding through a trainee award from the Children’s Health
Research Institute, funded by the Children’s Health Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gina Martin, Jamie Seabrook, Jason Gilliland, and Stephanie Coen do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Neighbourhood features may have helped youth cope with the mental health impact of pandemic restrictions. Parks didn’t play much of a role but food amenities and the suburbs did.Alexander Wray, PhD Candidate in Geography, Western UniversityGina Martin, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Disciplines, Athabasca UniversityJamie Seabrook, Chair and Professor, School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, Brescia University College, Adjunct Research Professor, Paediatrics, Adjunct Professor, Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Western UniversityJason Gilliland, Professor, Director, Urban Development Program, Western UniversityKendra Nelson Ferguson, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Faculty of Social Sciences, Western UniversityStephanie Coen, Associate professor, School of Geography, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2186382024-01-03T13:19:07Z2024-01-03T13:19:07ZAI could make cities autonomous, but that doesn’t mean we should let it happen<p>You are walking back home. Suddenly the ground seems to open and a security drone
emerges, blocking your way to verify your identity. This might sound far-fetched but it is <a href="https://sunflower-labs.com/">based on an existing technology</a> – a drone system made by the AI company Sunflower Labs. </p>
<p>As part of an international project looking at the impact of AI on cities, we recently “broke ground” on <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00420980231203386">a new field of research called AI urbanism</a>. This is different from the concept of a “smart city”. Smart cities gather information from technology, such as sensor systems, and use it to manage operations and run services more smoothly.</p>
<p>AI urbanism represents a new way of shaping and governing cities, by means of artificial intelligence (AI). It departs substantially from contemporary models of urban development and management. While it’s vital that we closely monitor this emerging area, we should also be asking whether we should involve AI so closely in the running of cities in the first place.</p>
<p>The development of AI is intrinsically connected to the development of cities. Everything that city dwellers do teaches AI something precious about our world. The way you <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/05/27/1052826/ai-reinforcement-learning-self-driving-cars-autonomous-vehicles-wayve-waabi-cruise/">drive your car or ride your bike</a> helps train the AI behind an autonomous vehicle in how urban transport systems function.</p>
<p>What you eat and what you buy tells AI systems about your preferences. Multiply these individual records by the billions of people that live in cities, and you will get a feeling for how much data AI can harvest from urban settings.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l9Rt8eh8_zU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Sunflower Labs has made a home security drone designed to verify the identity of visitors.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Predictive policing</h2>
<p>Under the traditional concept of smart cities, technologies <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_things">such as the Internet of Things</a> use connected sensors to observe and quantify what is happening. For example, smart buildings can calculate how much energy we consume and real-time technology can quantify how many people are using a subway at any one time. AI urbanism does not simply quantify, it tells stories, explaining why and how certain events take place.</p>
<p>We are not talking about complex narratives, but even a basic story can have substantial repercussions. Take the AI system developed by US company Palantir, that is <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/27/17054740/palantir-predictive-policing-tool-new-orleans-nopd">already employed in several cities</a>, to predict where crimes will take place and who will be involved. </p>
<p>These predictions may be acted on by police officers <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/07/lapd-predictive-policing-surveillance-reform">in terms of where to assign resources</a>. Predictive policing in general is one of the most controversial powers that artificial intelligences are gaining under AI urbanism: the capacity to determine what is right or wrong, and who is “good” or “bad” in a city.</p>
<p>This is a problem because, as the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-023-00621-y">recent example of ChatGPT has made clear</a>, AI can produce a detailed account, without grasping its meaning. It is an amoral intelligence, in the sense that it is indifferent to questions of right or wrong. </p>
<p>And yet this is exactly the kind of question that we are increasingly delegating to AI in urban governance. This might save our city managers some time, given AI’s extraordinary velocity in analysing large volumes of data, but the price that we are paying in terms of social justice is enormous. </p>
<h2>A human problem</h2>
<p>Recent studies indicate that AI-made decisions are penalising racial minorities <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-2427.12833">in the fields of housing and real-estate</a>. There is also a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2053951720935141">substantial environmental cost to bear in mind</a>, since AI technology is energy intensive. It is projected to contribute significantly to carbon emissions from the tech sector in coming decades, and the infrastructure needed to maintain it consumes critical raw materials. AI seems to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-14108-y">promise a lot in terms of sustainability</a>), but when we look at its actual costs and applications in cities, the negatives can easily outweigh the positives.</p>
<p>It is not that AI is getting out of control, as we see in sci-fi movies and read in novels. Quite the opposite: we humans are consciously making political decisions that place AI in the position to make decisions about the governance of cities. We are willingly ceding some of our decision-making responsibilities to machines and, in different parts of the world, we can already see the genesis of new cities supposed to be completely operated by AI.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The Line, artist's rendition." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564469/original/file-20231208-29-jfdagi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564469/original/file-20231208-29-jfdagi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564469/original/file-20231208-29-jfdagi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564469/original/file-20231208-29-jfdagi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564469/original/file-20231208-29-jfdagi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564469/original/file-20231208-29-jfdagi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564469/original/file-20231208-29-jfdagi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The NEOM project in Saudi Arabia would include a linear city called The Line.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/line-neom-sustainable-autonomous-futuristic-city-2292908383">Corona Borealis Studio / Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This trend <a href="https://www.neom.com/en-us">is exemplified by Neom</a>, a colossal project of regional development currently under construction in Saudi Arabia. Neom will feature new urban spaces, including a linear city called The Line, managed by a multitude of AI systems, and it is supposed to become a paragon of urban sustainability. These cities of the future will feature self-driving vehicles transporting people, robots cooking and serving food and algorithms predicting your behaviour to anticipate your needs.</p>
<p>These visions resonate with the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00420980231203386">concept of the autonomous city</a> which refers to urban spaces where AI autonomously performs social and managerial functions with humans out of the loop.</p>
<p>We need to remember that autonomy is a zero sum game. As the autonomy of AI grows, ours decreases and the rise of autonomous cities risks severely undermining our role in urban governance. A city run not by humans but by AIs would challenge the autonomy of human stakeholders, as it would also challenge many people’s wellbeing. </p>
<p>Are you going to qualify for a home mortgage and be able to buy a property to raise a family? Will you be able to secure life insurance? Is your name on a list of suspects that the police are going to target? Today the answers to these questions are already influenced by AI. In the future, should the autonomous city become the dominant reality, AI could become the sole arbiter.</p>
<p>AI needs cities to keep devouring our data. As citizens, it is now time to carefully question the spectre of the autonomous city as part of an expanded public debate, and ask one very simple question: do we really need AI to make our cities sustainable?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218638/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Federico Cugurullo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>AI could take us beyond the concept of smart cities, telling us how and why things happen in urban settings.Federico Cugurullo, Assistant Professor in Smart and Sustainable Urbanism, Trinity College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2102812023-10-10T02:50:05Z2023-10-10T02:50:05ZIndonesian urban poor suffer the most in extreme weather caused by climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547394/original/file-20230911-22-ceblp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C10%2C3551%2C2655&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Condition of suburban residents in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, in the face of flooding.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bramanyuro/Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Extreme weather as a result of <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/">climate change</a> has caused disasters and catastrophes around the globe.</p>
<p>In mid-2023, flash floods inundated roads and displaced millions in <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/2023/7/11/23791452/vermont-flooding-climate-change">the US, South Korea, Pakistan and Turkey</a>. Asia has seen <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-66197937&ust=1692313800000000&usg=AOvVaw3GIEwLSF7ljmYqWrBntVC_&hl=en&source=gmail">more than 100 deaths</a> during this year’s extreme monsoon season. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/10/india-floods-new-delhi-rain-record-deaths">In Northern India,</a> fatal floods following heavy rains resulted in the deaths of 22 people. </p>
<p>In Indonesia, severe floods in April 2023 struck <a href="https://floodlist.com/asia/indonesia-floods-central-kalimantan-april-2023">Central Kalimantan Province,</a> impacting 16,234 people. Numerous homes and public buildings were also affected.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://arc.ui.ac.id/riset/resilient-indonesian-slums-envisioned-rise-building-an-inclusive-governance-with-people-and-water-to-make-socialecological-interactions-for-resilient-to-aquatic-disasters/">our research</a>, we looked at how extreme weather had impacted urban areas. </p>
<h2>Urban poor and water-related problems</h2>
<p>We <a href="https://arc.ui.ac.id/riset/resilient-indonesian-slums-envisioned-rise-building-an-inclusive-governance-with-people-and-water-to-make-socialecological-interactions-for-resilient-to-aquatic-disasters/">studied</a> three flood-prone cities in Indonesia: Pontianak (West Kalimantan Province), Bima (West Nusa Tenggara Province) and Manado (West Sulawesi Province). </p>
<p>We used fieldwork visits, observations, interviews and document analysis. We interviewed 57 informants during the data collection process, including government actors, community leaders, civil society organisation activists, and business people.</p>
<p>Our research aimed to understand how urban development contributed to urban water problems within the wider context of extreme weather change.</p>
<p>It found climate-related problems such as flooding, drought, and heat stress may affect the whole city, regardless of rich or poor neighbourhoods. However, urban poor populations suffer more severely due to some reasons. </p>
<p>While the rich has resources to live in well-planned residential areas, urban poor have to live in <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/floods-neighborhood-mapping-poverty-and-flood-risk-indonesian-cities">parts most vulnerable</a> to floods.</p>
<p>In addition to that, they also live in crowded and impoverished neighbourhoods with limited access to clean water. </p>
<p>Marginalised from formal water services, the urban poor are accustomed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.08.023">relying on their own creativity for survival</a>. They drill boreholes, make wells, build wet ponds or install rainwater catchment. </p>
<p>The same goes when dealing with flooding. They swiftly store valuables in high places, monitor the rise of water level in the nearby drains, creeks or rivers. They also establish communication channels through digital platforms to be informed as soon as possible when flood risks emerge to organise mitigating measures. </p>
<p>However, those are merely reactive measures that have nothing to do with addressing the underlying problems. </p>
<h2>Results from unequal development</h2>
<p>We found water-related problems in Indonesia, such as <a href="https://water.org/our-impact/where-we-work/indonesia/">flooding and water shortage</a> are closely tied <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/36181">to unequal development</a> across different parts of the city. All the cities we studied showed common patterns.</p>
<p>In certain parts of the city, <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/indonesia/publication/augment-connect-target-realizing-indonesias-urban-potential">the economy has experienced significant growth</a> giving rise to upscale neighbourhoods with tall buildings, thriving business districts and real estates with large shopping centres nearby. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Urban slum in Bandung" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547399/original/file-20230911-23-rgy6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547399/original/file-20230911-23-rgy6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547399/original/file-20230911-23-rgy6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547399/original/file-20230911-23-rgy6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547399/original/file-20230911-23-rgy6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547399/original/file-20230911-23-rgy6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547399/original/file-20230911-23-rgy6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The urban slum area in Bandung, West Java, primarily results from inadequate city planning and unequal development.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ikhlasul Amal/Flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, this rapid development has led to surges in land prices, housing rents and the cost of essentials like water and electricity. As a result, these areas have become inaccessible to the urban poor.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in rural and less developed areas, people have converted forests into agricultural lands to meet the increasing demands of city inhabitants, causing disruption of the natural water cycle. </p>
<p>As a result, when extreme weather strikes, the urban area struggles to cope. Heavy rainfall increases the risk of flooding, while during droughts they struggle to find clean water.</p>
<h2>What can we do?</h2>
<p>Our findings show that profit-seeking activities by developers combined with poor policies have exacerbated water disasters which affected urban poor the most. These communities find it hard to adjust and improve their lives in the midst of urgent water-related issues.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547408/original/file-20230911-28-p2o2yl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547408/original/file-20230911-28-p2o2yl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547408/original/file-20230911-28-p2o2yl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547408/original/file-20230911-28-p2o2yl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547408/original/file-20230911-28-p2o2yl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547408/original/file-20230911-28-p2o2yl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547408/original/file-20230911-28-p2o2yl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Community planning to ensure just city development in Kampung Akuarium, Jakarta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Rujak Center for Urban Studies)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, our study recommended measures that can improve the conditions of urban poor in facing water-related disasters, and not just the reactive ones.</p>
<p>The first step is making sure water management practices support the resilience of communities.</p>
<p>It’s important to consider and tackle inequalities across various areas. For instance, we can integrate the built environment to reconnect people with rivers within urban life. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-loss-and-damage-fund-how-can-indonesia-use-it-to-boost-climate-adaptation-efforts-201004">The Loss and Damage Fund: How can Indonesia use it to boost climate adaptation efforts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The second step is to consider the risks of climate change when making decisions about water-related institutions and services. We need to find ways to fund preventive measures and disaster response in a sustainable and responsive manner.</p>
<p>Lastly, it’s crucial to plan our infrastructure carefully. We should include strong and repairable options in our plans. To do this, we need to involve the community in decision-making processes and raise awareness about these issues.</p>
<p>In the long run, these recommendations will integrate actions into the whole water cycle to protect services, the environment and public health.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Muhammad Rifqi Damm is affiliated with the Asia Research Centre University of Indonesia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cindy Rianti Priadi is affiliated with the Environmental Engineering Study, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Indonesia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Inaya Rakhmani is affiliated with the Asia Research Centre, University of Indonesia. The data in this article was obtained from the RISE (Resilient Indonesian Slums Envisioned) collaborative research funded by NWO-WOTRO/RISTEK-BRIN.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Muhammad Irvan is affiliated with the Asia Research Centre University of Indonesia.</span></em></p>Urban development exacerbates urban water issues in the broader context of extreme weather changes.Muhammad Rifqi Damm, PhD Student, University of GothenburgCindy Rianti Priadi, Assistant Professor in Environmental Engineering, Universitas IndonesiaInaya Rakhmani, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Indonesia, Universitas IndonesiaMuhammad Irvan, Deputi Operasional ARC UI, Universitas IndonesiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2109892023-09-15T06:58:10Z2023-09-15T06:58:10ZWales’ residential speed limit is dropping to 20mph – here’s how it should affect accidents and journey times<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547541/original/file-20230911-21774-vlazi6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4608%2C3456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The drop to 20mph in Wales will come into force at midnight on September 17. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/20-mph-speed-limit-sign-on-1166519551">steved_np3/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The default speed limit in residential areas in Wales will be <a href="https://www.gov.wales/introducing-default-20mph-speed-limits">reduced</a> from 30mph to 20mph from midnight on September 17. It will make Wales the first UK nation to adopt a 20mph default urban speed limit. </p>
<p>The new limit will apply to all “restricted” roads, which are roads in built-up areas with high levels of pedestrians. There are some exemptions and local authorities have been able to apply for certain roads to be kept at 30mph.</p>
<p>This change in the law has huge potential public health benefits, including decreasing the number of injuries and deaths from collisions, and may encourage more people to walk and cycle.</p>
<p>However, there is some opposition to the change, with concerns over journey times, additional costs to businesses in deliveries, uncertainties around its effect on vehicle emissions and the potential for increased frustration and road rage.</p>
<p>In bringing forward this change, the Welsh government has used the <a href="https://www.gov.wales/20mph-campaign-promotional-leaflet">strapline</a> “20mph. A bit slower but a whole lot better”, and has led the campaign with the promise of reducing collisions and saving lives. It says that in the time a car travelling at 20mph can stop, a car at 30mph would still be doing 24mph. It goes on to suggest that streets and communities will be safer, meaning people will walk more, improving health and wellbeing.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.wales/state-evidence-20mph-speed-limits-regards-road-safety-active-travel-and-air-pollution-impacts">Evidence</a> suggests the Welsh government is broadly correct. Reducing the default speed limit to 20mph will reduce casualties, providing drivers with more time to react if things go wrong. </p>
<p>Following the implementation of 20mph limits in <a href="https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/phr/XAZI9445/#/abstract">Edinburgh</a>, for example, the number of collisions in one year fell by 40%. There were 23% fewer deaths and serious injuries were reduced by 33%. </p>
<p>Walking and cycling may increase too. We know that higher vehicle speeds are a <a href="https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/15/6/369.short">barrier</a> to walking and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15568318.2021.1999539">cycling</a>, especially among <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/978-1-83982-744-020211002/full/html">older adults</a>.</p>
<h2>Opposition</h2>
<p>Not everyone in Wales is happy about the drop to 20mph. Several <a href="https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/245406">petitions</a> have attempted to stop the change, while the Welsh Conservatives <a href="https://nation.cymru/news/welsh-conservatives-planning-to-force-a-final-vote-on-20mph-speed-limit/">oppose</a> blanket reductions. Reports have also emerged of 20mph signs being <a href="https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/people-been-defacing-20mph-signs-27660830">defaced</a>. </p>
<p>A common complaint is that journey times will be slower. But a UK government <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/757307/20mph-headline-report.pdf">report</a> in 2018 looked at 12 case studies in England where 20mph limits were implemented, concluding that journey times increased by only 3% in residential areas and 5% in city centres, adding less than a minute to a five-mile trip.</p>
<p>Also, as traffic flows are often more interrupted in urban areas - with frequent junctions and traffic lights, for example - a slight reduction in maximum permitted speeds may smooth out the traffic flow, reducing perceived delays.</p>
<p>Driver behaviour is, of course, a complex subject. Some drivers simply do not want to slow down and feel they have a right to drive fast. Meanwhile, other drivers feel the pressure to conform with other people’s behaviour, fitting in with the prevailing norms on the road. </p>
<h2>Drivers’ opinions</h2>
<p>Charles was involved in a qualitative <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214140514000383?via%3Dihub">study</a>, published in 2014, that attempted to categorise drivers’ opinions to work out how we might change attitudes and behaviour using the “diffusion of innovation” model, which is a theory that seeks to explain how, why and at what rate new ideas and technology spread. </p>
<p>In the study, drivers were sorted into categories of support for 20mph speed limits based on their answers to a series of questions. One group of “champions” was wholly supportive of 20mph regardless of others around them, even if tailgated or flashed by other vehicles. </p>
<p>In contrast, another group defined as “pragmatists” were more aware of others’ behaviour and were influenced by it, feeling the pressure to speed up. Many in this group had little awareness of speed limits in general, driving much more to the conditions or as others were around them. </p>
<p>And the final group of “opponents” tended to be strongly against speed limits. This tended to be reflected by how they set their own speed limits according to conditions. </p>
<p>The study suggested that champions respond well to information about the benefits of 20mph limits. But pragmatists need to accept that 20mph limits are normal and supported by most other drivers.</p>
<p>We know from the study that there is support for 20mph but also some ambivalence, which can be overcome after a bedding in period. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An aerial view of a residential street with 20 painted on the road in bold numbers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547756/original/file-20230912-21-fvdp8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547756/original/file-20230912-21-fvdp8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547756/original/file-20230912-21-fvdp8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547756/original/file-20230912-21-fvdp8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547756/original/file-20230912-21-fvdp8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547756/original/file-20230912-21-fvdp8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547756/original/file-20230912-21-fvdp8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The speed limit in this residential area in Pontypridd is already set at 20mph.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pontypridd-wales-july-2022-aerial-view-2179041355">Ceri Breeze/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The truth is that most people are not opposed to 20mph speed limits, but a sizeable minority are. Welsh government commissioned <a href="https://www.gov.wales/20mph-public-attitudes-research">research</a> suggests 80% were either slightly or strongly in favour of 20mph limits in 2021, but that this fell to <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2022-11/20mph-public-attitudes-survey-further-research.pdf">63% in 2022</a>. </p>
<p>This is not uncommon, however, as people’s support for change tends to <a href="https://www.gartner.co.uk/en/methodologies/gartner-hype-cycle">grow initially</a> but then falls off the closer it gets to implementation. Eventually, people may come around to the idea. </p>
<p>But it needs a government willing to stand its ground when negative public opinion emerges just before implementation, as we are seeing now.</p>
<p>It is time we stopped accepting death and injury in the name of freedom of mobility. Default 20mph speed limits are a good start but they must be accompanied by driver education programmes and police enforcement to be effective. And, of course, non-motoring road users still need more pavements, cycle lanes, safe crossing points and efficient and affordable public transport options.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Musselwhite receives funding from Health and Care Research Wales.
