Abstract:Let me begin by citing a current example of an urban tragedy of the largest proportions. The issue is the Love Canal site, and later today we hope to wind up negotiations with the federal government c...Let me begin by citing a current example of an urban tragedy of the largest proportions. The issue is the Love Canal site, and later today we hope to wind up negotiations with the federal government concerning it. An old chemical dump was transferred by Hooker Chemical to urban authorities in the City of Niagara Falls, a school was built, and private houses were developed on top of the dump. Recently the chemicals started leaching. The impact of the indiscriminate dumping a number of years ago on the health and welfare of those people has been tremendous. Now it is necessary to try to cope with a public health and environmental disaster which was created because of a lack of planning and a lack of foresight on the part of many people, both in the private sector and in government. I submit for your consideration the proposition that existing laws and statutes as they relate to the environmentand I am speaking particularly about the federal statutesdo not in and of themselves produce or rehabilitate the urban environment. Now let me qualify that somewhat by defining, or at least attempting to define, some thoughts about the urban environment itself. I believe that the urban environment should be regarded as a totality. It is the air we breathe; it is the water we drink; it is space and architecture; it is that vital core of activity and vital mass of people which make a city alive. The city is not viable simply because it is a collection of buildings and traffic. What makes a city go is the interrelationship that is produced by mass, by people, and by communication. These factors have been best explained by Holly White in his studies of urban activity and street life. He has pointed out that the most successful cities are not those that have broad thoroughfares where vehicles move along at high speeds, but rather are those places where people bump into each other shoulder to shoulder, where they converse, where they buy things, and where they mix. Without this activity you really don't have a city that lives. It seems to me that the urban environment is that whole mix of economic activity, of social activity, of cultural activity, as well as environmental factors that produces vitality.Read More
Publication Year: 2016
Publication Date: 2016-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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