Stage 5 Changing Places

Its amazing how much traffic can affect air pollution, especially in such a small place. Dhaka is heavily populated, traffic in this small but heavily populated community is very stressful, even to look at in the photo provided above. I can't imagine living in such a heavily populated area. I guess you can compare it to downtown New York City. However the pollution is more intense in Dhaka than it is in NYC.

This is a prime example of a megacity and the population that it cohabits the city. The huge populaiton that is se densley populated in such a small area creates for a large traffic and pedestrian issues. After watching the video you would think that there would be more accidents but living in a city like this you would get use to the population ways and learn the ways of life.

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, suffers from overpopulation. As funny and nerve-wrecking this video was, it shows an instability on how important technology is in order for safety. In the video we can see cars just passing by fast and furociuosly within centimeters of crashing in the car in front of it. There is no one guiding traffic and nonetheless, any stop and traffic lights on the streets. It is a free for all in the middle of the capital when it comes to driving and this is a lack of safety for the people in Bangladesh. It is almost impossible for people to cross the road without a high risk of getting driven over. We can also see how there are so many cars in the are was well. The region is very overpopulated and to think how worse it would be if everyone in the area owned a car. 

Urban sprawl is a rising problem in the world due to the lack of control and its massive impact on the surrounding environment. These footprints show how unique each city's sprawl is. The surrounding environment is playing a huge role in where and how far each city extends. Chicago, for example, is limited on its eastern side due to Lake Erie's close proximity, and Cleveland is in a similar situation but on its north side where Lake Erie is. 

The cities are organized (approximately) to population and shows the size of cities accordingly. The different sizes of cities and their correlating populations is thus revealed from urban places around the world. 

Urban regions stay rather functional and could be seem similar across the board, focusing on major economic activity and transportation.

1G Theme 2: 6 Billion people and me

Ruimtelijk ordening, stedelijke gebieden

VS

Urban  Dynamics

Similar to Ed Glaeser's views in the Triumph of be City

Wow, I cannot imagine living in these conditions. It looks smaller than a prison cell; only people pay to live there. These extreme living conditions are a result of over population in an area. It seems the city of Hong Kong is running out of places to build and house the abundance of people living there. It appears the average person in Hong Kong lives in these conditions due to the high price tags on larger apartments. This is a sad reality.   

Living in such close quarters must be incredibly hard to do for those people who are new to Hong Kong and know something different. For Chinese residents, this is normal. Living in such small areas is a part of the Chinese daily life and culture. China is so population dense that this is the result of living there, tiny living spaces.

(in-class 4: Hong Kong)

What I take away from this is the theme of supply and demand. Though these condiions seem stereotypically negative, it seems like those who live in the photographed homes are relatvely well off (food, TV, clothing, etc.). This supports the view that living in these tight conditions is less of a choice and more of something that has to be put up with. Now that Hong Kong has been developed 'across', it'd be a good guess to say that recently investments have been made to build 'up' with highrises and skyscrapers (unless like Dubai they sat to mak either own islands, whic geographically would be less likely here). The questionof sustainability is also an issue, i.e. at what point will it be impossible to cram in any more inhabitants? I wonder if a future migration / spreading-out into other areas has started to occur yet or will soon, like the suburbanization which occured in the U.S. after the advent of the automobile. If so, would it be mainland China, despite the political tensions?

This article shows the implications of high density areas. The solutions that the author discussed make a good point but sound kinda difficult. For example , its not that easy to bring nature into the cities because of the pollution which makes it hard to sustain the sort of growth we need. 

A very interesting article on changes in landscape, while looking though this I came aross so many little things i never noticed about the topical layout of housing. The main thing that is apparent is density, how closely each house is put together, the amount of land each has as well as the view from the property. Its aslo interesting to see how the design of the area can be made for easy access or be desigend to keep people out with only one enctancte and exit. All of these charasticts make up how the land is desired as well as econimcly priced, which then determins who will be able to live there.

Having the streets interconnected allows for easy  traveling throughout the area.  when there is more density in an area it means there are more houses , more people.  The sprawl has the center on the place and the streets go out around it. The way the streets are made are for different reasons,.

Humans instinctively look to profit when the situation arises, this is one of those situations. The government implemented regulations that barely seem to manage the traffic jams, i.e. having 3 people per car. Since people do have to work and may not always be able to meet the requirements, others have started making a living as a “jockey,” an individual who offers to ride in a car so the 3 people limit is met. Doing this is considered illegal. Yet, there aren’t good enough jobs for people to work (otherwise they won’t be a jockey) and those who do work can’t seem to always follow the rule without it harming there work life.  Plus, more police now turn their attention towards these people thereby deterring them away from their other duties. I realize that the state probably never intended these consequences to happen, but now that it is I really wonder just how useful this law really is. One thing is certain though, without better planning or economic innovation by the government, the jams will continue to happen.