Charles Musselwhite is Board Member of the Transport and Health Science Group (THSG)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Merriman has received funding for past research from the ESRC, AHRC, British Academy, and European Regional Development Fund. </span></em></p>The Welsh government wants to make residential roads safer and quieter but not everybody agrees with dropping the speed limit from 30mph to 20mph.Charles Musselwhite, Professor of Psychology, Aberystwyth UniversityPeter Merriman, Professor of Human Geography, Aberystwyth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2126272023-09-14T13:36:49Z2023-09-14T13:36:49ZKenya: Ongata Rongai boom town destroyed two vital rivers – new study flags a major health risk<p>Over the past 10 years, Ongata Rongai, a satellite town on the edge of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, has experienced uncontrolled development and exponential population growth. Because of its appealing location close to the city, it’s <a href="http://www.citypopulation.de/en/kenya/riftvalley/kajiado/3414__ongata_rongai/">jumped from</a> just under 40,000 residents in 2009 to a population of over 172,000 in 2019. The most recent <a href="http://www.citypopulation.de/en/kenya/riftvalley/kajiado/3414__ongata_rongai/">census data</a> showed a high annual population growth rate of 16%. </p>
<p>The rapid increase in population, and accompanying development of residential buildings, has led to huge pressure on the environment, including its waterways.</p>
<p>There are two main rivers flowing through Ongata Rongai: the Mbagathi River and the Kandisi-Kiserian River. These rivers are important historically and, to an extent, today. People fish in them, use them to wash their clothes and collect water from them to use at home. Children and adults swim and bathe in them. Pastoralists water their livestock here and graze animals along the riverbanks. They were also the place where neighbouring clans would meet or where the Agikuyu community would come to pray at the towering <em>mugumo</em> (fig) trees. Indigenous plants growing on the riverbanks were harvested to make medicines. </p>
<p>I carried out <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1164881/full">a study</a> which examined how Rongai’s growth has affected the riparian (river) environment and surrounding communities. </p>
<p>What I found was a severely degraded riparian environment and frustrated residents. Ongata Rongai is not special. It can be seen as a microcosm of a wider issue: that of rapid urban development at the expense of the environment. </p>
<p>Environments like this are <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30778691/">common</a> wherever urban populations are growing faster than resources and plans can keep up. The municipality has a responsibility to act on what’s known about the health of its land, people and animals.</p>
<h2>Drivers of pollution</h2>
<p>I carried out my study using archival materials, interviews and focus group discussions. </p>
<p>Ongata Rongai was, until fairly recently, a savannah with few or no permanent structures. It is now a densely populated urban area, no longer peripheral to but a part of the Nairobi metropolitan area. </p>
<p>This rapid development has happened without services keeping pace, including mains sewerage, solid waste disposal, piped safe water, or any sewage treatment plant. The main problem of the rivers today, cited by everyone I spoke to, was that of sewage. Untreated sewage is pumped into or flows into the rivers daily, primarily from low-cost and poorly constructed apartment buildings belonging to wealthy business people.</p>
<p>Another cause of degradation is people’s disconnection from the environment. Interviewees discussed how the proliferation of Christianity had a disconnecting effect, and traditional knowledge was forgotten. Few people retain knowledge about plants. And if the environment holds no meaning, people don’t see the consequences of throwing trash into the river.</p>
<h2>Impacts of the pollution</h2>
<p>The pollution makes the rivers almost unusable and hazardous. But there’s a lack of alternatives. </p>
<p>People use the river water for farming, laundry, bathing and other purposes, out of necessity or convenience. Climate change has reduced rainfall and created unpredictability, forcing livestock herders to depend on the polluted rivers – which are sometimes just trickles. </p>
<p>The poor state of the rivers and their surrounding environment leads to health challenges for both people and animals. Livestock often refuse to drink the river water. Children playing and swimming in it get ill and crops wither and die. </p>
<p>People are very aware of water safety and are wary of using river water. As one farmer in Rongai told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The problem with this river is, it is filthy. You see, if you use it to water your vegetables in your garden, even you are eating that filth. If you harvest these vegetables right now, you go and cook them, you are eating that filth. And it’s not even just us, it’s the animals too who have to drink that water. So those who are pouring the raw sewage into the river, can they just think about it and stop?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another farmer told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>These days if you wash in the river you find your skin dries up … as if you have an illness … and if you keep washing there, you’ll get typhoid.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What happens now?</h2>
<p>There was extreme frustration with structural-level actors including local government and agencies. The residents I spoke to lamented corrupt government bodies and the lack of enforcement of existing environmental regulations. They felt hopeless as individuals without functioning institutions for environmental protection. </p>
<p>The situation is a typical example of how the health of people, animals and the environment is connected. Wildlife, livestock and a surge in human population have come together, putting pressure on a fragile ecosystem and environment. Without healthy rivers, there will be a dangerous knock-on effect on human and animal health. </p>
<p>The Rongai Rivers are one example of the rapid destruction of urban rivers globally. There’s been much <a href="https://scienceafrica.co.ke/2023/02/24/kenya-new-commission-to-spearhead-cleanliness-of-nairobi-rivers-launched/">talk</a> of regenerating riparian and green spaces in Nairobi and in other African cities. But the time for talking is over. People and governments must act to save these vital spaces.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212627/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olivia Howland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rongai’s rapid development has happened without services keeping pace, and the rivers have paid the price.Olivia Howland, Research Fellow in Social Science and Geography, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2128882023-09-11T15:42:18Z2023-09-11T15:42:18ZWhy your perception of climate change threats might depend on where you live – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546887/original/file-20230907-18-wk7k8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3199%2C2217&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People's perceptions of the threat of climate change vary according to where they live.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/road-closed-sign-flooded-street-york-120960130">JaneHYork/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Our planet has just seen its <a href="https://theconversation.com/july-was-earths-hottest-month-on-record-4-factors-driving-2023s-extreme-heat-and-climate-disasters-209975">hottest month</a> on record, with many places on fire or flooded. Few events can be directly attributed to climate change, but the likelihood of extreme weather <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2752-5295/ac6e7d?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=217900917&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--vIRNcML-N5eyhXNbUkFRofJMkOnQu1XYSZ1h_C1qgDnUdoOBCxFrsBkay1X6WZvEJ7egPLQ-Vog5y9mcE8Jm4WSnZZw&utm_content=217900917&utm_source=hs_email">keeps increasing</a> – and people are noticing. </p>
<p>However, not everyone notices or feels this threat to the same extent. Our <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0290354">new research</a> shows there is a contrast in how people in different locations perceive this threat, largely along urban and rural lines. </p>
<p>Cities are affected in different ways than rural areas. For instance, there are far fewer <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705815026387">natural surfaces</a> in urban areas, which creates problems with rainwater drainage, increased temperatures and decreased evaporation. </p>
<p>Cities have been said to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate3358">spearhead climate action</a>, and climate activism such as the environmental movement inspired by Greta Thunberg, <a href="https://theconversation.com/fridays-for-future-how-the-young-climate-movement-has-grown-since-greta-thunbergs-lone-protest-144781">Fridays for Future</a>, evolved primarily <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/italian-political-science-review-rivista-italiana-di-scienza-politica/article/rich-kids-of-europe-social-basis-and-strategic-choices-in-the-climate-activism-of-fridays-for-future/9341161E2CF317C93DBD5E5A0E67D627">in cities</a>. </p>
<p>On the other hand, people living in rural areas often <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-0467.2010.00353.x?casa_token=JymUEVw9sqcAAAAA:vNFeYoE2OCR8hD0XvehHqwvKb1KVsaVaXMEJFNN26ndBsOwPOb8OEhcCZHY1IRxpzqVeulsRrur2Idtm">identify strongly</a> with the place in which they live. They are close to nature and can feel passionately about it, especially if <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494414000954">their livelihood</a> depends on that environment. </p>
<p>In our study, we wanted to find out how British people who live in cities experience the threat of climate change, compared with people who live rurally. We expected rural people to feel greater place attachment, but wondered if that also makes them perceive climate change as a greater threat. This is a connection that had not been previously explored. </p>
<p>Based on a representative sample of 1,071 survey respondents from across the UK,
we found that people in rural areas showed higher degrees of place attachment than people living in cities, as we expected. However, we were surprised to see that the perceived threat of climate change in the most rural locations was lower. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An aerial scene of green fields and trees with a running through the middle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547174/original/file-20230908-29-9hz65x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547174/original/file-20230908-29-9hz65x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547174/original/file-20230908-29-9hz65x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547174/original/file-20230908-29-9hz65x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547174/original/file-20230908-29-9hz65x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547174/original/file-20230908-29-9hz65x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547174/original/file-20230908-29-9hz65x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People living in rural areas often identify strongly with where they live.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-view-rural-farmland-730291111">Richard Whitcombe/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We had not expected that outcome, so we started to dig a little deeper for possible reasons. As it turned out, there are three compelling explanations.</p>
<h2>1. Awareness</h2>
<p>People in rural areas may not be as aware of climate change as people in cities. This is certainly true for people in other countries like <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate2728">China</a>, so it could be true for our participants, too. </p>
<p>However, looking more closely, the effect is mostly down to education rather than whether people live in rural areas or not. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14693062.2012.702982?casa_token=t8LECc5bjwIAAAAA%3ABAGPw2sON-xdKShF2sfsZ5PWhBJsN0mIU08y-a2LPG6W31A8tSyvEx5k84lsV2-0euEwkXf4nImAdw">Research shows</a> that general levels of climate awareness in the UK are quite high. But this does not necessarily correspond to readiness for action or behavioural change. </p>
<p>It is well documented, though, that rural inhabitants tend to have <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ruso.12256?casa_token=fZGRm6oYGhAAAAAA:1DA0Mi0zUTxdXU_XBNZQa85x1OhhBioX-t37xtX0NY9a1kjYjJRhPbmCNnl7VqAvmuowsLN9cnZAEBAG">more conservative views</a>, which could affect the way climate change is interpreted. Conservative views <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09644016.2015.1090371?casa_token=MhVk4e-W4lsAAAAA:Fcqccoc2PD3cqFRB82Idd4i6d8lLLheQQYfupLzOm96qke8Pp4uxeRfQjm05FbLZf5pHEK0kJUgSfw">are often</a> associated with less concern about the climate. </p>
<h2>2. Experience</h2>
<p>People in rural areas may not experience climate change in the same way as people in cities. This is because rural areas have higher levels of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-00920-w">green space</a> than <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/alex/benv/2007/00000033/00000001/art00003">urban areas</a>. For example, you will feel the heat less when you are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969721023093?casa_token=-Phv3ImaApcAAAAA:U6u2e48CnZy9iKG5LC8wrXeDSozeQpi8g8FRQFQkHf4HoSVLSOX1S59iUUK4OTVV2zD9702jPBM">surrounded by trees</a>.</p>
<p>In the past, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378011000173?casa_token=Yd49iGZlcLQAAAAA:QIG9V0eJVT3FGk4j1UYY5YN4kfqd7Tk6S1HmO5fa4xPlI0DR2QuZMJ5_Ng-MBsAwt225iwQmf0k">research has shown</a> that rural inhabitants were quite sceptical about climate change. This may also be related to their different perceptions about the threat. </p>
<h2>3. Resilience</h2>
<p>And rural people may be more resilient to change. This is something that has been previously observed <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468227620301356">in Ghana</a>, where the impact of climate change on farmers’ livelihoods is paired with low climate vulnerability and high resilience to climate change. </p>
<p>Rural people may be aware of climate change and they may experience it like everyone else, but they may have better ways of coping with it than city dwellers because of their closer relationship with nature. This may have taught them to be more <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10745-018-0026-7">flexible</a> in how they deal with change. After all, nature changes a lot and that could make them less worried about the major changes happening around them. </p>
<p>So, although we were surprised that the higher degree of place attachment in people living rurally did not necessarily lead to a higher perception of climate change threat, we can see there are good reasons for that. </p>
<p>Climate change is certainly worrying for most of us and sometimes linked with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0887618520300773?casa_token=vvO95F2IWFwAAAAA:EMVSaEy10Yg3AzZc2kC0TADqgVGch3MCHRiiC0Nix5mKFI6bk-OGsgtwpaEVYfFkDuIG7hP3IX8">heightened anxiety</a>. We will inevitably react emotionally to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.10.003">extreme weather that affects us</a>. What matters is what we do in our everyday lives, how much we recognise that things are changing and whether we are willing to take action. </p>
<p>This could mean making a change <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-yes-your-individual-action-does-make-a-difference-115169">in our own lives</a>, getting involved <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-action-shouldnt-mean-choosing-between-personal-and-political-responsibility-130656">in politics</a>, or <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/14645">taking action locally</a> to become more resilient when extreme weather, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/floods-are-going-to-get-worse-we-need-to-start-preparing-for-them-now-172902">flooding</a>, heat or violent storms, happen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212888/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thora Tenbrink acknowledges Bangor University's seed funding for the reported research. She also receives funding through the UKRI-funded RECLAIM Network Plus grant (EP/W034034/1), and through the ESRC-funded Rural Wales Local Policy and Innovation Partnership (Phase 1), ES/Y000226/1. </span></em></p>People living in rural areas perceive the threat of climate change to be lower than people in cities.Thora Tenbrink, Professor of Linguistics, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2125402023-09-01T03:12:17Z2023-09-01T03:12:17ZThe humble spotted gum is a world class urban tree. Here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545864/original/file-20230901-21-i8fk53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C6000%2C3970&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most of us find it very difficult to identify different species of eucalypt. You often hear people say they all look the same. </p>
<p>Of course, they don’t. There are over 700 species of the iconic tree genus, and they can be very different in form, height, flowers and colours. </p>
<p>With all this variety, it’s nice to have a few species we can identify from metres away, just from looking at the colours and patterns of the bark on the trunk. The spotted gum is one of these instantly recognisable eucalypts. </p>
<p>You may well have seen a spotted gum growing happily on an urban street. These smooth-barked eucalypts have been planted up and down many suburban streets. </p>
<p>In fact, if the spotted gum has a secret superpower, it would be the ability to fit into our cities with a minimum of fuss. They’re big trees, and produce vast quantities of blossoms, attracting nectar-eaters like rainbow lorikeets in droves. They grow easily, grow straight and grow tall. </p>
<h2>Why are spotted gums special?</h2>
<p>Spotted gum used to be called <em>Eucalyptus maculata</em>. Now it’s officially <em>Corymbia maculata</em> after a name change about 25 years ago. Some people still <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-07-31/eucalyptus-native-trees-evolution-dominate-australia-landscape/101229092">debate this</a>. </p>
<p>It was probably the trunk and bark of these trees which first caught your eye. These trees replace their bark seasonally, but not all at once. Instead, bits of the bark are shed and new bark grows at different rates. That leaves the famous spots on their trunks (maculatus is Latin for spotted). </p>
<p>Early in the growing season some of these spots can be a bright green before fading to tans and greys over the coming months. Many patterns can be stunningly beautiful.</p>
<p>These trees are loved by many. But there are sceptics. Some feel the trees can be a nuisance, and even dangerous because of the bark and branches they shed. There is <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/widow-makers-get-the-chop-as-leafy-suburbs-call-halt-on-damage-20130203-2dsje.html">some truth</a> to it, as they can drop branches during droughts. Interestingly, these hardwood trees are actually considered <a href="https://hunterlandcare.org.au/spotted-gum-corymbia-maculata/#:%7E:text=As%20it%20flowers%20in%20winter,known%20for%20not%20dropping%20limbs.">fire resistant</a>.</p>
<p>But there are very good reasons our city planners and councils turn to the spotted gum. Their wonderfully straight, light coloured and spotted trunks are impressive whether trees are planted singly, in avenues (meaning two rows of trees) or in boulevards (four rows of trees). </p>
<p>They often get to an impressive 30–45 metres in height. Old trees can get over 60m. </p>
<p>During profuse flowering, anthers (the pollen-bearing part of the stamen) shed from a single tree can cover the ground, paths, homes, roads and vehicles in a white snow-like frosting. </p>
<p>In nature, the <a href="https://apps.lucidcentral.org/euclid/text/entities/corymbia_maculata.htm">spotted gum and close relatives</a>, the lemon scented gum (<em>C. citriodora</em>) and large leafed spotted gum (<em>C. henryii</em>) grow along the east coast of Australia, from far eastern Victoria to southern Queensland. In New South Wales forests, you might be lucky enough to spot the pairing of spotted gums and <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2011/macrozamia-communis.html">native cycads</a> (<em>Macrozamia</em>), ancient plants resembling palms.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545867/original/file-20230901-25-i8fk53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="spotted gum leaves and flowers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545867/original/file-20230901-25-i8fk53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545867/original/file-20230901-25-i8fk53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545867/original/file-20230901-25-i8fk53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545867/original/file-20230901-25-i8fk53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545867/original/file-20230901-25-i8fk53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545867/original/file-20230901-25-i8fk53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545867/original/file-20230901-25-i8fk53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Every few years, spotted gums flower profusely.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Spotted gums are quick growing and hardy, if a little frost-sensitive when young. They can tolerate periods of waterlogged soil. <a href="https://anpsa.org.au/plant_profiles/corymbia-maculata/">These traits</a> make the species well suited to urban use, where disturbed and low-oxygen soils are common due to paving, compaction and waterlogging. </p>
<p>Urban trees have to be able to establish quickly and with relatively little care. They need to cope with environmental stresses and very poor quality urban soils. They need tall straight trunks so people and vehicles can pass under them, and so our cities keep their clear sight lines. </p>
<p>But we also want street trees to have broad, spreading canopies with a dense green foliage, to give shade, privacy and beauty. </p>
<p>As you can see, it’s a tough set of requirements. The spotted gum meets all of these. In fact, it has the potential to be one of the great urban tree species, not just in Australia but internationally. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-threatens-up-to-100-of-trees-in-australian-cities-and-most-urban-species-worldwide-188807">Climate change threatens up to 100% of trees in Australian cities, and most urban species worldwide</a>
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<h2>Resilient trees for the future climate</h2>
<p>Spotted gums are tough. On urban streets in many parts of Australia, they will endure as the climate changes – possibly for decades or even centuries. They possess both lignotubers, the protective swelling at the base of the trunk, and epicormic buds, which lie dormant under the bark in readiness for fire and other stresses. These let the trees cope well with the abuses urban life can throw at them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545874/original/file-20230901-25-qww3zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="spotted gum trunk" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545874/original/file-20230901-25-qww3zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545874/original/file-20230901-25-qww3zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545874/original/file-20230901-25-qww3zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545874/original/file-20230901-25-qww3zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545874/original/file-20230901-25-qww3zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545874/original/file-20230901-25-qww3zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545874/original/file-20230901-25-qww3zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You might notice the mottled bark first.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Horticulturalists have been working to make the tree even better suited to urban use. Careful selection has created spotted gum varieties geared towards dense, spreading canopies and with reduced risk of dropping branches. </p>
<p>But not all spotted gums you see are like this. These varieties were uncommon or didn’t exist 50 years ago, which means old urban trees might be more likely to shed limbs or have less attractive forms. </p>
<p>These trees are survivors. Near Batemans Bay in New South Wales lives Old Blotchy, the <a href="https://anpsa.org.au/the-largest-spotted-gum-in-the-world/">oldest known</a> spotted gum. It’s estimated to be 500 years old. </p>
<p>Some urban trees are already <a href="https://trusttrees.org.au/tree/VIC/Melbourne/The_Domain_Birdwood_Avenue_4">150 years old</a> and in fine condition. Planting good quality spotted gums in a good position is a way to leave a lasting legacy. </p>
<p>As climate change intensifies, city planners are looking for resilient street trees able to provide cooling shade in a hotter climate. They could do a lot worse than choosing <em>C. maculata</em>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/without-urgent-action-these-are-the-street-trees-unlikely-to-survive-climate-change-172758">Without urgent action, these are the street trees unlikely to survive climate change</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212540/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tall. Straight. Abundant flowers. And a stunning trunk. What’s not to like about the spotted gum?Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2067212023-06-27T12:23:22Z2023-06-27T12:23:22ZRight-to-charge laws bring the promise of EVs to apartments, condos and rentals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533032/original/file-20230620-29-fy3zbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C50%2C5590%2C3682&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Charging at home is more convenient for apartment dwellers, too.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/charging-of-an-electric-car-royalty-free-image/1042703278">Westend61 via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than <a href="https://www.veloz.org/ev-market-report/">3.6 million electric cars</a> are driving around the U.S., but if you live in an apartment, finding an available charger isn’t always easy. Grocery stores and shopping centers might have a few, but charging takes time and the spaces may be taken or inconvenient.</p>
<p>Several states and cities, aiming to expand EV use, are now trying to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2016.03.011">lift that barrier to ownership</a> with “right to charge” laws.</p>
