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Little England: What's Left If Scotland Leaves?

Little England: What's Left If Scotland Leaves? | Human Geography Too | Scoop.it
From www.theglobalist.com - October 30, 2012 11:57 AM
What is more likely to happen first: Greece will leave the eurozone, or Scotland will leave the UK?

 

Although there is currently only about 30% of Scotland that would support independence, this is something that will be gaining importance.  The United Kingdom is a complex political entity, with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland connected with England.  The "divorce referendum" will be help on October 2014 to see if Scotland wishes to dissolve this union and many of the political and economic events throughout Europe will be seen through this prism, especially the Euro Zone crisis in southern European countries (e.g.-Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal).  The possibility that this might happen are small, but as the article stated, "not zero." 

 

Tags: devolution, supranationalism, political, states, sovereignty, autonomy, Europe, unit 4 political.


Via Seth Dixon
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The Big Squeeze: Can Cities Save The Earth?

The Big Squeeze: Can Cities Save The Earth? | Human Geography Too | Scoop.it
From www.npr.org - April 11, 8:29 AM
What if you put all 7 billion humans into one city, a city as dense as New York, with its towers and skyscrapers? How big would that 7 billion-sized city be? As big as New Jersey? Texas? Bigger? Are cities protecting wild spaces on the planet?

Via Seth Dixon
John Peterson's comment, April 30, 10:36 AM
This article brings up very interesting point on the benefits of densely populated cities. While these cities can be very far from ideal living circumstances, they provide numerous opportunities and benefits to their populous. Because of the introduction of cities in our society, we have been able to reach the enormously high population numbers that we see today. Without these crammed together spaces, the world would not be able to sustain such large numbers. This can also be seen as detrimental to our society because with the increased strain on the surrounding areas to support these cities, we are harming the earth and the resources these cities so desperately need. Although the article points out that we could use some densely populated cities as models to condense earth’s population, it does also state how this would still not be fully beneficial to the planet. This is because although only a small area will be directly populated; there will still be large strains on the surrounding environments for resources. This argument shows how it is not a matter of condensing the population in order to save the earth, but to rather change our living habits, and maybe having fewer children as well.
Kevin Cournoyer's comment, May 1, 12:50 AM
Overcrowding and overpopulation have become of increasingly greater concern over the last decade or two. We as human beings want more things and more space, but there is only so much space in the world in which we live. Cities have proved a viable, if still malignant solution because they allow for people to live in close quarters and still carry on normal, productive lives.
Some cities are more densely populated than others, and this leads to the issue of how much space they take up. This article was interesting because it showed how much room the world’s population would take up if they lived as densely populated as people in six different cities do. In terms of physical space, there were of course large differences between the six. Maybe more interesting was the infographic that showed how much of the earth the world’s population would need to live like the people of nine different countries. Here we can see the correlation between economic prosperity, standards of living and geographic impact. Those with less money and a resulting lower standard of living have adjusted to live with less and therefore physically take up less room than those in more developed countries. If everyone lived like those in more developed countries, we would literally need several more earths for everyone to live within their means constantly.
Magnus Gustafsson's comment, May 2, 2:59 AM
Yes. Keviin. I think the infograph about developed countries are most interesting and useful for my students.
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Rescooped by Scarpaci Human Geography from Geography Education
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Public Transit and Density

Public Transit and Density | Human Geography Too | Scoop.it
From www.humantransit.org - January 15, 8:13 AM
plerudulier's curator insight, January 15, 1:17 PM

If you define a "car" as "a separate enclosed vehicle for every passenger or party", then the geometric fact about all cars, self-driving or not, miniaturized or not, is that they take vastly more space per passenger than effective public transit.  This will not be a problem in low-density suburbs, but cities, by definition, are places with relatively little space per person.  Self-driving cars will certainly improve the efficiency with which cars use space, so they will shift the calculus somewhat.  But the bottom line will still be that if you want two crash-safe metal walls between every two strangers going down the same street, you will need a lot more space than if those two people can sit next to each other on civilized public transit.

You will also need vastly more metal and equipment, which means that the self-driving-car-replaces-transit fantasy involves massive industrial production with severe consequences for energy security and greenhouse-gas emissions. 