I find it odd that the people keep staying despite the major traffic problem. As one interviewee mentioned. I guess as long as you can find ways to stay productive and still receive enough compensation, the time spend in traffic isn't enough of a hassle for them. As someone who has enough economic opportunity with far less wait time in traffic though, I would find this situation unbearable. Clearly, this isn't that case though. So, I am not sure of the immediate solution. As we learned in class, the government tried transmigration. This just lead to more problems. It was then suggested that the type of opportunity. If that is the case though, what should the government do now? Waiting for a more natural economic opportunity to get the people out of Jakarta won't happen quick enough to curb the increasing population growth. Therefore the strain on the infrastructure will continue because the population's carrying capacity is exceeded. Whatever the answers, I think this would be a great case study for urban planning and the impact raising car dependency has on a society as this driving nightmare shows just how important planning is with more cars. 

Mega cities and the challenges they face for the future is focus in this article. Great statistics on populations and urban densities are also included.

APHG-U6

The majority of Iceland's population lives in that one space.

The geography of Iceland keeps the majority of people in the place that sustains life and comfort the best and easiest.

Iceland is a beautiful place, yet hash climates and landscapes make it hard for equal population distribution. At the same time, its population is under 400,000 people, making it a relatively small population compared to those of other European countries. With a population that small, it almost makes sense for people to live closer to one another. It would be easier to build infrastructure in a smaller area than to spread it out all over the island, where it would hardly be utilized. Also, the one densely populated area allows for a creative center where money and ideas can be developed.

Its been known that Americans have lavish lifestyles compared to outher populous countries. In this article they show a represntation if the entire world lived like (had as much space) americans and it was astoudning. It would take 4 earths to fit the world if everyone had this lavish lifestyle. So we obviously need to change our ways. Cities ae very helpful to sharing this earth. They serve as a main hub so youll only have to ship to a few places. This with the shortening of distances would save tons of gas and othe rescources. But as the article states everyone living in a Main city wouldnt be possible because people need to produce outside the city. So in my opinion for this city world to work it would need to be a few megacities preferably one on each continent and for them to the city be surronded by production methods.

cool

An interactive site for comparisons of city sizes

I was very exited by the work being done by Bimal Mendis and Joyce Hsiang.  I hear to much on the news and in conversation about over population, energy shortages and brutal living conditions.  Creating a digital interactive medium is the most efficient way to educate the internet consuming public about issues and developments all over the world.  It reminds me of the blue marble picture taken from Apollo 17, the first full color image of our planet.  This image is considered to be the defining moment that awoke the conservation movement and understanding that the earth is our home and should be treated as such.  I cant help hoping a program like “the city of seven billion” will help people to relies we are all one species and from that develop a move beneficial way of coexisting.

To be a megacity like this, you have to conform to urbanization. There is no possible way to have such a populated and crowed city with farmlands around. This is a place of business yet residential areas, it also is where the marketplaces are and where kids go to school. Megacities need to be a part of an urban society in order for them to stay afloat.

This is a great introduction to the demographic explosion of the slums within megacities.  This is applicable to many themes within geography.   

I can't image or even relate to the experience of living in a place like this. With rivers polluted right outside your house. And those rivers are what people bathe in and wash their clothes. I can't imagine not being able to access clean drinking water or lacking food. The people in Dhaka endure so much their whole lives, a good percentage of them will always live in poverty.

Interseting way to visualy map population density.

It's a creative and vial way to map population density. 

This is from 'worldmapper' - it is a great sight to help you understand using technology the most densely populated areas of various countries. What do you think they are? 

Dhaka is the fastest growing city in the world, as rich and poor people move to the city everyday. So many poor people are moving here due to the fact there is no other place worth living in Bangladesh. The city is facing many problems, such as lack of traffic signals, minimal clean drinking water for residents and horrible housing for many people. However, some feel the city’s slums offer the best chance for an improved life.   

There is a lot of poverty and pollution in Dhaka. The demands for energy and water are high in Dhaka as well. I personally don't see how these people and migrants can live in such a polluted and dirty place and the reason why I can't imagine living in such a place is because I never have. I'm lucky enough to not experience poverty and I greatly appreciate  my life and home. Hopefully things improve in Dhaka and places like Dhaka. Hopefully there will be less pollution and poverty in the future any where in the world.