<p>Illinois’ governor signed the latest <a href="https://wtax.com/news/101101-pritzker-signs-electric-vehicle-charging-expansion-plan-into-law/">right-to-charge law</a> in June 2023, requiring that all parking spots at new homes and multiunit dwellings be wired so they’re ready for EV chargers to be installed. Colorado, Florida, New York and other states have passed similar laws in recent years.</p>
<p>But having wiring in place for charging is only the first step to expanding EV use. Apartment building managers, condo associations and residents are now trying to figure out how to make charging efficient, affordable and available to everyone who needs it when they need it.</p>
<h2>Electric cars can benefit urban dwellers</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MDz1iZAAAAAJ&hl=en">civil engineer</a> who focuses on transportation, I study ways to make the shift to electric vehicles equitable, and I believe that planning for multiunit dwelling charging and accessibility is smart policy for cities.</p>
<p>Transitioning away from fossil-fueled vehicles to electric vehicles has <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-how-electric-vehicles-help-to-tackle-climate-change/">benefits for the environment and the health</a> of urban residents. It reduces tailpipe emissions, which can cause respiratory problems and warm the climate; it mitigates noise; and it improves urban air quality and quality of life.</p>
<p>Surveys show most EV drivers charge at home, where electricity rates are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2019.06.042">lower than at public chargers</a> and there is less competition for charging spots. In <a href="https://cleantechnica.com/2023/02/16/new-high-16-ev-adoption-in-california-in-2022/">California, the leading state for EVs</a>, 88% of early adopters of battery electric cars said they were able to charge at home, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2019.11.011">workplace and public charging represented</a> just 24% and 17% of their charging sessions, respectively. Nationwide, about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2018.04.002">50% to 80% of all battery electric car charging sessions</a> take place at home.</p>
<p><iframe id="7zkTl" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/7zkTl/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Yet almost a quarter of all U.S. housing structures have more than one dwelling unit, according to the 2019 <a href="https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/ahs.html">American Housing Survey</a>. In California, 32.5% of urban dwellings have multiple units, and only a third of those units include access to a personal garage where a charger could be installed.</p>
<p>Even if installing a personal charger is an option, it can be expensive in a multiunit dwelling if wiring isn’t already in place. And it often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2023.103776">comes with other obstacles</a>, including the potential need for electrical upgrades or challenges from homeowner association rules and restrictions. Installing chargers can involve numerous stakeholders who can impede the process – lot owners, tenants, homeowners associations, property managers, electric utilities and local governments.</p>
<p>However, if a 240-volt outlet is already available, basic charger installation <a href="https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/how-much-does-it-cost-to-install-an-ev-charger">drops to a few hundred dollars</a>.</p>
<h2>Right-to-charge laws aims for ubiquitous home charging</h2>
<p>Right-to-charge laws aim to streamline home charging access as new buildings go up.</p>
<p>Illinois’ new <a href="https://www.lplegal.com/content/electric-vehicle-charging-act-approved-illinois-legislature-what-illinois-community-associations-need-know/">Electric Vehicle Charging Act</a> requires that 100% of parking spaces at new homes and multiunit dwellings be ready for electric car charging, with a conduit and reserved capacity to easily install charging infrastructure. The new law also gives renters and condominium owners in new buildings a right to install chargers without unreasonable restriction from landlords and homeowner associations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman unloads a shopping cart in a parking lot and puts items into her EV, which is charging from a public charger." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533031/original/file-20230620-17-shtr8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533031/original/file-20230620-17-shtr8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533031/original/file-20230620-17-shtr8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533031/original/file-20230620-17-shtr8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533031/original/file-20230620-17-shtr8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533031/original/file-20230620-17-shtr8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533031/original/file-20230620-17-shtr8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Public chargers typically aren’t as convenient as charging at home, and chargers aren’t always available.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/electric-vehicle-lifestyle-royalty-free-image/1465286722">martin-dm/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Virginia also have <a href="https://pluginsites.org/legislation-reference-recharging-equipment-at-multi-unit-housing/">right-to-charge laws</a> designed to make residential community charging deployment easier, as do <a href="https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electricity_charging_home.html">several U.S. cities</a> including Seattle and Washington, D.C. Most apply only to owner-occupied buildings, but a few, including California’s and Colorado’s, also apply to rental buildings.</p>
<p>Chicago officials have considered an <a href="https://www.lplegal.com/content/proposed-electric-vehicle-charging-ordinance-chicago/">ordinance that would</a> include existing buildings, too.</p>
<h2>Sharing chargers can reduce the cost</h2>
<p>There are several steps communities can take to increase access to chargers and reduce the cost to residents.</p>
<p>In a new study, colleagues and I looked at how to design shared charging for an apartment building with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2023.103776">scheduling that works for everyone</a>. By sharing chargers, residential communities can reduce the costs associated with charger installation and use. </p>
<p>The biggest challenge to shared charging is often scheduling. We found that a centralized charging management system that suggests charging times for each electric car owner that aligns with the owner’s travel schedule and the amount of charge needed can work – with enough chargers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The view from high in an apartment building shows balconies below and the solar-panel covered roof over the parking area." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533034/original/file-20230620-21-rdga2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533034/original/file-20230620-21-rdga2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533034/original/file-20230620-21-rdga2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533034/original/file-20230620-21-rdga2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533034/original/file-20230620-21-rdga2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533034/original/file-20230620-21-rdga2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533034/original/file-20230620-21-rdga2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Apartments in a tower in China look down on an EV charging station covered in solar panels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/looking-down-on-a-community-parking-lot-with-solar-royalty-free-image/1343714223">Zhihao/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a typical multiunit dwelling in Chicago – with an average of 14 cars in the parking lot – a small community charging hub with two <a href="https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electricity_infrastructure.html">level 2 chargers</a>, the type common in homes and office buildings, can cover daily residential recharging demand at a cost of about 15 cents per kilowatt-hour. But having only two chargers means residents are waiting on average 2.2 hours to charge.</p>
<p>A larger charging hub with eight level 2 chargers in the same city avoids the delay but increases the cost of charging to 21 cents per kWh because of upfront cost of purchasing and installing the chargers. To put that into context, the average electricity cost for Chicago residents is <a href="https://www.energysage.com/local-data/electricity-cost/il/cook-county/chicago/">16 cents per kWh</a>. </p>
<p>The future of charging management at multiunit dwellings <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.10.048">will be automated</a> for efficiency, with a computer or artificial intelligence determining the most efficient schedule for charging. Optimized scheduling can be responsive to the times renewable electricity generation sources are producing the most power – midday for solar energy, for example – and to dynamic electricity pricing. Automation can also eliminate delays for drivers while saving money and reducing the burden on the electric grid.</p>
<p>The current limited access to home charging in many cities <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2016.03.011">constrains electric vehicle adoption</a>, slows down the decarbonization of U.S. transportation and <a href="https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1825510">exacerbates inequities</a> in electric vehicle ownership. I believe efforts to expand charging in multidwelling buildings can help lift some of the biggest barriers and help reduce noise and pollution in urban cores at the same time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206721/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eleftheria Kontou receives funding from the Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office, the National Science Foundation, the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, and the Office of Naval Research. </span></em></p>Illinois passed the latest law requiring new apartment buildings to be wired for EV chargers. Now apartment communities are figuring out the best ways to make shared charging work for everyone.Eleftheria Kontou, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2060972023-06-21T10:34:01Z2023-06-21T10:34:01ZKenya’s population: 5 key findings in the past 20 years of research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527685/original/file-20230523-19-sqncv8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Like many countries on the African continent, Kenya’s population is growing – fast. The country’s population was <a href="https://ncpd.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/61-PB-Why-Population-Issues-are-important.pdf">8.1 million</a> in 1963; today it stands at about <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/data/world-population/KE">55 million</a> people. More people have moved into urban areas too. In 1960 <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?locations=KE">about</a> 7% of the population lived in urban areas; by 2021 it stood at 28%.</p>
<p>Some key changes within Kenya’s society have taken place alongside, and because of, this fast growth. </p>
<p>I’m the executive director of the <a href="https://aphrc.org/">African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)</a>, an organisation which has been documenting population changes and dynamics in Kenya, and other countries, for 20 years. This work has helped to influence public policy and response. </p>
<p>Some of the key challenges identified in Kenya have been:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a large number of urban residents, especially those in informal settlements, without social services such as public health facilities; </p></li>
<li><p>shortage of public schools (government funded); </p></li>
<li><p>widespread non-communicable diseases and their risk factors in urban informal settlements; </p></li>
<li><p>a high number of unsafe abortions driven by high levels of mistimed and unwanted pregnancies; and </p></li>
<li><p>uneven progress in <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">sustainable development goals (SDGs)</a> targets related to mothers, children and adolescents.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These findings are key to driving effective strategies. </p>
<h2>Urban residents without access to services</h2>
<p>Kenya’s development partners have tended to assume that urban areas and residents were well-served by social services, and didn’t need special attention from government and civil society organisations. As a result, in the 1980s and 1990s, poverty alleviation programmes focused on rural areas. </p>
<p>However, in 2002 we <a href="https://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Urban-Health-in-Kenya_Key-Findings_2000-Nairobi-Cross-sectional-Slum-Survey.pdf">produced evidence</a> that showed huge differences in health, education and other social outcomes among residents of urban informal settlements when compared to other urban residents. For some outcomes, residents of urban informal settlements were doing as badly as rural residents, if not worse. For instance, we found that children living in slums <a href="https://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Urban-Health-in-Kenya_Key-Findings_2000-Nairobi-Cross-sectional-Slum-Survey.pdf">were sicker</a> than those living elsewhere in Kenya. They were also less likely to get treatment when they were sick.</p>
<p>Our work highlighted the important point that simply presenting national statistics for rural and urban areas, without breaking them down further by socioeconomic status, was highly misleading. If countries were to make progress towards various development targets, urban informal settlements needed special attention. </p>
<p>Understanding this led to the design of projects and programmes by governments and other agencies that targeted disadvantaged urban areas. Over time, great progress has been made and the health and other social indicators in these areas have improved.</p>
<h2>Shortage of public schools</h2>
<p>Free primary education was implemented in Kenya in 2003. Its <a href="https://ossrea.net/publications/images/stories/ossrea/ogola.pdf">main objective</a> was to make primary education accessible to all. Research done at APHRC, however, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0883035511000036">showed</a> that the enrolment of children in public schools went up for a couple of years and then rapidly declined. </p>
<p>In 2012, <a href="https://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ERP-III-Report.pdf">63%</a> of primary school students in Nairobi urban informal settlements were attending non-government schools, a percentage as high as it had been before the policy. This happened because there were not enough public schools to meet the demand. Parents realised that their children were not receiving the right amount of attention in overcrowded classrooms. Instead, they took their children back to the informal private schools they had been attending before the policy was rolled out.</p>
<p>Once our evidence was shared with the ministry of education, the <a href="https://vision2030.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Re-Alignment-Education-Sector..pdf">Education Taskforce of 2012</a> adopted recommendations to include all learners, including those in non-formal schools, who met set criteria to benefit from capitation grants. This was to ensure that learners in informal settlements benefited from the government programme. </p>
<h2>Widespread diseases in informal settlements</h2>
<p>A key health-related finding was that non-communicable diseases, and their risk factors, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/gha.v8.28697">showed</a> a high prevalence in the urban informal settlements of Nairobi. </p>
<p>There was a huge burden of undiagnosed, untreated and uncontrolled disease. For instance, about <a href="https://journals.lww.com/jhypertension/Abstract/2013/05000/Prevalence,_awareness,_treatment_and_control_of.26.aspx">80%</a> of adults diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure were previously undiagnosed. Among those who had been previously diagnosed, the majority had not received treatment in the past 12 months. Only a fraction had received treatment in the past two weeks. As a result, for every 100 people diagnosed with either condition, only one had it under control. </p>
<p>These findings are vital to understanding existing or potential gaps in a healthcare system. They shaped the APHRC’s subsequent research programmes on <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/gha.v6i0.22510">developing models</a> to improve care for chronic conditions in these settings. Some of these have been adopted by Nairobi County and other players. </p>
<h2>Huge number of unsafe abortions in Kenya</h2>
<p>In 2013, APHRC <a href="https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-015-0621-1">published the report</a> of the first ever incidence and magnitude study on unsafe abortion. The study estimated that over 464,000 abortions had been conducted in Kenya, and an estimated 120,000 women sought care in health facilities for complications. According to the World Health Organisation, <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/abortion">4.7% to 13.2% of maternal deaths</a> annually can be attributed to unsafe abortion. </p>
<p>An estimated half (49%) of all pregnancies were unintended and four in ten of these ended in an abortion, highlighting the need for increased access to contraception. </p>
<h2>Uneven progress in supporting mothers and children</h2>
<p>APHRC has been supporting the <a href="https://www.countdown2030.org/">analysis</a> of routine health information and survey data to track African countries’ progress towards meeting the SDG targets related to mothers, children and adolescents. These include the reduction in maternal mortality and the end of preventable deaths of newborns and children.</p>
<p>The analysis – conducted for at least 18 countries – shows a general trend of improvement in various outcomes at the country level, but also huge differences between regions for some indicators. For instance in Kenya, childhood mortality has declined from 99 per 1,000 live births in 2000 to 31 in 2020. Estimates from 2014 show significant regional differences, with the worst performing sub-region (coast) having more than double the rate of child deaths compared with the best performing one (central) – <a href="https://data.unicef.org/countdown-2030/country/Kenya/1/">87.4 against 42.1</a>.</p>
<p>The progress seen at national level can be explained by improvements in health outcomes in some regions, but not all. This analysis is important to provide evidence about how government and development partners can target resources towards disadvantaged regions if Kenya is to <a href="http://countdown2030.org">meet the SDG targets</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206097/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Kyobutungi receives funding from The Hewlett Foundation, Sida and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation</span></em></p>Kenya’s experienced fast population growth and urbanisation - this has brought about some big challenges.Catherine Kyobutungi, Executive Director, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2067372023-06-20T12:29:12Z2023-06-20T12:29:12ZSaving lives from extreme heat: Lessons from the deadly 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531486/original/file-20230612-248839-sft9gx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C17%2C3918%2C2598&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Volunteers pick up water to deliver to homeless people during a 2021 heat wave.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/NorthwestHeatWave/5811cb2415d048d584b0162ec7011a61/photo">AP Photo/Nathan Howard</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The heat dome that descended upon the Pacific Northwest in late June 2021 met a population radically unprepared for it.</p>
<p>Almost <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/us/western-heat-wave.html">two-thirds of households earning US$50,000 or less</a> and <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/seattle-is-a-lot-more-air-conditioned-than-it-used-to-be/">70% of rented houses</a> in Washington’s King, Pierce and Snohomish counties had no air conditioning. In Spokane, <a href="https://www.gonzaga.edu/center-for-climate-society-environment/our-work/climate-resilience-project/beat-the-heat/survey">nearly one-quarter of survey respondents</a> didn’t have in-home air conditioning, and among those who did, 1 in 5 faced significant, often financial, barriers to using it.</p>
<p>Imagine having no way to cool your home as temperatures spiked to <a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/monitoring-content/extremes/scec/reports/20220210-Washington-Maximum-Temperature.pdf">108 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius), and 120 F (49 C) in some places</a>. People in <a href="https://www.epa.gov/heatislands">urban heat islands</a> – areas with few trees and lots of asphalt and concrete that can absorb and radiate heat – saw temperatures as much as <a href="https://repository.gonzaga.edu/ccsereach/2/">14 F (7.8 C) higher</a> than that. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/10/world/canada/canadian-wildfire-british-columbia.html">Extreme heat disasters</a> like this are becoming <a href="https://theconversation.com/dangerous-urban-heat-exposure-has-tripled-since-the-1980s-with-the-poor-most-at-risk-169153">increasingly common</a> in regions where high heat used to be rare. Blackouts during severe heat waves can also leave residents who believe they are protected because they have in home air conditioners at unexpected risk. To prepare, cities, neighborhoods, companies and individuals can take steps now that can reduce the harm.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man and two women sit in the shade while kids play in a fountain. The man has cool cloth on his head and cold soda in his hand. June is nicknamed 'Juneuary' in Seattle for its clouds and usual chill, but that isn't what residents endured in June 2021." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531491/original/file-20230612-16-c47rc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531491/original/file-20230612-16-c47rc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531491/original/file-20230612-16-c47rc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531491/original/file-20230612-16-c47rc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531491/original/file-20230612-16-c47rc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531491/original/file-20230612-16-c47rc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531491/original/file-20230612-16-c47rc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Designing shady spots for sitting and public fountains for kids to play in, like these people found in Seattle on June 27, 2021, can provide some relief from extreme heat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PacificNorthwestHeatWave/176e2e948dea47efbc9753259e0d27f4/photo">AP Photo/John Froschauer</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a <a href="https://cig.uw.edu/resources/special-reports/in-the-hot-seat-saving-lives-from-extreme-heat-in-washington-state/">new report</a>, written with colleagues at universities and the Washington State Department of Health and released ahead of the two-year anniversary of the heat wave, we show how municipal planning agencies, parks departments, local health agencies, community-based organizations like churches and nonprofits, multiple state agencies, hospitals, public health professionals and emergency response personnel, as well as individuals and families, can play a vital role in reducing risk.</p>
<p>The 2021 heat dome was Washington’s deadliest weather disaster on record. It contributed to <a href="https://cig.uw.edu/resources/special-reports/in-the-hot-seat-saving-lives-from-extreme-heat-in-washington-state/">441 deaths in the state between June 27 and July 3</a>, our research shows. Medical systems were overwhelmed. </p>
<p>There are numerous ways to avoid this deadly of an outcome in the future. Many emerge from thinking about extreme heat as long-term risk reduction, not just short-term emergency response.</p>
<h2>Designing environments for cooling</h2>
<p>Greening the urban environment can reduce heat exposure and save lives. For example, planting trees and building shade structures where people are most exposed to heat can provide local relief from extreme temperatures. That includes providing shade at buildings without air conditioning and exposed public spaces, such as bus stops and parks.</p>
<p>Planting rooftops with vegetation, known as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0038092X12002447">green roofs</a>, or painting them white so they reflect heat rather than absorb it, can also <a href="https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/using-green-roofs-reduce-heat-islands">lower roof temperatures by tens of degrees</a>. Used widely, they can reduce an entire neighborhood’s heat island effect by several degrees.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531162/original/file-20230609-21291-onib7f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An illustration showing a cross-section of a region, with a city and rural areas, and two chart lines showing day and night temperatures. The temps rise over areas with lots of concrete and asphalt, particularly dense areas that hold the heat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531162/original/file-20230609-21291-onib7f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531162/original/file-20230609-21291-onib7f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531162/original/file-20230609-21291-onib7f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531162/original/file-20230609-21291-onib7f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531162/original/file-20230609-21291-onib7f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531162/original/file-20230609-21291-onib7f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531162/original/file-20230609-21291-onib7f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Developed areas tend to heat up more than natural landscapes, such as parks. That can increase heat stress on humans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://cig.uw.edu/resources/special-reports/in-the-hot-seat-saving-lives-from-extreme-heat-in-washington-state/">Climate Impacts Group/University of Washington, adapted from EPA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Efforts like these, along with tree planting campaigns in public parks and rights of way, and ordinances requiring shade trees for parking lots and private development projects, can transform the urban heat landscape.</p>
<h2>Reaching vulnerable people</h2>
<p>When heat waves are coming, culturally nuanced outreach efforts focused on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2022.101392">the most vulnerable populations</a> – and involving sources they trust – can save lives.</p>