As for the idea that somehow these cars will replace buses but not rail, this may be true around the margins.
Imran Ahmed Khan's comment, January 17, 3:44 PM
Good picture! It defines the growth of the city that impact on urbanization rate, public health, socioeconomic environment. It also tell us that if we reduce vehicles on the road more space and clean environment may we get, that reduce motality and morbadity of several disease especially lung diseases.
Lauren Jacquez's curator insight, April 8, 9:31 PM

What are the benefits for each?  Drawbacks? You decide!
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Housing Patterns

Housing Patterns | Human Geography Too | Scoop.it
From www.houzz.com - January 30, 8:01 AM
See the big picture of how suburban developments are changing the country's landscape, with aerial photos and ideas for the future

Via Seth Dixon
Scarpaci Human Geography's insight:

Questions to Ponder: What housing patterns are you drawn to?  How come?  What are the advantages for the residents to live in that type of community?  What are the impacts that the housing pattern has on the physical environment and the urban system?  What systems are most profitable for developers?  How does the layout of the neighborhood alter the sense of place?

Heather Ramsey's curator insight, January 29, 8:43 PM

Cities can develop in many ways, and this webpage shows the different patterns that can be seen from the air in suburban areas around the country. Boulder, CO is featured as the author explains several suburban settlements. Many of these patterns can be found around the Denver Metro area.

 

Did you know that the streets in Denver were originally set up to run parallel and perpendicular to Cherry Creek? Because of the angle of the creek, the streets in downtown Denver do not run exactly north/south/east/west. As more and more people settled in Colorado, they set up large homesteads surrounding the town. One homesteader named Henry Brown decided that the roads on his homestead would be laid out directly north and south/east and west. Henry Brown is the reason why the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Denver (which sits on his old homestead) has a different street grid than the downtown area.

 
Courtney Holbert's curator insight, February 3, 10:16 PM

Planned Developments and their effects on geography
chris tobin's curator insight, February 3, 10:25 PM

My favorite is the one with wide roads for your own airplane to get home.
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What Would Happen If The Entire World Lived Like Americans?

What Would Happen If The Entire World Lived Like Americans? | Human Geography Too | Scoop.it
From www.fastcoexist.com - September 18, 2012 11:39 AM

After making an infographic depicting how much space would be needed to house the entire world’s population based on the densities of various global cities, Tim De Chant of Per Square Mile got to thinking about the land resources it takes to support those same cities.


Tags: consumption, development, resources, energy, density, sustainability.


Via Seth Dixon
Michelle Carvajal's comment, September 18, 2012 6:23 PM
Its very interesting that the United Arab Emirates would need more land mass than lets say China and the US. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the common misconception of people is that China has the greatest population. I definetely will rescoop this because people could actually see how hard it must be to house people who in essence would need all this land mass to live comfortably.
Thomas D's comment, April 22, 4:13 PM
I thought that this was a very interesting graph and article to read. It shows that if the rest of the world lived like us Americans we would need four times the world’s surface, which is pretty substantial to think about. Although the United Arab Emirates is the leading this graph it’s hard to believe that America is in second. This goes to show that our way of living is out of hand, that the only reason we haven’t consumed everything is because the rest of the world is living of more reasonable amounts of resources or no resources at all. That we need to be as a country more conservative of our resources before we have to rely even more heavily than we already do on other countries. I was surprised to see that India has such a small percentage of resource consummation considering it is such a highly populated country.
Brianna Simao's comment, April 30, 10:23 PM
Countries with a more advanced and urbanized way of life clearly would need more space to survive but if everyone lived like these more developed countries then natural selection dies and survival of the fittest takes over. Eventually all the natural resources would be used up. If they all continued to use the same amount and reproduce then the fertility rate would rapidly increase making the area overpopulated and the quality of life decreased. It is a good thing the entire world lives differently and has a diverse ecological footprint because it creates a balance in the world. As one country’s consumption is out of control another is holding down the fort because they lice more reasonably. It is interesting to see that even though China and India have the largest populations they don’t consume as many resources as the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
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