<p>Government heat advisories in traditional media like radio, newspapers, TV and the internet have been shown to have limited success in changing people’s behavior. In the <a href="https://www.gonzaga.edu/center-for-climate-society-environment/our-work/climate-resilience-project/beat-the-heat/survey">2022 Spokane survey</a>, 88% of respondents indicated they were unlikely to leave their home during an extreme heat event to go to a cooling center, for example. The reasons varied, including misperception of personal risk, fear of leaving homes unoccupied, not wanting to leave pets behind and mistrust of government. </p>
<p>Culturally specific resources led by community-based organizations can get around the government trust issue and can be tailored to the local population. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a wheel chair leans back with cooling clothes on her forehead and chest during the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave. The heat wave killed hundreds of people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531487/original/file-20230612-29-i0013b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531487/original/file-20230612-29-i0013b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531487/original/file-20230612-29-i0013b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531487/original/file-20230612-29-i0013b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531487/original/file-20230612-29-i0013b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531487/original/file-20230612-29-i0013b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531487/original/file-20230612-29-i0013b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman puts cold cloths on her forehead at a cooling center in Portland, Ore., on June 27, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tracy-wallace-puts-ice-cold-cloths-on-her-forehead-and-news-photo/1233728368">Alisha Jucevic for The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That might mean opening cooling centers in churches or common community gathering places and launching heat awareness campaigns driven by trusted community messengers. New York City developed a door-to-door wellness check program that <a href="https://climate.cityofnewyork.us/initiatives/be-a-buddy/">uses neighborhood volunteers</a> to check on elderly and other at-risk residents.</p>
<p>Under this model, churches, libraries, community centers and community nonprofits take center stage, supported with resources from local and state governments. Baltimore developed more than a dozen “<a href="https://www.baltimoresustainability.org/baltimore-resiliency-hub-program/">resiliency hubs</a>” using this model to provide water, cooling, power for charging devices and other support.</p>
<p>Community-based organizations can also direct energy assistance to lower-income community members. In Spokane, one community organization created a “<a href="https://www.snapwa.org/cool">cooling fund</a>” to provide portable air conditioners to those who cannot afford one. </p>
<p>Our report lays out <a href="https://cig.uw.edu/resources/special-reports/in-the-hot-seat-saving-lives-from-extreme-heat-in-washington-state/">many other strategies</a> to achieve long-term heat risk reduction.</p>
<h2>Landlords, employers and utilities have a role</h2>
<p>Addressing extreme heat over the long term requires the participation of many other groups not tasked with protecting public health.</p>
<p>For example, landlords of multifamily housing and rental homes have an important role to play. After the 2021 heat wave, <a href="https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2022R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/SB1536/Enrolled">Oregon passed a law</a> prohibiting landlords from restricting tenants’ ability to install window air conditioners.</p>
<p>Employers of people who work outdoors, or indoors in buildings without air conditioning, can protect workers by allowing more breaks, providing shade and water and adjusting work hours to avoid heat exposure – although concerns persist about rule enforcement and reduced pay. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A worker standing in shade holds a " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531488/original/file-20230612-23-wcvsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531488/original/file-20230612-23-wcvsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531488/original/file-20230612-23-wcvsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531488/original/file-20230612-23-wcvsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531488/original/file-20230612-23-wcvsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531488/original/file-20230612-23-wcvsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531488/original/file-20230612-23-wcvsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Outdoor workers may face extreme heat for hours on end. More frequent breaks and providing shade can help when work can’t stop.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/construction-workers-guide-traffic-along-hot-pavement-on-news-photo/1227714772">Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Utilities can make a difference by ensuring the power stays on during high-demand periods, particularly in vulnerable neighborhoods, and working with communities to reduce costs for vulnerable people that may prevent them from using air conditioning.</p>
<p>Ultimately, reducing extreme heat vulnerability through multiple strategies is crucial because lives are at stake.</p>
<h2>Coordination is essential</h2>
<p>Extreme heat waves are forecast to <a href="https://science2017.globalchange.gov/chapter/6/">occur more frequently</a> across the globe as greenhouse gas emissions continue to warm the climate. Between 1971 and 2021, Washington state experienced an average of three extreme heat days per year. By the 2050s, climate models project that will rise to between 17 and 30 extreme heat days per year – <a href="https://cig.uw.edu/resources/special-reports/in-the-hot-seat-saving-lives-from-extreme-heat-in-washington-state/">a fivefold increase</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Five maps show observed temperature change and much higher changes by mid and late century, particularly with high-emissions scenarios." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531244/original/file-20230611-23-w48erd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531244/original/file-20230611-23-w48erd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=703&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531244/original/file-20230611-23-w48erd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=703&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531244/original/file-20230611-23-w48erd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=703&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531244/original/file-20230611-23-w48erd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531244/original/file-20230611-23-w48erd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531244/original/file-20230611-23-w48erd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=884&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Annual average temperatures are projected to increase, with proportionally greater changes at higher latitudes. The top map shows observed temperature changes from 1986-2016 relative to 1901-1960. The lower maps show projected changes for mid-century (2036–2065) and late century (2070–2099) depending on high and low greenhouse gas emissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://toolkit.climate.gov/image/515">Fourth National Climate Assessment/NOAA NCEI/CICS-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the end, saving lives from extreme heat is a complicated challenge requiring coordination across multiple levels of government, agencies and the civic and private sectors.</p>
<p>Some cities, including Phoenix, are <a href="https://www.phoenix.gov/heat">experimenting with heat offices</a> tasked with this coordination. But individuals have an important role to play as well. </p>
<p>In addition to knowing how to protect themselves, their loved ones and their neighbors, individuals can add their voices to the rising chorus calling on all levels of government and the private and civic sectors to take urgent steps to reduce heat risk.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206737/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Vogel receives funding from Washington state that supports the University of Washington's Climate Impacts Group to conduct data modeling and provide technical assistance on climate impact analysis to Washington communities, businesses, and governments.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian G. Henning receives funding from Gonzaga Center for Climate, Society, and the Environment to support teaching, scholarship, consulting, and capacity building. </span></em></p>A new report lays out steps communities can take to help their residents survive heat waves as the risk of dangerous temperatures rises.Jason Vogel, Interim Director, Climate Impacts Group, University of WashingtonBrian G. Henning, Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies, Gonzaga UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2014952023-03-30T13:55:10Z2023-03-30T13:55:10ZCatfish in Nigeria: we set about finding ways of making it more appealing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517860/original/file-20230328-16-83nr91.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cooking catfish for the working class can be time-consuming because of the preparation process.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/october-2021-mecklenburg-western-pomerania-rostock-african-news-photo/1236675591?adppopup=true">Jens Büttner/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>African catfish (<em>Clarias</em> <em>gariepinus</em>) farming has become a popular agricultural business sector in Nigeria. This is because the species can adapt to a wide range of temperatures and to low oxygen and low salinity levels. <a href="https://animals.mom.com/effects-low-salinity-levels-fish-11549.html">Salinity</a> refers to the salt content of water. And the fish matures in about six months. Nigeria is now <a href="https://thefishsite.com/articles/nigerian-catfish">the largest producer of catfish in the world</a> and the livelihoods of millions depends on it. </p>
<p>Despite being the highest producer of African catfish, <a href="http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/3561/#.ZCKiAnZBzIU">the country is still struggling to bridge the gap</a> between consumer demand and fish supply. The country’s annual fish demand is 3.6 million metric tonnes, but only 1.2 million tonnes is produced domestically. The shortfall is usually met through <a href="https://punchng.com/2-4-million-metric-tonnes-fish-imports-depleting-nigerias-forex-fg/">importing frozen fish</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://punchng.com/2-4-million-metric-tonnes-fish-imports-depleting-nigerias-forex-fg/">About 2.5 million tonnes</a> of frozen fish is imported into Nigeria annually to meet demand. This depletes the country’s revenue. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1477-9552.12423">Imported fish is expensive</a>.</p>
<p>One way to support and boost the local catfish production industry would be to improve the processing and packaging of the fish. </p>
<p>Though catfish is popular, preparing and cooking it is not easy. It takes time and patience to remove the slime from the flesh. And processed products such as dried catfish are not always appealing to urban consumers and foreigners in or outside the country. </p>
<p>What’s needed, then, is a way of processing it that adds value to the fish and makes it more attractive for both domestic consumption and export. </p>
<p>We did an experiment to establish if the fish could be canned in a way that would make it appealing to more people. If we could establish a way of preserving the fish it might attract investors, generate employment and help meet the food demands of the growing population. </p>
<h2>Canning catfish</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ijfsab.com/index.php/fsab/article/view/162">Our research</a> was conducted for several purposes: to add value to African catfish; reduce reliance on expensive imported fish; create employment; increase accessibility to protein all year round; create a Nigerian brand; encourage small and medium scale industries; and promote agribusiness and bioeconomy. These aims are aligned with sustainable development goals. The research was not patented because our team is interested in promoting agribusiness in Nigeria. </p>
<p>We canned catfish in tomato sauce with turmeric, known as <em>ata ile pupa</em> in the Yoruba language. <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/turmeric-benefits">Turmeric</a> is a deep, golden-orange spice known for adding colour, flavour and nutrition to foods. A relative of ginger, turmeric comes from the rhizome (root) of a native Asian plant and has been used in cooking for hundreds of years. The turmeric was used as a spice and a bio-preservative. </p>
<p>Catfish were slaughtered and washed in hot salty water to remove the slime. The fish were cut into chunks, gutted, washed, cooked and drained. The chunks were placed in cans and boiled tomato paste containing turmeric was added to fill the can to the brim. The cans were sealed and sterilised in an autoclave for 30 minutes under pressure at 121°C. Cooking at this temperature was done to ensure safety and prevent spoilage.</p>
<h2>Safely preserved</h2>
<p>The canned African catfish was evaluated for safety and spoilage during the period of storage. Canned fish stored at room temperature and elevated temperature (40°C, as is sometimes experienced in Nigeria) were both safe and their qualities conformed to specified standards. This means that it cannot cause illness when consumed and the fish will not get spoilt. After three weeks on the shelf the fish was still safe for consumption. Further work should be done to evaluate the products for an extended period.</p>
<p>The canned catfish samples were also presented to people for evaluation to determine consumer acceptability. All samples compared favourably with the most popular commercial brand available on the market. </p>
<p>The data obtained from this research showed that African catfish can be canned in tomato sauce and still maintain an acceptable taste, colour, aroma and appearance. The analyses conducted also confirmed that there was no spoilage and the products were safe for consumption. </p>
<h2>Benefits and opportunities</h2>
<p>Canned catfish can provide nutrition for people living in urban areas who have little or no time to prepare food. They can use it to prepare stew or soup or eat it with bread or yam as part of a balanced diet. The products contained no chemical preservatives.</p>
<p>Canning of African catfish could provide work and trade opportunities for small and medium scale operators.</p>
<p>We plan to work more on increasing the shelf life of the product, to make it more marketable and acceptable. Microbial and other analysis will be considered beyond three weeks of storage. Then we will be ready to introduce this product onto the global market.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201495/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Malomo Adekunbi Adetola works for Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile - Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. She receives funding from Carnegie and Dutch Government.
</span></em></p>African catfish can be prepared for sale in canned form, which is more attractive to consumers.Malomo Adekunbi Adetola, Lecturer in Food Science and Technology, Obafemi Awolowo UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1940312023-02-27T17:22:54Z2023-02-27T17:22:54ZPlant and animal species that adapt quickly to city life are more likely to survive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512056/original/file-20230223-2271-9vv3ym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5982%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A global study of urban clover reveals that it is adapting quickly to city life.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/plant-and-animal-species-that-adapt-quickly-to-city-life-are-more-likely-to-survive" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>It’s five o'clock on a summer morning in Winnipeg. Our research team is unloading a series of small traps from the trunk of our car, which is parked on a residential road. Using a stick, we slather peanut butter from a huge jar into each trap as bait and quietly sneak into the yards we’ve been given permission to enter, placing the traps in suitable locations. </p>
<p>A dogwalker gives us a suspicious glance as they walk by. Traps now set and open, we wait. This effort is to investigate how animals respond to urbanization and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3918">what traits enable them to colonize and persist in cities</a>.</p>
<h2>Urban nature</h2>
<p>Urban ecology and evolution are still relatively new fields of study — for a long time, researchers preferred to study nature in remote locations farther away from human influence. But a growing number of scientists are now studying the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf3630">ecology</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam8327">evolution</a> of animals and plants found in our own backyards, reflecting a realization that cities are important ecosystems where plants, animals, humans and other organisms coexist. </p>
<p>Yet these cities are challenging places for wildlife and plants. Cities are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.2201">hot</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-noise-pollution-is-worst-in-poor-and-minority-neighborhoods-and-segregated-cities-81888">noisy</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/toxic-cities-urban-wildlife-affected-by-exposure-to-pollutants-127590">polluted</a>. The numerous buildings, cars, pets and, of course, people going about their business <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ACE-00581-080211">pose many dangers</a> to the species that increasingly share our living quarters. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512060/original/file-20230223-24-2iu9g0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a red squirrel perched in an eavestrough" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512060/original/file-20230223-24-2iu9g0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512060/original/file-20230223-24-2iu9g0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512060/original/file-20230223-24-2iu9g0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512060/original/file-20230223-24-2iu9g0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512060/original/file-20230223-24-2iu9g0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512060/original/file-20230223-24-2iu9g0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512060/original/file-20230223-24-2iu9g0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Studying red squirrel populations in urban neighbourhoods can show how they have evolved different behaviours to adapt to city life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The remaining natural vegetation is also altered in cities. For example, interest in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2019.103730">gardening has introduced many new plants and trees to cities</a> that aren’t found in nearby natural areas. These complex and intertwining environmental modifications can make finding food, a suitable mate or a safe shelter challenging for most animals, and make it difficult for native species of plants to thrive in cities.</p>
<h2>What does it take to thrive?</h2>
<p>So, what enables some species to succeed in city living, where other species fail? One of the most important qualities in urban animals is their ability to change their behaviour, coming up with innovative ways to socialize, avoid dangers or cope with challenging urban environmental conditions. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539X-bja10122">mountain chickadees that nest in cities are bolder than their rural counterparts</a> in Kamloops, B.C. Urban coyotes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arv102">avoid humans (and particularly their cars) by being more active at night</a> in Edmonton. And <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0813">rosy-faced lovebirds use air-conditioning vents</a> to cool off on hot days in Phoenix, Ariz. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-coyotes-and-humans-can-learn-to-coexist-in-cities-147738">How coyotes and humans can learn to coexist in cities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We also see evidence of rapid evolution in cities, where the genetic material of a population is changing. Urban water fleas, for example, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13184">grow and mature faster</a> and can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13784">withstand higher temperatures</a> than rural water fleas. Anolis lizards in Puerto Rico have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.12925">evolved longer limbs and more toe lamellae — fine scales on the bottom of their feet — in cities</a>, traits that may help individuals better cling to smooth urban surfaces like glass, metal or painted concrete.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512059/original/file-20230223-16-cx42uf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a brown lizard perched on a rusted rod" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512059/original/file-20230223-16-cx42uf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512059/original/file-20230223-16-cx42uf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512059/original/file-20230223-16-cx42uf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512059/original/file-20230223-16-cx42uf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512059/original/file-20230223-16-cx42uf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512059/original/file-20230223-16-cx42uf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512059/original/file-20230223-16-cx42uf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anolis lizards living in urban areas in Puerto Rico have evolved longer limbs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Urban clover</h2>
<p>Recently, researchers wanted to know just how widespread these kinds of rapid evolutionary changes are across our cities. <a href="https://www.globalurbanevolution.com/">A global team of researchers</a> — led by University of Toronto scientists and including team members from both my former University of Manitoba lab, and my <a href="https://www.concordia.ca/news/stories/2022/04/20/cities-are-driving-evolutionary-change-in-the-cosmopolitan-white-clover-a-new-global-study-finds.html">department at Concordia University</a> — teamed up to answer this question using the humble clover plant. </p>
<p>The Global Urban Evolution project (or GLUE) underscores <a href="https://knowablemagazine.org/article/living-world/2022/urban-evolution-species-adapt-survive-cities">the important role of cities as testbeds</a> to advance our understanding of the natural world, and evolutionary ecology in particular.</p>
<p>Clover is ubiquitous in cities across the world so researchers visited parks, lawns and roadsides to collect samples from 160 cities and surrounding areas on five continents (gathering a few more suspicious glances from dogwalkers along the way). Considered among “<a href="http://ikee.lib.auth.gr/record/300591?ln=en">the best replicated test of parallel evolution, on the largest scale ever attempted</a>,” results suggest clover populations are indeed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abk0989">adapting to urban environments worldwide</a>. </p>
<p>As the GLUE project shows, research undertaken in cities <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.07.012">can help us better understand basic ecological and evolutionary processes and mechanisms</a>. This knowledge can also help us protect declining species, which is critical as we face the dual challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change. </p>
<p>If urban species are evolving, and seemingly before our very eyes, that means <a href="https://urbanevolution-litc.com/2020/05/19/conserving-urban-biodiversity-needs-an-evolutionary-mindset/">biodiversity conservation and management goals are moving targets</a>. Understanding how species are changing over time can help us to better plan and manage for greener, more biodiverse cities. This, in turn, has important implications for the well-being of the 55 per cent of the world’s human population who call an urban area home.</p>
<h2>Studying an urbanizing world</h2>
<p>Back in Winnipeg, a trap in a nearby yard is rattling. A tiny red squirrel has found the peanut butter breakfast and is now full — and also stuck. It’s time for me to get to work. I weigh and measure the squirrel, and then mark it for future identification. Ultimately, this work will tell us how squirrels alter their activity in cities, for example by waking up earlier compared to squirrels in more natural areas, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.0593">as has been found for urban birds</a>. </p>
<p>So, the next time you notice someone catching squirrels in your neighbourhood, collecting clover on lawns or water fleas in city ponds, you might just be witnessing an urban evolutionary ecologist hard at work, trying to discover just what makes their favourite species successful at city living.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194031/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Riikka Kinnunen's PhD work was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant and the University of Manitoba Graduate Fellowship and University of Manitoba Graduate Enhancement of Tri-Council Stipends funding grant. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carly Ziter receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, The Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies, and Concordia University</span></em></p>Animals and plants living in cities are more likely to thrive when they are able to quickly adapt to urban conditions.Riikka Kinnunen, Postdoctoral research fellow, Biology, Concordia UniversityCarly Ziter, Associate professor, Biology, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1986502023-01-27T13:27:37Z2023-01-27T13:27:37ZLA’s long, troubled history with urban oil drilling is nearing an end after years of health concerns<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506677/original/file-20230126-12-fuo62g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C31%2C2896%2C1962&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Active oil wells can often be found next door to homes, office buildings and even schools.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jet-lands-at-los-angeles-international-airport-as-oil-rigs-news-photo/80864709">David McNew/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/limpact-des-puits-de-petrole-sur-la-sante-le-cas-edifiant-de-los-angeles-198809">Lire cet article en français</a></em></p>
<p>Los Angeles had oil wells pumping in its neighborhoods when Hollywood was in its infancy, and thousands of active wells still dot the city.</p>
<p>These wells can emit toxic chemicals such as benzene and other irritants into the air, often just feet from homes, schools and parks. But now, after nearly a decade of community organizing and studies demonstrating the adverse health impacts on people living nearby, Los Angeles’ long history with urban drilling is nearing an end.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-25/los-angeles-county-blocks-new-oil-wells-mirroring-citywide-ban">unanimous vote</a> on Jan. 24, 2023, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to ban new oil and gas extraction and phase out existing operations. It followed a <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/los-angeles-city-council-votes-ban-oil-gas-94371123">similar vote</a> by the Los Angeles City Council a month earlier. The city set a 20-year phaseout period, while the county has yet to set a timetable.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=t4m6sjAAAAAJ&hl=en">environmental health</a> <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bhavna-Shamasunder">researchers</a>, we study the impacts of oil drilling on surrounding communities. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111088">Our research</a> shows that <a href="http://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15010138">people living near these urban oil operations</a> suffer higher rates of asthma than average, as well as wheezing, eye irritation and sore throats. In some cases, the impact on residents’ lungs is worse than living beside a highway or being exposed to secondhand smoke every day. </p>
<h2>LA was once an oil town with forests of derricks</h2>
<p>Over a century ago, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3985379">first industry to boom</a> in Los Angeles was oil. </p>
<p>Oil was abundant and flowed close to the surface. In early 20th-century California, sparse laws governed mineral extraction, and rights to oil accrued to those who could pull it out of the ground first. This ushered in a period of rampant drilling, with wells and associated machinery crisscrossing the landscape. By the mid-1920s, Los Angeles was one of the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3985379?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents">largest oil-exporting regions</a> in the world. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A historic black-and-white photo shows a street with houses, old cars and dozens of oil derricks on the hill behind them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1924 photo shows the oil derricks on Signal Hill.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_City_Views%20(1925%20+).html">Water and Power Museum Archive</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An old black-and-white photo of a roller coaster on a pier, with the city behind it and then a long row of oil derricks behind that on a ridge." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The view across The Pike amusement park and downtown Long Beach, California, in 1940 shows a forest of oil derricks in the background.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_City_Views%20(1925%20+).html">Water and Power Museum Archive</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Oil rigs were so pervasive across the region that the Los Angeles Times described them in 1930 as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jas079">trees in a forest</a>.” Working-class communities were initially supportive of the industry because it promised jobs but later <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3985379">pushed back</a> as their neighborhoods witnessed explosions and oil spills, along with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-004-1159-0">longer-term damage to land, water and human health</a>.</p>
<p>Tensions over land use, extraction rights and subsequent drops in oil prices due to overproduction eventually resulted in curbs on drilling and a long-standing practice of oil companies’ voluntary “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jas079">self-regulation</a>,” such as noise-reduction technologies. The industry began touting these voluntary approaches to deflect governmental regulation.</p>
<p>Increasingly, oil companies disguised their activities with approaches such as operating <a href="https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/hidden-oil-wells/">inside buildings, building tall walls</a> and <a href="https://lbbusinessjournal.com/thums-oil-islands-half-a-century-later-still-unique-still-iconic">designing islands off Long Beach</a> and other sites to blend in with the landscape. Oil drilling was hidden in plain sight. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A silhouetted student with a backpack walks past an oil derrick covered with drawings of flowers outside a school." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beverly Hills High School earned money from an oil well, hidden behind walls covered with drawings, that operated until 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/decorative-flowery-exterior-masks-an-oil-rig-along-olympic-news-photo/566019401">Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today there are over 20,000 active, idle or abandoned wells spread across a county of 10 million people. About <a href="https://news.usc.edu/184929/urban-oil-wells-drilling-lung-health-los-angeles-usc-research/">one-third of residents</a> live less than a mile from an active well site, <a href="https://maps.conservation.ca.gov/doggr/wellfinder/#openModal/-118.23225/33.87983/12">some right next door</a>.</p>
<p>Since the 2000s, the advance of extractive technologies to access harder-to-reach deposits has led to a resurgence of oil extraction activities. As extraction in some neighborhoods has ramped up, people living in South Los Angeles and other neighborhoods in oil fields have noticed frequent <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2013-sep-21-la-me-0922-oil-20130922-story.html">odors, nosebleeds and headaches</a>. </p>
<h2>Closer to urban oil drilling, poorer lung function</h2>
<p>The city of Los Angeles has no buffers or setbacks between oil extraction and homes, and approximately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111088">75% of active oil or gas wells are located within 500 meters</a> (1,640 feet) of “sensitive land uses,” such as homes, schools, child care facilities, parks or senior residential facilities. </p>
<p>Despite over a century of oil drilling in Los Angeles, until recently there was limited research into the health impacts. Working with <a href="https://envhealthcenters.usc.edu/2021/04/harnessing-the-expertise-of-community-health-workers-for-environmental-health-research.html">community health workers</a> and community-based organizations helped us gauge the impact oil wells are having on residents, particularly on its historically Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cSfXx7cMNWc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Oil drilling in Los Angeles.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first step was a door-to-door survey of 813 neighbors from 203 households near wells in Las Cienegas oil field, just south and west of downtown. We found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15010138">asthma</a> was significantly more common among people living near South Los Angeles oil wells than among residents of <a href="https://ask.chis.ucla.edu">Los Angeles County as a whole</a>. Nearly half the people we spoke with, 45%, didn’t know oil wells were operating nearby, and 63% didn’t know how to contact local regulatory authorities to report odors or environmental hazards. </p>
<p>Next, we measured lung function of 747 long-term residents, ages 10 to 85, living near two drilling sites. Poor lung capacity, measured as the amount of air a person can exhale after taking a deep breath, and lung strength, how strongly the person can exhale, and are both predictors of health problems including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-012-9750-2">respiratory disease, death from cardiovascular problems</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/thorax.58.5.388">early death in general</a>.</p>
<p>We found that the closer someone lived to an active or recently idle well site, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111088">the poorer that person’s lung function</a>, even after adjusting for such other risk factors as smoking, asthma and living near a freeway. This research demonstrates a significant relationship between living near oil wells and worsened lung health.</p>
<p>People living up to 1,000 meters (0.6 miles) downwind of a well site showed lower lung function on average than those living farther away and upwind. The effect on their lungs’ capacity and strength was similar to impacts of living near a freeway or, for women, being exposed to secondhand smoke.</p>
<p>We found <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.2c04926">evidence</a> that oil-related contaminants, including toxic metals such as nickel and manganese, are getting into the bodies of the neighbors. This indicates contamination may be getting into the community. </p>
<p><iframe id="g7Qgh" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/g7Qgh/7/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Using a community monitoring network in South Los Angeles, we were able to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117519">distinguish oil-related pollution</a> in neighborhoods near wells. We found short-term spikes of air pollutants and methane, a potent greenhouse gas, at monitors <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146194">less than 500 meters, about one-third of a mile, from oil sites</a>.</p>
<p>When oil production at a site <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/D1EM00048A">stopped</a>, we observed significant reductions in such toxins as benzene, toluene and n-hexane in the air in adjacent neighborhoods. These <a href="https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp123-p.pdf">chemicals</a> are known irritants, carcinogens and reproductive toxins. They are also associated with dizziness, headaches, fatigue, tremors and respiratory system irritation, including difficulty breathing and, at higher levels, impaired lung function. </p>
<h2>Vulnerable communities at risk</h2>
<p>Many of the dozens of active oil wells in South Los Angeles are in historically Black and Hispanic communities that have been marginalized for decades. These neighborhoods are already considered among the <a href="https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen/report/calenviroscreen-30">most highly polluted, with the most vulnerable residents</a> in the state. Residents contend with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35780656/">multiple environmental and social stressors</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing active well sites." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A state app called Well Finder locates active oil wells. Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed phasing out oil extraction statewide by 2045.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://maps.conservation.ca.gov/doggr/wellfinder/#openModal/-118.00909/33.92186/12">State of California 2022</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The city’s timeline for phasing out existing wells is set for 20 years, leaving concerns about continuing health effects during this period. We believe these neighborhoods need sustained attention to reduce the existing health effects, and the city needs a plan for a just transition and cleanup of the oil fields as the areas transition to new uses.</p>
<p><em>This updates an <a href="https://theconversation.com/los-angeles-long-troubled-history-with-urban-oil-drilling-is-nearing-an-end-after-years-of-health-concerns-175983">article</a> originally published Feb. 3, 2022.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198650/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jill Johnston receives funding from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bhavna Shamasunder receives funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the 11th Hour Project.</span></em></p>The Los Angeles area has over 20,000 active, idle or abandoned oil wells. The city and county have voted to ban new ones after studies showed health problems in residents living nearby.Jill Johnston, Associate Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern CaliforniaBhavna Shamasunder, Associate Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy, Occidental CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1866202022-08-01T12:28:10Z2022-08-01T12:28:10ZFlood maps show US vastly underestimates contamination risk at old industrial sites<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476865/original/file-20220801-70473-vod0jt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=226%2C0%2C2166%2C1451&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Maywood Riverfront Park was built on the site of eight former industrial properties in Los Angeles County.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/maywood-riverfront-park-is-closed-to-the-public-because-of-news-photo/564026071">Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/urban-flooding-in-the-united-states">Floodwaters are a growing risk for many American cities</a>, threatening to displace not only people and housing but also the land-based pollution left behind by earlier industrial activities.</p>
<p>In 2019, researchers at the U.S. Government Accountability Office <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-73">investigated climate-related risks</a> at the 1,571 most polluted properties in the country, also known as <a href="https://www.epa.gov/superfund/superfund-national-priorities-list-npl">Superfund sites</a> on the federal National Priorities List. They found an alarming 60% were in locations at risk of climate-related events, including wildfires and flooding.</p>
<p>As troubling as those numbers sound, our research shows that that’s just the proverbial <a href="https://www.russellsage.org/publications/sites-unseen">tip of the iceberg</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12639">Many times that number</a> of potentially contaminated former industrial sites exist. Most were never documented by government agencies, which began collecting data on industrially contaminated lands only in the 1980s. Today, many of these sites have been redeveloped for other uses such as homes, buildings or parks. </p>
<p>For communities near these sites, the flooding of contaminated land is worrisome because it threatens to compromise common pollution containment methods, such as capping contaminated land with clean soil. It can also transport legacy contaminants into surrounding soils and waterways, putting the health and safety of urban ecosystems and residents at risk.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A boat sits by a dock outside a new building along the waterway." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474918/original/file-20220719-20-6jl233.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474918/original/file-20220719-20-6jl233.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474918/original/file-20220719-20-6jl233.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474918/original/file-20220719-20-6jl233.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474918/original/file-20220719-20-6jl233.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474918/original/file-20220719-20-6jl233.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474918/original/file-20220719-20-6jl233.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New York developers are planning thousands of housing units along the Gowanus Canal, a notoriously contaminated industrial area and waterway.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/general-view-of-the-gowanus-canal-and-a-new-residential-news-photo/876795968">Epics/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We study urban pollution and environmental change. In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac78f7">recent study</a>, we conducted a comprehensive assessment by combining historical manufacturing directories, which locate the majority of former industrial facilities, with flood risk projections from the <a href="https://firststreet.org/">First Street Foundation</a>. The projections use climate models and historic data to assess future risk for each property.</p>
<p>The results show that the GAO’s 2019 report vastly underestimated the scale and scope of the risks many communities will face in the decades ahead.</p>
<h2>Pollution risks in 6 cities</h2>
<p>We started our study by collecting the location and flood risk for former industrial sites in six very different cities facing varying types of flood risk over the coming years: Houston; Minneapolis; New Orleans; Philadelphia; Portland, Oregon; and Providence, Rhode Island. </p>
<p>These former industrial sites have been called <a href="https://www.mcgrawcenter.org/stories/ghosts-of-polluters-past/">ghosts of polluters past</a>. While the smokestacks and factories of these <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-lies-beneath-to-manage-toxic-contamination-in-cities-study-their-industrial-histories-104897">relics</a> may no longer be visible, much of their legacy pollution likely remains. </p>
<p>In just these six cities, we found <a href="https://osf.io/dnjvg/">over 6,000 sites</a> at risk of flooding in the next 30 years – far more than recognized by the EPA. Using census data, we estimate that nearly 200,000 residents live on blocks with at least one flood-prone relic industrial site and its legacy contaminants. </p>
<p><iframe id="zNay3" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/zNay3/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Without detailed records, we can’t assess the extent of contamination at each relic site or how that contamination might spread during flooding. But the sheer number of flood-prone sites suggests the U.S. has a widespread problem it will need to solve.</p>
<p>The highest-risk areas tended to be clustered along waterways where industry and worker housing once thrived, areas that often became home to low-income communities.</p>
<h2>Legacy of the industrial Northeast</h2>
<p>In Providence, an example of an older industrial city, we found thousands of at-risk relic sites scattered along Narragansett Bay and the floodplains of the Providence and Woonasquatucket Rivers. </p>
<p>Over the decades, as these factories manufactured textiles, machine tools, jewelry and other products, they released untold quantities of environmentally persistent contaminants, including heavy metals like lead and cadmium and volatile organic chemicals, into the surrounding soils and water. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Map with dots, primarily along waterways." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474765/original/file-20220719-20-4osyy5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474765/original/file-20220719-20-4osyy5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474765/original/file-20220719-20-4osyy5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474765/original/file-20220719-20-4osyy5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474765/original/file-20220719-20-4osyy5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474765/original/file-20220719-20-4osyy5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474765/original/file-20220719-20-4osyy5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flood-prone relic industrial sites in Providence, R.I.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac78f7">Marlow, et al. 2022</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, the Rhode Island Department of Health recently reported <a href="https://ecori.org/2020-3-4-pfas-found-in-drinking-water-throughout-ri/">widespread drinking water contamination</a> from <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-pfas-and-why-is-the-epa-warning-about-them-in-drinking-water-an-environmental-health-scientist-explains-185015">PFAS</a>, often referred to as “<a href="https://www.ewg.org/what-are-pfas-chemicals">forever chemicals</a>,” which are used to create stain- and water-resistant products and can be toxic. </p>
<p>The tendency for older factories to locate close to the water, where they would have easy access to power and transportation, puts these sites at risk today from extreme storms and sea-level rise. Many of these were small factories easily overlooked by regulators.</p>
<h2>Chemicals, oil and gas</h2>
<p>Newer cities, like Houston, are also vulnerable. Houston faces especially high risks given the scale of nearby oil, gas and chemical manufacturing infrastructure and its lack of formal zoning regulations.</p>
<p>In August 2017, historic rains from Hurricane Harvey triggered more than <a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-03-hurricane-harvey-toxic-impact-deeper.html">100 industrial spills</a> in the greater Houston area, releasing more than a half-billion gallons of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-harvey-spills/oil-and-chemical-spills-from-hurricane-harvey-big-but-dwarfed-by-katrina-idUSKCN1BQ1E8">hazardous chemicals and wastewater</a> into the local environment, including well-known carcinogens such as dioxin, ethylene and PCBs. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Maps with dots widespread in the city." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474766/original/file-20220719-22-ug93mg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474766/original/file-20220719-22-ug93mg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474766/original/file-20220719-22-ug93mg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474766/original/file-20220719-22-ug93mg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474766/original/file-20220719-22-ug93mg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474766/original/file-20220719-22-ug93mg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474766/original/file-20220719-22-ug93mg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flood-prone relic industrial sites in Houston.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac78f7">Marlow, et al. 2022</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even that event doesn’t reflect the full extent of the industrially polluted lands at growing risk of flooding throughout the city. We found nearly 2,000 relic industrial sites at an elevated risk of flooding in the Houston area; the GAO report raised concerns about only 15.</p>
<p>Many of these properties are concentrated in or near communities of color. In all six cities in our study, we found that the strongest predictor of a neighborhood’s containing a flood-prone site of former hazardous industry is the proportion of nonwhite and non-English-speaking residents.</p>
<h2>Keeping communities safe</h2>
<p>As temperatures rise, <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-making-flooding-worse-3-reasons-the-world-is-seeing-more-record-breaking-deluges-and-flash-floods-185364">air can hold more moisture</a>, leading to strong downpours. Those downpours can trigger flooding, particularly in paved urban areas with less open ground for the water to sink in. Climate change also contributes to sea-level rise, as coastal communities like <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/esnt/2020/beating-back-the-tides">Annapolis, Maryland</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-20-foot-sea-wall-wont-save-miami-how-living-structures-can-help-protect-the-coast-and-keep-the-paradise-vibe-165076">Miami</a> are discovering with <a href="https://theconversation.com/high-tide-flood-risk-is-accelerating-putting-coastal-economies-at-risk-164481">increasing days of high-tide flooding</a>. </p>
<p>Keeping communities safe in a changing climate will mean cleaning up flood-prone industrial relic sites. In some cases, companies can be held financially responsible for the cleanup, but often, the costs fall to taxpayers.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684/text">infrastructure bill</a> that Congress passed in 2021 includes <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/bipartisan-infrastructure-law/#environmentalremediation">$21 billion for environmental remediation</a>. As a key element of new “green” infrastructure, some of that money could be channeled into flood-prone areas or invested in developing pollution remediation techniques that do not fail when flooded.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large brick housing complex with people sitting in lawn chairs outside. A sign on the lawn is in Spanish." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474914/original/file-20220719-24-o50uhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474914/original/file-20220719-24-o50uhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474914/original/file-20220719-24-o50uhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474914/original/file-20220719-24-o50uhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474914/original/file-20220719-24-o50uhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474914/original/file-20220719-24-o50uhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474914/original/file-20220719-24-o50uhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The West Calumet Housing Complex in East Chicago, Ind., was built on the site of an old lead refinery. It was closed down after children there were found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood. The sign reads: ‘Do not play in the dirt or next to shredded wood mulch.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/LeadContaminationEastChicago/8d095ee761a64ca09dcb3e4a3baedfb7/photo">AP Photo/Tae-Gyun Kim</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our findings suggest the entire process for prioritizing and cleaning up relic sites needs to be reconsidered to incorporate future flood risk.</p>
<p>Flood and pollution risks are not separate problems. Dealing with them effectively requires deepening relationships with local residents who bear disproportionate risks. If communities are involved from the beginning, the benefits of green redevelopment and mitigation efforts <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-08/hud-says-texas-agency-discriminated-in-flood-relief-funding">can extend to a much larger population</a>. </p>
<p>One approach suggested by our work is to move beyond individual properties as the basis of environmental hazard and risk assessment and concentrate on affected ecosystems.</p>
<p>Focusing on individual sites misses the historical and geographical scale of industrial pollution. Concentrating remediation on meaningful ecological units, such as watersheds, can create healthier environments with fewer risks when the land floods.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186620/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Marlow is supported by the NYUAD Center for Interacting Urban Networks (CITIES), funded by Tamkeen under the NYUAD Research Institute Award CG001. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James R. Elliott has received funding from the National Science Foundation for research related to this piece.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Frickel has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Environmental Health for research related to this article. </span></em></p>Climate change is colliding with old factory sites where soil or water contamination still exist, and the most vulnerable populations are particularly at risk.Thomas Marlow, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Interacting Urban Networks (CITIES) at NYU Abu Dhabi, New York UniversityJames R. Elliott, Professor of Sociology, Rice UniversityScott Frickel, Professor of Sociology and Environment and Society, Brown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1847302022-07-12T12:33:24Z2022-07-12T12:33:24ZLight pollution is disrupting the seasonal rhythms of plants and trees, lengthening pollen season in US cities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473427/original/file-20220711-13-xmyjzd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1772%2C3712%2C2160&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some cities never sleep.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/light-trails-on-city-street-against-sky-at-night-royalty-free-image/1311603238">Noam Cohen/EyeEm via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>City lights that blaze all night are profoundly disrupting urban plants’ phenology – shifting when their buds open in the spring and when their leaves change colors and drop in the fall. New research I coauthored shows how nighttime lights are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac046">lengthening the growing season in cities</a>, which can affect everything from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.7551">allergies</a> to local economies.</p>
<p>In our study, my colleagues and I analyzed trees and shrubs at about 3,000 sites in U.S. cities to see <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac046">how they responded</a> under different lighting conditions over a five-year period. Plants use <a href="https://islandpress.org/books/ecological-consequences-artificial-night-lighting">the natural day-night cycle</a> as a signal of seasonal change along with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1911117117">temperature</a>.</p>
<p>We found that artificial light alone <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac046">advanced the date that leaf buds broke</a> in the spring by an average of about nine days compared to sites without nighttime lights. The timing of the fall color change in leaves was more complex, but the leaf change was still delayed on average by nearly six days across the lower 48 states. In general, we found that the more intense the light was, the greater the difference.</p>
<p><iframe id="gSKIJ" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/gSKIJ/9/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>We also projected the future influence of nighttime lights for five U.S. cities – Minneapolis, Chicago, Washington, Atlanta and Houston – based on different scenarios for future global warming and up to a 1% annual increase in nighttime light intensity. We found that increasing nighttime light would likely continue to shift the start of the season earlier, though its influence on the fall color change timing was more complex.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>This kind of shift in plants’ biological clocks has important implications for the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.08.021">economic</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/satellites-zoom-in-on-cities-hottest-neighborhoods-to-help-combat-the-urban-heat-island-effect-182925">climate</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.7551">health</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2014.0586">ecological</a> services that urban plants provide.</p>
<p>On the positive side, longer growing seasons could allow urban farms to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2013.01.0031">be active over longer periods of time</a>. Plants could also provide shade to cool neighborhoods earlier in spring and later in fall as global temperatures rise.</p>
<p>But changes to the growing season could also increase plants’ <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0399-1">vulnerability to spring frost damage</a>. And it can create a mismatch with the timing of other organisms, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1042/ETLS20190139">such as pollinators</a>, that some urban plants rely on.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473542/original/file-20220712-22-1d5slr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Charts show the intensity of urban light in seven representative cities" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473542/original/file-20220712-22-1d5slr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473542/original/file-20220712-22-1d5slr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473542/original/file-20220712-22-1d5slr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473542/original/file-20220712-22-1d5slr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473542/original/file-20220712-22-1d5slr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473542/original/file-20220712-22-1d5slr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473542/original/file-20220712-22-1d5slr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Urban light intensity varies among cities, and among neighborhoods within cities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yuyu Zhou</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A longer active season for urban plants also suggests an earlier and longer pollen season, which can exacerbate asthma and other breathing problems. A study in Maryland found a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.7551">17% increase</a> in hospitalizations for asthma in years when plants bloomed very early.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>How the fall color timing will change going forward as night lighting increases and temperatures rise is less clear. Temperature and artificial light together influence the fall color in a complex way, and our projections suggested that the delay of coloring date due to climate warming might stop midcentury and possibly reverse because of artificial light. This will require more research.</p>
<p>How urban artificial light will change in the future also remains to be seen.</p>
<p>One study found that urban light at night had increased <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1701528">by about 1.8% per year</a> worldwide from 2012-2016. However, many cities and states are <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/environment-and-natural-resources/states-shut-out-light-pollution.aspx">trying to reduce light pollution</a>, including requiring shields to control where the light goes and shifting to LED street lights, which use less energy and have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12927">less of an effect</a> on plants than traditional streetlights with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/35036500">longer wavelengths</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cars are parked on an old brick residential street at dusk with street lights and trees lining the sidewalks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473435/original/file-20220711-14-a2ls8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473435/original/file-20220711-14-a2ls8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473435/original/file-20220711-14-a2ls8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473435/original/file-20220711-14-a2ls8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473435/original/file-20220711-14-a2ls8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473435/original/file-20220711-14-a2ls8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473435/original/file-20220711-14-a2ls8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baltimore has been converting its streetlights to LED to save money on energy. LEDs also have less of an impact on plants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/cobblestone-street-and-fells-point-neighborhood-at-royalty-free-image/1179432549">Cyndi Monaghan via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Urban plants’ phenology may also be influenced by other factors, such as carbon dioxide and soil moisture. Additionally, the faster increase of temperature at night compared to the daytime could lead to different day-night temperature patterns, which might <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2019.107832">affect plant phenology in complex ways</a>.</p>
<p>Understanding these interactions between plants and artificial light and temperature will help scientists <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01331-7">predict changes in plant processes under a changing climate</a>. Cities are already serving as natural laboratories.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184730/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yuyu Zhou receives funding from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University. </span></em></p>Artificial light is upending trees’ ability to use the natural day-night cycle as a signal of seasonal change.Yuyu Zhou, Associate Professor of Environmental Science, Iowa State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1851012022-07-05T13:52:14Z2022-07-05T13:52:14ZCities need to embrace green innovation now to cut heat deaths in the future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472366/original/file-20220704-12-qj8yqk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=910%2C1053%2C7023%2C4682&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The severe heat wave in western Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest, between June and July 2021 caused 1,400 deaths.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/cities-need-to-embrace-green-innovation-now-to-cut-heat-deaths-in-the-future" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In late June 2021, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abm6860">North America’s most severe heat wave in history</a> hit British Columbia and the U.S. Pacific Northwest. In many areas, temperatures soared above 40 C, 15 C hotter than the normal average high. Although other places in North America regularly hit these highs, <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220504144530.htm">the extreme contrast to “normal” is what exposes acute infrastructure, economic, environmental and social vulnerabilities</a>. </p>
<p>Heat waves silently roll in with only a shimmer of visible evidence, but leave a wake of mortality greater than floods, wildfires or hurricanes. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097036">By mid-July, this one had caused 1,400 deaths</a>. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/11/climate/deaths-pacific-northwest-heat-wave.html">Emergency rooms across the Pacific Northwest were overwhelmed with visits 100 times greater than normal</a>. Lytton, B.C. — where temperatures soared to 49.6 C — was largely vaporized by a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/25/lytton-canada-heat-wildfire-record-temperatures">wildfire that scorched the town in 30 minutes</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-heat-dome-an-atmospheric-scientist-explains-the-weather-phenomenon-baking-texas-and-the-southwest-185569">What is a heat dome? An atmospheric scientist explains the weather phenomenon baking Texas and the Southwest</a>
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<p>Research warns that if current <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01092-9">greenhouse gas levels are sustained, “record-shattering” heat waves are up to seven times more likely</a> than they have been over the past few decades. As an urban climate policy analyst, I believe that North America’s 2021 extreme heat event should compel governments to scale innovations from leading cities and countries to advance resilient, restorative and renewable cities.</p>
<h2>Preparedness is important, but prevention is critical</h2>
<p>In response to last year’s heat wave, British Columbia has begun to roll out <a href="https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2022PSSG0035-000904">a heat action plan</a> comprising an alert system through smartphones and media, on-the-ground co-ordination including cooling centres, an education campaign and outreach to vulnerable populations.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A sign that reads 'Extreme Heat Cooling Centre' placed outside a centre by the City of Vancouver" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472358/original/file-20220704-21-6f9yeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=276%2C100%2C5120%2C3164&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472358/original/file-20220704-21-6f9yeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472358/original/file-20220704-21-6f9yeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472358/original/file-20220704-21-6f9yeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472358/original/file-20220704-21-6f9yeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472358/original/file-20220704-21-6f9yeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472358/original/file-20220704-21-6f9yeb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cooling centres became safe havens for those affected by the heat wave in Vancouver, B.C., in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Effective heat action plans reduce death tolls. This was seen in Italy when <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fijerph18168362">integrated intervention with socially isolated seniors cut heat mortality risks threefold</a> between the late 1990s and 2016.</p>
<p><a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/life-events/death/coroners-service/death-review-panel">The B.C. Coroners Service has also recommended similar “prevention and long-term, risk mitigation measures.”</a></p>
<p>In the long-term, prevention is critical because of increasingly intense heat and growing underlying vulnerabilities including declining urban tree canopy and a growing building stock with outdated performance standards.</p>
<h2>Urban tree canopy loss exposes mortality</h2>
<p>The vast majority of urban fabric is losing tree canopy, displaced by asphalt, concrete and large building footprints. Heat-wave-related deaths are concentrated in neighbourhoods with lower urban tree canopy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Trees provide shade to streets and buildings" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471881/original/file-20220630-24-1snc9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471881/original/file-20220630-24-1snc9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471881/original/file-20220630-24-1snc9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471881/original/file-20220630-24-1snc9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471881/original/file-20220630-24-1snc9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471881/original/file-20220630-24-1snc9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471881/original/file-20220630-24-1snc9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trees reduce the temperature in urban areas by providing shade to streets and buildings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trees provide shade, <a href="https://coolcalifornia.arb.ca.gov/how-cool-vegetation-works#_ftn1">reducing temperatures by as much as 11 C to 25 C</a>. They allow rain to penetrate into soil and retain water. As temperatures rise, liquid water in leaves and soils devours heat, transforming it into vapour. This transpiration and evaporation dramatically cools surrounding areas. One large tree can transpire 380 litres of water daily — the cooling equivalent of five standard air conditioners running 20 hours.</p>
<p>But the U.S. urban tree cover is declining at a rate of 700 square kilometres annually, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2018.03.006">according to the U.S. Forest Service</a>. In Canada, <a href="https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/forests/state-canadas-forests-report/16496">urban development is one the biggest drivers of permanent forest loss</a>.</p>
<p>While the most intense urban heat islands tend to be high density zones, <a href="https://www.sightline.org/2018/09/06/seattle-trees-development-not-a-tree-apocalypse/">cities like Seattle found the greatest cumulative urban tree canopy loss in its single-family neighbourhoods</a>. One-third of British Columbia’s heat mortalities were in single-family homes.</p>
<h2>Leading cities are planting seeds for a new future</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103899">Awareness of the diverse benefits is critical for consolidating support for tree protection</a>. Trees reduce extreme heat vulnerability, flood risk and storm-water management cost. They filter airborne particulate matter, sequester carbon and cut building energy demand.</p>
<p>Many cities like <a href="https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/urban-forest-strategy.pdf">Vancouver</a> and <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/features/baltimores-urban-tree-canopy-flourishes">Baltimore</a> have strengthened park and street planting. Private land — the majority of urban geography — is, however, a bigger challenge. Effective regulation and innovative incentives must reinforce awareness.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Clearing in a forest with construction and buildings" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471888/original/file-20220630-14-lcgatr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471888/original/file-20220630-14-lcgatr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471888/original/file-20220630-14-lcgatr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471888/original/file-20220630-14-lcgatr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471888/original/file-20220630-14-lcgatr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471888/original/file-20220630-14-lcgatr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471888/original/file-20220630-14-lcgatr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Building construction poses the biggest threat to urban tree canopies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While tree canopies suffer from thousands of individual cuts, their greatest blows today are dealt during building construction when sites are razed. Costs and benefits must be effectively calculated. “<a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/11/zero-net-deforestation-is-the-wrong-target-warn-experts/">Zero net loss</a>” policies that permit a large, 50-year-old tree to be replaced by one or two seedlings are a gross loss.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/9297-City-Planning-Toronto-Green-Standard-2017_MidHiRise_Standard.pdf">Toronto justifies development charge reductions on sites that protect urban tree canopy because of storm-water management cost savings</a>. </p>
<p>To maximize benefits and manage risks at scale, provinces and states should work with cities to legislate tree canopy protection and restoration.</p>
<h2>Contemporary air conditioning impedes resilient design</h2>
<p>The reflexive response to home cooling is air conditioners. However, surging <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/06/28/1027424/the-northwests-blistering-heatwave-underscores-the-fragility-of-our-grids/">electricity demand from air conditioning during extreme heat stresses grids</a>, increasing blackout risk with more devastating consequences. This <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/31/spiking-temperatures-could-cause-more-blackouts-this-summer-they-wont-be-the-last-00034858">risk rises as demand grows to electrify the transportation and industrial sectors to tackle climate change</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A view of the city of Phoenix, Arizona, with sparce tree cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471890/original/file-20220630-13-34j4j6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471890/original/file-20220630-13-34j4j6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471890/original/file-20220630-13-34j4j6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471890/original/file-20220630-13-34j4j6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471890/original/file-20220630-13-34j4j6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471890/original/file-20220630-13-34j4j6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471890/original/file-20220630-13-34j4j6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The urban tree canopy in Phoenix, Arizona, is down to nine per cent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Matt York)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before the widespread adoption of air conditioning, many homes in hot cities had exterior shutters or shades, covered porches as well as floor and window plans to allow cross ventilation. Main streets had awnings and trees. <a href="https://www.deeproot.com/blog/blog-entries/phoenix-az-once-and-future-forest/">In the 1920s, Phoenix — the hottest U.S. city — had 50 per cent urban tree canopy. This is down to nine per cent today.</a> These solutions cost less than air conditioning and new power supply.</p>
<h2>Climate-anticipatory home retrofits can eliminate heat risk</h2>
<p>Building standards — currently based on historical conditions — must be updated for existing and new homes based on the climate anticipated over the next century. </p>
<p><a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/birth-adoption-death-marriage-and-divorce/deaths/coroners-service/death-review-panel/extreme_heat_death_review_panel_report.pdf">The B.C. Coroners Service recommended retrofits in the least energy efficient homes occupied by low-income households where heat-wave deaths were concentrated</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://energiesprong.org/about/">Netherlands-based Energiesprong</a> — the world’s most successful home retrofit model — used public procurement in social housing to drive down costs by 50 per cent. Precisely measured, prefabricated insulated panels and roofs are installed on 50-year-old homes, along with a solar panel and an air source heat pump, replacing aged assets and eliminating indoor extreme heat risk and virtually all greenhouse gases.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.retrofitcanada.com/news/43-years-in-the-making-the-sundance-housing-cooperatives-journey-to-net-zero">an Energiesprong-inspired demonstration in Edmonton</a> during the 2021 heat wave, occupants of upgraded 1970s townhomes switched their new heat pumps to cooling mode. They used 300-400 per cent less energy than a typical air-conditioned home.</p>
<p>Strategic investment in home retrofits and urban tree canopies can yield great returns on government and household ledgers, bring down heat-wave-related deaths and advance resilient, restorative and renewable cities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185101/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Boston and the Simon Fraser University special initiative where he serves as Executive Director, Renewable Cities, receives funding from senior and local governments and utilities on consulting projects; philanthropic and non-governmental grant makers with affordability, nature and climate change mitigation and adaptation program and economic development objectives.</span></em></p>North America’s 2021 extreme heat event should compel governments to scale innovations from leading cities and countries to advance resilient, restorative and renewable cities.Alex Boston, Fellow, MJ Wosk Centre for Dialogue; Executive Director, Renewable Cities, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1766102022-04-07T10:16:34Z2022-04-07T10:16:34ZFarmers are finding a new following on social media – our research suggests it could help with isolation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456576/original/file-20220406-24-ngzw8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C18%2C4126%2C3069&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Farmers are at increased risk of loneliness and isolation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/VBkijqR9xVM">David George/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the wake of a chaotic <a href="https://theconversation.com/im-a-sheep-and-cattle-farmer-in-england-and-brexit-has-left-farmers-in-fear-for-their-futures-165843">Brexit</a> and an ongoing <a href="https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/coronavirus-farmers-remain-key-workers-in-third-lockdown">pandemic</a>, farmers in the UK are experiencing high levels of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-59319869">isolation and loneliness</a>. A poll in Farmers Guardian found that <a href="https://www.fginsight.com/farmersstrivetothrive/strive-to-thrive---articles/loneliness-is-a-key-factor-in-feeling-depressed-farmers-confirm--110876">94% of UK farmers</a> felt this isolation was harming their mental health.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0743016721002643">research</a> funded by the British Academy, we looked at how farmers engage with social media to understand whether it can help overcome isolation. To do this, we analysed 5,000 tweets by farmers and interviewed 25 farmers who use social media. </p>
<p>Our findings showed that social media provides farmers with a way of connecting to others and reaffirming positivity about their identity as a farmer. For example, the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Farming365">#Farming365</a> started life as an annual social media event to bring farmers together online. Now, it’s become a way for farmers to <a href="https://www.fwi.co.uk/farm-life/five-farmers-share-their-social-media-stories">share</a> their everyday lives online all year round to show that farming requires constant commitment.</p>
<p>Given the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/news/articles/longworkinghoursandlone-w.html">long hours</a> spent in remote locations and the number of social events in the farming calendar <a href="https://www.fwi.co.uk/events/viability-fears-grow-as-more-shows-fall-victim-to-covid-19">cancelled</a> thanks to the pandemic, this sense of positivity is crucial to prevent plummeting job satisfaction or even a mass <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/aug/25/the-anxiety-is-off-the-scale-uk-farm-sector-worried-by-labour-shortages">exodus</a> of farmers from their jobs. So anything that can be done to increase it could be worthwhile.</p>
<h2>Connecting with community</h2>
<p>Social media – especially Facebook and Twitter – can help farmers learn about new technologies, equipment and practices. And information shared on social media can offer immediate answers to farming questions ranging from upcoming weather forecasts to fixing farm machinery. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-field-to-store-to-plate-farmers-are-worried-about-climate-change-178885">From field to store to plate, farmers are worried about climate change</a>
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<hr>
<p>But farmers’ social media use goes beyond simple information gathering. We found that Twitter is often used by farmers as a diary to map out farm work as it progresses, using <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0743016721002643">photos and videos</a>. </p>
<p>As farming is shaped by annual rhythms, it’s common for farmers to reflect on their decisions in relation to previous seasons – for example, by comparing pictures of their current crops with last year’s. Documenting farming online allows farmers to receive empathy and encouragement in real time.</p>
<p>Farmers also use social media to interact with the public. In particular, many advertise their skills and products – such as meat and vegetables – through sharing stories about the journey from <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-fate-of-our-planets-environment-depends-on-the-state-of-its-soil-170985">field to fork</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iTBBPxDncP8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Vlogger and farmer Tom Pemberton has achieved online visibility and support sharing his experience of life on a farm.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Farming vloggers such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/TomPembertonFarmLife">Tom Pemberton</a> have even found an alternative <a href="https://www.fwi.co.uk/business/diversification/how-a-young-farmers-youtube-income-paid-for-new-sprayer">stream of income</a> by making YouTube videos discussing their everyday struggles and achievements. As part of the online event <a href="https://www.morrisons-farming.com/backing-british/farm24/">#farm24</a> run by Farmers Guardian and supermarket Morrisons, Tom <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyzkpCdNRjc&t=757s">shares with viewers</a> the typical tasks he accomplishes in a day’s farming: including milking, calf-rearing and running the family’s farm shop. </p>
<p>Alongside marketing benefits, our findings suggest that social media is an important way for farmers to respond to <a href="https://twitter.com/HawfordFarm/status/1503426803943329792">news items</a> and <a href="https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/environment/farmers-reject-monbiot-claims-that-livestock-are-killing-the-planet">farming debates</a>. One farmer we interviewed commented that social media offers “a chance to give our side of the story”. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-how-the-global-fertiliser-shortage-is-going-to-affect-food-179061">Ukraine: how the global fertiliser shortage is going to affect food</a>
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<p>This might involve revealing unseen aspects of farming to the public, such as routine activities like milking which take place inside <a href="https://twitter.com/AshTreeFarm42/status/1444015242787360774">farm buildings</a> during the <a href="https://twitter.com/cups_on/status/1389323193727569923">early morning</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23farming%20AND%20night&src=typed_query&f=live">late night</a>. We found that receiving <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=farmers%20AND%20%20%23keyworker&src=typed_query&f=video">positive responses</a> to these posts, particularly during the <a href="https://www.nffn.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/NFFN-Report-1.pdf">pandemic</a>, helped to boost farmers’ sense of pride in their work. </p>
<p>On the flipside, <a href="https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/country-sports-fans-face-online-death-threats">negativity</a> was commonly reported by farmers on social media: especially around issues of <a href="https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/online-abuse-and-farm-protests-the-vegans-impacting-on-farmers-mental-health/">animal welfare</a>, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/red-shepherdess-farmer-fights-male-chauvinist-pigs-0cm39spwq">gender</a> and environmental issues. Our research found that this potential for criticism meant social media posts are often heavily curated and stylised.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A lamb peers over a farm gate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456579/original/file-20220406-26-f0qgt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456579/original/file-20220406-26-f0qgt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456579/original/file-20220406-26-f0qgt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456579/original/file-20220406-26-f0qgt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456579/original/file-20220406-26-f0qgt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456579/original/file-20220406-26-f0qgt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456579/original/file-20220406-26-f0qgt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Posts showing the lighter side of farming often avoid its dirtier realities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/-DdbQGZEkZM">Harry Grout/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This can lead other farmers to feel that such posts give a “rose-tinted” view of farming, masking some of the <a href="https://twitter.com/TheHornedBeefCo/status/1117772425176002561">harsher truths</a> of the occupation such as animal death and disease. Such a bias towards <a href="https://www.farmersguide.co.uk/ally-hunter-blair-talks-farm-life-social-media-and-covid-19/">positivity</a> can be detrimental to farmers’ wellbeing, with one commenting that “it makes you feel that everyone is doing a better job than you.” </p>
<p>Social media cannot replace face-to-face contact or in-person networking opportunities, both from a personal and professional perspective. But online platforms can play a big part in bridging the gap between rural and urban communities, offering avenues for support beyond one’s immediate farming network, and helping farmers work together with the public to build a more sustainable food system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176610/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Riley receives funding from the British Academy for this research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bethany Robertson receives funding from the British Academy for this research.</span></em></p>New research shows using social media can provide a much-needed boost to UK farmers’ wellbeing, connectedness and mental health, and even bank balances.Mark Riley, Reader in Geography, University of LiverpoolBethany Robertson, Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1757532022-03-01T15:04:50Z2022-03-01T15:04:50ZThe challenges of governing Lagos, the city that keeps growing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446769/original/file-20220216-13-k47zcc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Kraus/EyeEm/GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>From its historical origins as a fishing village and the site of a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pyELCBM6ORQ">pepper farm</a>, to today’s bustling metropolis, Lagos has evolved into a complex agglomeration of people, settlements and vested interests.</p>
<p>As the economic powerhouse of Nigeria and West Africa, Lagos is projected to become the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2021/africa-cities/">most populous</a> city in Africa within the next 50 years. Reaching a population of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2021/africa-cities/">100 million</a> from 15 million today. If recent waves of migration are anything to go by –- from those seeking economic opportunities or escaping the climate crisis and insurgency in other parts of Nigeria –- the projections may be <a href="https://www.coolgeography.co.uk/gcsen/Lagos_Causes_Growth.php">underestimated</a>. </p>
<p>Governing a city like Lagos is not a job for the fainthearted. It’s a city that is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/lagos">always growing</a>, and with deep-seated socioeconomic inequalities. </p>
<p>We are part of the <a href="https://www.african-cities.org/">African Cities Research Consortium</a>, a new initiative committed to addressing critical challenges in 13 cities in sub-Saharan Africa. Our recent <a href="https://www.african-cities.org/lagos_city_scoping_study">publication</a> sheds some light on the complexities of Lagos and why managing the city is a challenge in itself.</p>
<h2>Governance struggles</h2>
<p>Lagos faces many challenges; some are critical to understanding why metropolitan governance is so difficult. </p>
<p>Firstly, the geographical definition of what constitutes Lagos has become nebulous over time. The city’s urban land area continually spreads to absorb adjoining state, and now even national, <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2413-4155/3/2/23/pdf">boundaries</a>.</p>
<p>This means that it is difficult to gain accurate data for short and long-term planning policies.</p>
<p>Secondly, the city’s governance structures – from local to state level – are unclear and don’t necessarily align in the ways expected. The local government system is essentially an appendage of the state government. It lacks autonomy as well as the technical and fiscal capacity required to perform its constitutional <a href="http://internationalpolicybrief.org/images/journals/Ecology/Ecoogy%2010.pdf">functions</a>. </p>
<h2>Power dynamics</h2>
<p>Lagos bears the historical legacy of having been Nigeria’s longest established capital city. It started as a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265898128_Lagos_a_cultural_and_historical_companion_by_Kaye_Whiteman_review">protectorate</a> under the British colonial government and became capital of the colony and later of the independent Nigeria. It withstood the subsequent military coups, remaining the capital up until the movement of the federal capital territory to <a href="http://www.oaugf.ng/6thawam2016/index.php/about/abuja#:%7E:text=Abuja%20is%20located%20in%20the,the%20country's%20most%20populous%20city.">Abuja</a> in 1991.</p>
<p>Despite losing its administrative capital status, Lagos remains by far Nigeria’s preeminent economic powerhouse. The city’s economy more than <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/ff0595e4-26de-11e8-b27e-cc62a39d57a0">quadruples</a> its nearest rivals –- across Nigeria and elsewhere in West Africa –- in productivity, capital and infrastructure. </p>
<p>Its historical status and ongoing economic power provide the background for the city’s uneasy, and often tense, relationship with the national government which is where the power, revenue and resourcing decisions are located. </p>
<p>Furthermore, Lagos has a history of different political parties controlling different levels of <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3636948">government</a> – those that run the state, and those that run the nation. As a result, policies and fiduciary allocations are often “lost” between conflicting governance systems. </p>
<p>The local government system is severely incapacitated. Instead, informal governance institutions have immense influence on everyday life in <a href="https://www.societyandspace.org/forums/massive-urbanization-forum">the city</a>.</p>
<h2>Inequality and informality</h2>
<p>For the average Lagosian, these conditions result in a lived experience which delivers poorly on infrastructure and quality of life. Yet the city remains one of the most <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/lifestyle/lagos-is-the-second-most-expensive-city-in-africa-to-live-in-19th-in-the-world-mercer/8sbegg7">expensive places</a> in Africa to live in.</p>
<p>The poor residents of Lagos live in sprawling informal settlements within the city core, or create new ones at the <a href="https://urbanage.lsecities.net/essays/vignette-the-spirit-of-lagos">peripheral areas</a>. The rest can be found in several gated communities that span the city. In both instances, self-governance is <a href="https://urbanage.lsecities.net/essays/vignette-the-spirit-of-lagos">common</a>.</p>
<p>Taxation from local to state level is poorly managed. Basic services, such as primary healthcare and public education, are under-resourced. </p>
<p>There’s an intricate web of informal governance systems that hold sway at the local levels. This results in a <a href="https://www.societyandspace.org/articles/part-3-the-power-of-naming-lagos-nairobi-johannesburg">class of powerbrokers</a> who oversee the provision of infrastructure in the city. Very few people or groups have the agency to engage with these gatekeepers to development.</p>
<h2>Marginalised youth</h2>
<p>Additionally, Lagos is a city of marginalised young people. The <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/nigeria-population/">average age in Nigeria</a> is 18.1 years. But many young citizens are not in <a href="https://www.ng.undp.org/content/nigeria/en/home/library/poverty/policy-brief-nigerias-youth-bulge--from-potential-demographic-bo.html">education, employment or training</a>. In Lagos, as in other cities, young people are confronted with poor governance, unemployment or underemployment, police brutality and a high cost of living.</p>
<p>The frustration of these young Lagos residents is visceral. Frustration-aggression and relative <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/comparative-studies-in-society-and-history/article/abs/youth-as-a-force-in-the-modern-world/9EC23FFF00AAA25A24D5FB98CCB2D816">deprivation theories</a> suggest that individuals turn aggressive when there are impediments to their route to success in life, especially when material basic needs are not met. The <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/nigeria/lessons-endsars-movement-nigeria">#EndSARS protests</a> that paralysed the city for days in October 2020, ending in bloodshed, showed what can happen when such frustration plays out in the streets.</p>
<p>The government’s inability to investigate what actually went on, and attribute blame, has further added to the underlying tensions in the city.</p>
<h2>People power</h2>
<p>In all of these challenges, certain things are clear: the immense potential of the Lagos economy, the hope in the hearts of migrants that Lagos offers opportunities for a better future, and the community driven city-making practices of residents.</p>
<p>Our research at the <a href="https://www.african-cities.org/">African Cities Research Consortium</a> seeks to investigate how these factors interact with complex governance frameworks. By doing this, we aim to identify which structures have been able to successfully navigate the complex layers of Lagos governance. In particular the local structures which <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781849774772-13/lagos-urban-gating-default-condition-ola-uduku">support</a> and deliver physical and social infrastructure for communities.</p>
<p>From these analyses, we hope to examine how bottom-up systems in Lagos –- and ultimately in cities across Africa –- can be better supported to deliver development and infrastructural change in a challenging and complex landscape.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175753/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Governing a city like Lagos, with deep-seated socioeconomic inequalities, is not a job for the fainthearted.Ola Uduku, Professor, University of LiverpoolTaibat Lawanson, Professor of Urban Management and Governance, University of LagosLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1746122022-02-14T14:53:07Z2022-02-14T14:53:07ZAddis Ababa yet to meet the needs of residents: what has to change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442449/original/file-20220125-17-cnwl2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Addis Ababa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sigel Eschkol / EyeEm/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With an estimated population of more than <a href="https://www.statsethiopia.gov.et/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Population-of-Weredas-as-of-July-2021.pdf">3.7 million people</a>, Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, is home to about <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/23245/Addis0Ababa00E0ing0urban0resilience.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">a quarter of Ethiopia’s urban population</a>. The city generates well above <a href="https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/download-manager-files/State%20of%20Addis%20Ababa%202017%20Report-web.pdf">29% of Ethiopia’s urban GDP and 20% of national urban employment</a>. </p>
<p>Over the last two decades, Addis Ababa has witnessed rapid socio-economic changes and a drastic physical transformation. This was propelled by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/dec/04/addis-ababa-ethiopia-redesign-housing-project">a development-oriented government</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1468-2427.12550?saml_referrer">the private sector</a>. </p>
<p>However, the city faces challenges around housing, transport, infrastructure, services, youth unemployment and displacement. </p>
<p>I’m part of the <a href="https://www.african-cities.org/">African Cities Research Consortium</a>, a new six-year initiative committed to addressing critical challenges in 13 cities in sub-Saharan Africa, including Addis. </p>
<p>I <a href="https://www.african-cities.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ACRC_Addis-Ababa_City-Scoping-Study.pdf">argue that</a> the solution lies in the way the city is governed. Currently, political elites influence the city’s governance and its physical transformation. The planning is top-down and excludes the majority of the city’s residents.</p>
<p>The result is that development has focused on features like skyscrapers, shopping malls and luxury housing complexes. These might fit the government’s aspirational template for a modern African city but they do not meet the needs or reflect the realities – <a href="https://www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk/blog/2018/01/toilet-shortage-in-the-slums-of-ethiopia/#:%7E:text=But%20in%20Addis%20Ababa%2C%20where,and%20dangerous%20to%20be%20around.">about 80%</a> of city residents live in dilapidated housing conditions.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/megaprojects-in-addis-ababa-raise-questions-about-spatial-justice-141067">Megaprojects in Addis Ababa raise questions about spatial justice</a>
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<p>A rethink is needed on how the city residents –- particularly the low-income urban citizens –- can actively shape their city and overcome the challenges they face every day.</p>
<h2>Urban challenges</h2>
<p>Addis Ababa was established in the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41967609?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">late 1880s</a>, under King Menelik (1889-1913). It was an area that was previously <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307608936_State_of_Oromia%27s_Interest_in_Addis_Ababa_Finfinnee_Undelivered_Constitutional_Promises">inhabited by ethnic Oromo</a> agro-pastoralists. </p>
<p>Constitutionally, Addis Ababa is governed by a city council, which are directly elected by city residents every five years. And the council elect a mayor among its members, who will lead the executive branch of the city government. However, the federal government has the legislative power to <a href="https://urbanlex.unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/faolex//eth135251.pdf">dissolve the city council</a>, extend <a href="https://chilot.me/2020/03/14/addis-ababa-city-government-revised-charter-amendment-proclamation-no-1094-2018/?fbclid=IwAR11M4Lf4AdUVQNMuJTBoTAnMonyBa9U3qKrYPidbJwxhtefnqrodM9DWUM">its term limits beyond five years and appoint a deputy mayor with full executive power</a>. </p>
<p>Even though residents elect the city council, they don’t have much say. Urban planning processes tend to be <a href="https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/11584/(1)35623.pdf">expert-led</a> –- for instance, the <a href="https://c40-production-images.s3.amazonaws.com/other_uploads/images/2036_Addis_Ababa_Structural_Plan_2017_to_2027.original.pdf?1544193458">10-year structural plan</a> (2017-2027) which was effected to guide the development of the city. However, due to <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ejossah/article/view/100818/90024">constant city leadership changes</a>, <a href="https://theses.gla.ac.uk/74327/7/2019KloosterboerPhD.pdf">imposition of modernist urban models</a>, and <a href="https://docplayer.net/52244884-Manipulating-ambiguous-rules-informal-actors-in-urban-land-management-a-case-study-in-kolfe-keranio-sub-city-addis-ababa.html">corruption</a>, it’s common to find developments that violate the urban plans. These include <a href="https://theconversation.com/megaprojects-in-addis-ababa-raise-questions-about-spatial-justice-141067">government projects</a>.</p>
<p>Federal and city governments have invested in infrastructure over the past 20 years. This has helped to reduce <a href="https://www.african-cities.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ACRC_Addis-Ababa_City-Scoping-Study.pdf">poverty, inequality and unemployment</a>. However, since the city started from a low development base the reduction is marginal. Addis Ababa still faces complex and interrelated urban challenges. </p>
<p>Around <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/22979/Ethiopia000Urb0ddle0income0Ethiopia.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">70-80% of Addis Ababa’s housing stock</a> is congested, dilapidated and lacks basic services and sanitation facilities. Although the city government has constructed more than 270,000 housing units since 2005, they are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/dec/04/addis-ababa-ethiopia-redesign-housing-project">unaffordable</a> for most of the city’s low-income residents.</p>
<p><a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/23245/Addis0Ababa00E0ing0urban0resilience.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">Only 44% </a> of the population have access to clean water, and <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/23245/Addis0Ababa00E0ing0urban0resilience.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">less than 30%</a> have access to sewerage services. </p>
<p><a href="https://resilientaddis.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/addis-ababa-resilience-strategy-ENG.pdf">Flooding, landslides and fire hazards</a> affect many due to informal housing construction in risk-prone areas, congested settlement patterns, and poor housing quality.</p>
<p>The city is challenged by youth unemployment. About <a href="https://www.statsethiopia.gov.et/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Key-Findings-on-The-2020-Urban-Employment-Unemployment-Survey-UEUS.pdf">a quarter of Addis Ababa’s young population</a> (aged 15-29) are unemployed. This is <a href="https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/17474/Beshir-Butta-DALE.pdf">mainly due to</a> the mismatch between the new jobs the economy creates and the increasing number of youth joining the labour market.</p>
<p>Addis Ababa is also under pressure from the influx of migrants. Within the last five years, <a href="https://www.statsethiopia.gov.et/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Final-2021-LABOUR-FORCE-AND-MIGRATION-SURVEY_Key-finding-Report-.17AUG2021.pdf">the proportion</a> of net recent migrants (people who migrated in the last five years) was 16.2 per 1000 total population. Most of these recent migrants endure <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/pt/207921468022733336/pdf/Urban-Migration-Final-Version8242010.pdf">economic hardship and poor quality of life</a>, especially during their initial years in the city. </p>
<p>Additionaly, city officials’ drive to make the city a well governed modern-city created a hostile environment to <a href="http://www2.econ.uu.nl/users/marrewijk/pdf/ihs%20workshop/fransen%20paper.pdf">the many</a> independent informal sector operators. Although official statistics tend to <a href="https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/download-manager-files/State%20of%20Addis%20Ababa%202017%20Report-web.pdf">underestimate</a> informal employment, some scholars estimate it to be as high as <a href="http://www2.econ.uu.nl/users/marrewijk/pdf/ihs%20workshop/fransen%20paper.pdf">69% of all employment</a> in Addis Ababa. Nevertheless, small informal businesses are forced to <a href="https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/download-manager-files/State%20of%20Addis%20Ababa%202017%20Report-web.pdf">register their businesses and abide by tax regulations</a> which is a challenge for them. And street vendors face <a href="https://nordopen.nord.no/nord-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/225025/Sibhat.pdf?sequence=1">harassment and intimidation</a>. </p>
<p>Overall, the city is unable to unlock its full development potential.</p>
<h2>Fix the politics first</h2>
<p>Many strategies have been proposed to tackle Addis Ababa’s urban challenges. But few seriously consider the city’s complex politics and how this determines resource allocation.</p>
<p>I suggest four areas of improvement.</p>
<p><strong>Fix the relationship between Addis and Oromia</strong></p>
<p>Addis is the capital of both Ethiopia and the Regional State of Oromia. </p>
<p>However, due to the absence of an institutional framework between the city government and the surrounding Oromia National Regional State – to demarcate the boundary and collaborate in joint governance concerns – cooperation is limited and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/feb/12/ethiopia-state-of-emergency-anger-oromo-people">politically contentious</a>. This needs to be resolved. </p>
<p>Without a clear agreement about how to work together or what each is responsible for, the city and the state can’t easily coordinate development, like water supply or landfill sites.</p>
<p>The establishment, and further expansion, of Addis has displaced thousands of ethnic Oromo farmers. The 1995 constitution guarantees the Oromia National Regional State a “<a href="http://www.parliament.am/library/sahmanadrutyunner/etovpia.pdf">special interest</a>” in Addis Ababa to address the historical ownership claims of ethnic Oromos. But the details of the “special interest” have not yet been specified in law. </p>
<p>A protest sparked by a <a href="https://eng.addisstandard.com/how-not-to-make-a-master-plan">draft metropolitan plan</a> shook the country between 2014 and 2018. Many ethnic Oromos perceived it as a plan to expand the administrative boundary of Addis Ababa into Oromia. In response, the city government decided to <a href="https://resilientaddis.org/2019/01/30/061/">rehabilitate previously displaced ethnic Oromo farmers</a> and allocate them subsidised condominium flats. The city government also sought to support them in urban agriculture. </p>
<p>The federal government should build on this and facilitate institutionalised coordination between the Addis Ababa city government and Oromia national regional state.</p>
<p><strong>More representation</strong></p>
<p>City residents must be better represented in how the city is governed and elected officials must be accountable to them. </p>
<p>The federal government <a href="https://chilot.me/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/self-governing-addis-ababa-the-federal-government-oromia.pdf">meddling</a> in the governance of the city means city officials are loyal to the ruling party, rather than the city residents. And, because they are not accountable to residents, corruption and mismanagement can go unchecked. </p>
<p>It’s paramount that city residents are properly represented at each tier of the city’s administration; city, sub-city and district. This will enhance their role in shaping the city’s future. City and local council elections must be held regularly and in accordance with the <a href="https://urbanlex.unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/faolex//eth135251.pdf">city charter</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Imposed city models</strong></p>
<p>City and national governments have imposed their vision of a “<a href="https://www.african-cities.org/the-political-opportunities-and-obstacles-associated-with-africas-urban-challenges/">modern city</a>”. This has resulted in <a href="https://theses.gla.ac.uk/74327/7/2019KloosterboerPhD.pdf">city models</a> that do not meet the needs of the majority of citizens. Instead, they favour <a href="https://qz.com/africa/1873924/ethiopias-addis-ababa-projects-harm-spatial-justice-design/">urban elites and international tourists</a>. This must change. </p>
<p>Two examples of this include the current government’s flagship <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QPi7oj6OtI">Beautifying Sheger</a> project – aimed at cleaning Addis’ rivers and building green spaces along the 56km riverbanks – and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QPi7oj6OtI">Dubai-inspired</a>, upscale commercial and residential public-private partnership developments. With the introduction of these developments the policy focus and <a href="https://www.capitalethiopia.com/news-news/finance-halts-new-condo-projects/">resource allocation</a> of the city government shifted away from the pro-poor schemes, such as <a href="https://www.pasgr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/FINAL-The-Governance-of-Addis-Ababa-City-Turn-Around-Projects-.pdf">subsidised housing and light rail</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/megaprojects-in-addis-ababa-raise-questions-about-spatial-justice-141067">Megaprojects in Addis Ababa raise questions about spatial justice</a>
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<p>Moreover, these developments threaten <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/03/12/addis-ababa-riverside-project-gives-priority-development-residents/">to displace thousands of slum dwellers</a>. </p>
<p><strong>Supporting the informal</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://www.effective-states.org/the-politics-of-dominating-addis-ababa/?cn-reloaded=1">Repressive politics</a> have made it <a href="https://addiszeybe.com/opinion/politics/eskinder-nega-the-balderas-council-and-the-debate-on-addis-ababas-legal-and-political-status-implications-to-addis-ababa-residents">difficult</a> for civil society organisations to defend the rights and interests of their constituency. For instance, government can <a href="https://addisfortune.net/columns/ethiopians-yet-to-own-rights-to-cities/">displace inner-city slum dwellers</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/mar/13/life-death-growth-addis-ababa-racial-tensions">demolish peripheral informal settlements</a> without providing alternative housing. </p>
<p>The city needs organised communities that can reorient top-down, exclusionary urban development towards inclusive development. </p>
<p>Ultimately, what is needed is a shift to inclusivity. This requires that the relations between Oromia National Regional State and Addis Ababa City Government by addressed. In addition, the city residents must govern and pro-poor urban developments be promoted.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174612/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose. The views expressed in the piece are all Ezana's and do not represent their employer's official position.</span></em></p>Addis may be shaping up to look like the modern city that the government wants, but it is yet to meet the needs of most residents.Ezana Weldeghebrael, Research Fellow, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1759832022-02-03T13:10:24Z2022-02-03T13:10:24ZLos Angeles’ long, troubled history with urban oil drilling is nearing an end after years of health concerns<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443965/original/file-20220202-13-lvg7ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C58%2C2860%2C1877&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Oil pumps can be found near homes across the Los Angeles area.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-oil-well-pumps-in-a-newly-constructed-neighborhood-near-news-photo/2043026">David McNew/Getty Image</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Los Angeles had oil wells pumping in its neighborhoods when Hollywood was in its infancy, and thousands of active wells still dot the city.</p>
<p>These wells can emit toxic chemicals such as benzene and other irritants into the air, often just feet from homes, schools and parks. But now, after nearly a decade of community organizing and studies demonstrating the adverse health impacts on people living nearby, Los Angeles’ long history with urban drilling is nearing an end.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-26/l-a-city-council-moves-to-phase-out-oil-and-gas-drilling">unanimous vote</a> on Jan. 26, 2022, the Los Angeles City Council took the first step toward phasing out all oil and gas extraction in the city by declaring oil extraction a nonconforming land use. That came on the heels of a unanimous vote by <a href="https://mitchell.lacounty.gov/board-of-supervisors-passes-landmark-motions-to-phase-out-oil-drilling/">Los Angeles County supervisors</a> to phase out oil extraction in unincorporated county areas. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=t4m6sjAAAAAJ&hl=en">environmental health</a> <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bhavna-Shamasunder">researchers</a>, we study the impacts of oil drilling on surrounding communities. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111088">Our research</a> shows that <a href="http://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15010138">people living near these urban oil operations</a> suffer higher rates of asthma than average, as well as wheezing, eye irritation and sore throats. In some cases, the impact on residents’ lungs is worse than living beside a highway or being exposed to secondhand smoke every day. </p>
<h2>LA was once an oil town with forests of derricks</h2>
<p>Over a century ago, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3985379">first industry to boom</a> in Los Angeles was oil. </p>
<p>Oil was abundant and flowed close to the surface. In early 20th-century California, sparse laws governed mineral extraction, and rights to oil accrued to those who could pull it out of the ground first. This ushered in a period of rampant drilling, with wells and associated machinery crisscrossing the landscape. By the mid-1920s, Los Angeles was one of the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3985379?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents">largest oil-exporting regions</a> in the world. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A historic black-and-white photo shows a street with houses, old cars and dozens of oil derricks on the hill behind them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402241/original/file-20210523-102683-u0ildq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1924 photo shows the oil derricks on Signal Hill.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_City_Views%20(1925%20+).html">Water and Power Museum Archive</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An old black-and-white photo of a roller coaster on a pier, with the city behind it and then a long row of oil derricks behind that on a ridge." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402245/original/file-20210523-23-dk3nal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The view across The Pike amusement park and downtown Long Beach, California, in 1940 shows a forest of oil derricks in the background.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_City_Views%20(1925%20+).html">Water and Power Museum Archive</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Oil rigs were so pervasive across the region that the Los Angeles Times described them in 1930 as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jas079">trees in a forest</a>.” Working-class communities were initially supportive of the industry because it promised jobs but later <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3985379">pushed back</a> as their neighborhoods witnessed explosions and oil spills, along with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-004-1159-0">longer-term damage to land, water and human health</a>.</p>
<p>Tensions over land use, extraction rights and subsequent drops in oil prices due to overproduction eventually resulted in curbs on drilling and a long-standing practice of oil companies’ voluntary “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jas079">self-regulation</a>,” such as noise-reduction technologies. The industry began touting these voluntary approaches to deflect governmental regulation.</p>
<p>Increasingly, oil companies disguised their activities with approaches such as operating <a href="https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/hidden-oil-wells/">inside buildings, building tall walls</a> and <a href="https://lbbusinessjournal.com/thums-oil-islands-half-a-century-later-still-unique-still-iconic">designing islands off Long Beach</a> and other sites to blend in with the landscape. Oil drilling was hidden in plain sight. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A silhouetted student with a backpack walks past an oil derrick covered with drawings of flowers outside a school." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403472/original/file-20210530-17-ozo882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beverly Hills High School earned money from an oil well, hidden behind walls covered with flower drawings, that operated until 2017 but raised health concerns.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/decorative-flowery-exterior-masks-an-oil-rig-along-olympic-news-photo/566019401">Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today there are over 20,000 active, idle or abandoned wells spread across a county of 10 million people. About <a href="https://news.usc.edu/184929/urban-oil-wells-drilling-lung-health-los-angeles-usc-research/">one-third of residents</a> live less than a mile from an active well site, <a href="https://maps.conservation.ca.gov/doggr/wellfinder/#openModal/-118.23225/33.87983/12">some right next door</a>.</p>
<p>Since the 2000s, the advance of extractive technologies to access harder-to-reach deposits has led to a resurgence of oil extraction activities. As extraction in some neighborhoods has ramped up, people living in South Los Angeles and other neighborhoods in oil fields have noticed frequent <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2013-sep-21-la-me-0922-oil-20130922-story.html">odors, nosebleeds and headaches</a>. </p>
<h2>Closer to urban oil drilling, poorer lung function</h2>
<p>The city of Los Angeles has no buffers or setbacks between oil extraction and homes, and approximately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111088">75% of active oil or gas wells are located within 500 meters</a> (1,640 feet) of “sensitive land uses,” such as homes, schools, child care facilities, parks or senior residential facilities. </p>
<p>Despite over a century of oil drilling in Los Angeles, until recently there was limited research into the health impacts. Working with <a href="https://envhealthcenters.usc.edu/2021/04/harnessing-the-expertise-of-community-health-workers-for-environmental-health-research.html">community health workers</a> and community-based organizations helped us gauge the impact oil wells are having on residents, particularly on its historically Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cSfXx7cMNWc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Oil drilling in Los Angeles.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first step was a door-to-door survey of 813 neighbors from 203 households near wells in Las Cienegas oil field, just south and west of downtown. We found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15010138">asthma</a> was significantly more common among people living near South Los Angeles oil wells than among residents of <a href="https://ask.chis.ucla.edu">Los Angeles County as a whole</a>. Nearly half the people we spoke with, 45%, didn’t know oil wells were operating nearby, and 63% didn’t know how to contact local regulatory authorities to report odors or environmental hazards. </p>
<p>Next, we measured lung function of 747 long-term residents, ages 10 to 85, living near two drilling sites. Poor lung capacity, measured as the amount of air a person can exhale after taking a deep breath, and lung strength, how strongly the person can exhale, and are both predictors of health problems including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-012-9750-2">respiratory disease, death from cardiovascular problems</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/thorax.58.5.388">early death in general</a>.</p>
<p>We found that the closer someone lived to an active or recently idle well site, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111088">the poorer that person’s lung function</a>, even after adjusting for such other risk factors as smoking, asthma and living near a freeway. This research demonstrates a significant relationship between living near oil wells and worsened lung health.</p>
<p>People living up to 1,000 meters (0.6 miles) downwind of a well site showed lower lung function on average than those living farther away and upwind. The effect on their lungs’ capacity and strength was similar to impacts of living near a freeway or, for women, being exposed to secondhand smoke.</p>
<p><iframe id="g7Qgh" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/g7Qgh/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Using a community monitoring network in South Los Angeles, we were able to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117519">distinguish oil-related pollution</a> in neighborhoods near wells. We found short-term spikes of air pollutants and methane, a potent greenhouse gas, at monitors <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146194">less than 500 meters, about one-third of a mile, from oil sites</a>.</p>
<p>When oil production at a site <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/D1EM00048A">stopped</a>, we observed significant reductions in such toxins as benzene, toluene and n-hexane in the air in adjacent neighborhoods. These <a href="https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp123-p.pdf">chemicals</a> are known irritants, carcinogens and reproductive toxins. They are also associated with dizziness, headaches, fatigue, tremors and respiratory system irritation, including difficulty breathing and, at higher levels, impaired lung function. </p>
<h2>Vulnerable communities at risk</h2>
<p>Many of the dozens of active oil wells in South Los Angeles are in historically Black and Hispanic communities that have been marginalized for decades. These neighborhoods are already considered among the <a href="https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen/report/calenviroscreen-30">most highly polluted, with the most vulnerable residents</a> in the state.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing active well sites." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403473/original/file-20210530-15-1w5wltk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A state app called Well Finder locates active oil wells, including in Los Angeles County.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://maps.conservation.ca.gov/doggr/wellfinder/#openModal/-118.00909/33.92186/12">State of California</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In its landmark vote in January, the City Council moved to draft an ordinance that would ban all new oil wells, and it ordered a study to determine how to phase out and decommission existing wells over the next five years. </p>
<p>The state, meanwhile, has proposed a <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/10/21/california-moves-to-prevent-new-oil-drilling-near-communities-expand-health-protections-2/">3,200-foot setback rule for new wells</a>, but this has not yet gone into effect and does little to address health concerns for residents who live near existing wells. Gov. Gavin Newsom has also <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/04/23/governor-newsom-takes-action-to-phase-out-oil-extraction-in-california/">proposed to phase out oil extraction</a>, but the proposal would allow oil wells to continue operating until 2045. </p>
<p>Our research shows why a variety of policies, including buffers, phaseouts and emissions controls in existing wells will need to be considered to protect public health and accelerate the transition to cleaner energy sources.</p>
<p><em>This updates an <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-oil-wells-linked-to-asthma-and-other-health-problems-in-los-angeles-160162">article</a> originally published June 2, 2021.</em> </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.\</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175983/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jill Johnston works at the University of Southern California. This research was supported in part by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bhavna Shamasunder works at Occidental College. This research was supported in part by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the 11th Hour Project. </span></em></p>Photos from the early 1900s show LA’s forests of oil derricks. Hundreds of wells are still pumping, and research shows how people living nearby are struggling with breathing problems.Jill Johnston, Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern CaliforniaBhavna Shamasunder, Associate Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy, Occidental CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1747622022-01-27T13:29:23Z2022-01-27T13:29:23ZHow real is ‘Abbott Elementary?’ A former Philadelphia school teacher weighs in<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442038/original/file-20220121-17-1hz41y3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C0%2C3000%2C1962&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Abbott Elementary' takes place in the Philadelphia school district. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dgepress.com/abc/shows/abbott-elementary/photos/">ABC/Gilles Mingasson</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>ABC’s mockumentary <a href="https://abc.com/shows/abbott-elementary">“Abbott Elementary”</a> follows a group of dedicated teachers who work at a Philadelphia school. The show takes a comedic approach toward issues in inner city schools. Here, <a href="https://www.lynnettemawhinney.com/">Lynnette Mawhinney</a>, a former Philadelphia schoolteacher who is now an associate professor of Urban Education at Rutgers University - Newark, weighs in on whether the show accurately portrays the realities of educators in today’s schools.</em></p>
<h2>Is this show realistic in showing the challenges of urban schools?</h2>
<p>Yes, this show humorously speaks to the real-life experiences of teachers. The <a href="https://abc.com/shows/abbott-elementary/episode-guide/season-01/03-wishlist">pilot episode</a> begins with the main character, Ms. Janine Teagues, discussing how she is one of three teachers left from an initial group of 20 teachers hired the year before. This speaks to the issue of <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/there-has-to-be-a-better-way/9780813595276">teacher turnover</a>, a problem that costs schools an <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED498001">estimated US$7.34 billion annually</a>. These costs come from the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X17735812">problems</a> that schools – and in particular, urban schools – have in keeping teachers on staff as they either move to other schools or leave the profession. Once a teacher leaves, school districts have to spend money to attract, hire and develop new teachers.</p>
<p>As I show in my book, “<a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/there-has-to-be-a-better-way/9780813595276">There Has to be a Better Way: Lessons from Former Urban Teachers</a>,” urban teachers leave the profession due to exhaustion, disillusionment and conflicts with administration. In particular, teachers of color leave urban schools due to racial microaggressions.</p>
<p>“Abbott Elementary” also deals with themes of insufficient resources for teachers and students, as well as misappropriation of school funds. Journalist Dale Russakoff’s book, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/prize-whos-in-charge-of-americas-schools/oclc/915774457">“The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools”</a>, details how a <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/7/3/18629810/mark-zuckerberg-cory-booker-newark-schools">$100 million gift</a> from Mark Zuckerberg to Newark Public Schools in 2010 was grossly misappropriated by upper administration to consultants and <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-from-newark-why-school-reforms-will-not-work-without-addressing-poverty-48212">rarely did the money serve the schools themselves</a>. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, as shown in <a href="https://abc.com/shows/abbott-elementary/episode-guide/season-01/03-wishlist">episodes one and three</a> of “Abbott Elementary,” urban teachers know how to make a way and get what they need for their classrooms – whether it’s through social media platforms, crowdfunding campaigns, or, to use street lingo, they know someone who can “get the hookup.” For example, when I taught high school in Philly through the early 2000s, I was the laptop “hookup” at my school. I had a family member who worked in corporate business where I would get their old laptops so students could use them in school. Ms. Thomas, down the hall, used to be the “hookup” for books to help stock teachers’ classroom libraries. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Black woman sits on a hospital bed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442459/original/file-20220125-23-1d2c6n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442459/original/file-20220125-23-1d2c6n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442459/original/file-20220125-23-1d2c6n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442459/original/file-20220125-23-1d2c6n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442459/original/file-20220125-23-1d2c6n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442459/original/file-20220125-23-1d2c6n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442459/original/file-20220125-23-1d2c6n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Teachers sometimes suffer from burnout due to their job duties.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dgepress.com/abc/shows/abbott-elementary/photos/">ABC/Raymond Liu</a></span>
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<p>Another theme is how novice teachers can forget to practice self-care and <a href="https://journals.charlotte.edu/urbaned/article/view/907">burn out</a> quickly. In <a href="https://abc.com/shows/abbott-elementary/episode-guide/season-01/03-wishlist">episode two</a>, Janine skips multiple meals and goes above and beyond for the school but ends up sick. Her senior colleague, Ms. Melissa Schemmenti, reminds her, “We care so much, we refuse to burn out. If we burn out, who’s here for those kids? That’s why you gotta take care of yourself.” In this instance, I think the show tackles subtle issues for novice teachers that are not often known to the general public.</p>
<h2>What does this show mean to the teaching profession?</h2>
<p>In my view, the show represents a rare portrayal of Black teachers. The reality is that <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED571989">82% of U.S. teachers</a> are white compared to the 18% who are teachers of color. Although <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/raceindicators/spotlight_a.asp">white women</a> make up a majority of elementary teachers in the United States, there are teachers of color and male educators who break this mold. </p>
<p>The presence of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/08/29/why-black-teachers-matter-black-white-kids-book-excerpt/">Black teachers is important for all students</a>, especially Black students. Research shows that Black boys in the third through fifth grades are almost <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w25254">40% less likely to drop out of school</a> and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2021/10/11/how-does-student-teacher-matching-affect-suspensions-for-students-of-color/">less likely to be suspended</a> if they have a Black teacher between third and fifth grade. Shows like “Abbott Elementary” will hopefully help to change media perceptions of elementary teachers and rebuild an interest for prospective teachers. </p>
<h2>Does it have the potential to educate people on the challenges in urban education?</h2>
<p>Yes, this show could be used as important discussion points for teacher education programs, policymakers, and the general public. The <a href="https://abc.com/shows/abbott-elementary/episode-guide/season-01/03-wishlist">first few episodes</a> of “Abbott Elementary” certainly portray the challenges of underfunded schools and the mismanagement of funds. </p>
<p>But I would argue that “Abbott Elementary” also highlights the beauty found in urban education. As Ms. Barbara Howard, one of the veteran teachers, states, “we talk about what they [the students] do have, not about what they don’t.” This advice comes after Janine keeps fixating about the classroom materials Barbara doesn’t have. Meaning, “Abbott Elementary” can be used to educate on how dedicated teachers find the beauty in urban spaces.</p>
<p><a href="https://abc.com/shows/abbott-elementary/episode-guide/season-01/03-wishlist">Episode two</a> demonstrates the beauty of how relationships are built between parents and teachers in order to best support students. Urban education should not always be seen in a negative light. I think that the show balances its humor with a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00131725.2017.1353323">positive lens</a> that is much needed in educating others about urban schools. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lynnette Mawhinney does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In ABC’s ‘Abbott Elementary,’ Philadelphia schoolteachers go above and beyond for their students – just like real-life urban schoolteachers do every day, says one scholar.Lynnette Mawhinney, Department Chair and Associate Professor of Urban Education, Rutgers University - NewarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.