Growing Denver
The Smart Way
The best way to smartly grow
a rapidly expanding metropolitan city for everyone
What causes a city to grow rapidly?
Urbanization causes a city to grow rapidly, and the problems that a city faces because of urbanization are the rise of pollution, decreased walkability and transportation, and social instability.
What is Urbanization?
Urbanization
n. [ur-buh-nuh-zey-shuhn]
the process of making an area more urban.
For centuries, people have moved from rural areas to urban cities with the hopes of better opportunities and lifestyles. This movement is called urbanization, and for an individual it may not have many downsides, but as a whole urbanization has many. Urbanization poses an issue in a variety of topics from environmental to social.
Environmental Impacts
From an environmental standpoint, urbanization causes problems for humans, animals, and plants. From understandable issues like air pollution, to more complex issues like loss of habitats for both animals and plants. Urbanization threatens not only the urban city itself, but the rural areas too. As a population becomes denser, there is greater demand for food, water, and resources to one area. As more resources are required, cities have to look further into rural areas and figure out how to obtain the resources. From a global perspective, urbanization will affect the climate through direct loss of vegetation from city growth, to increasing total emissions by 5% and deforestation from land-use change.
The world is becoming more and more urbanized every year. Today, more than half of the global population resides in urban areas, cities. In the 1950s, around one third of the population lived in urban areas, and as we reach 2050, it is estimated that nearly two thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas.
Social Impacts
Urbanization can be caused by the fantasy of leaving your childhood small town for the big city. This ideal has caused urbanization for generations. With the rise of telecommuting, accessible Wi-Fi, and rising rents, many thought that urbanization would slacken, as millennials start working remotely. In reality, the exact opposite is happening. The millennial generation is accelerating urbanization. Flocking to large, elaborate suburbs and cities as part of the historical younger generation which views more urban areas as opportunistic and improved lifestyles. Urbanization into large cities can cause societal issues such as greater poverty and create pressure for local governments to provide services.
How did urbanization happen?
Urban & Rural Population Projection for the World, 2050
United States Urbanization
Urbanization of the United States happened over a long period of time, with the nation only reaching urban-majority standing between 1910 and 1920. Currently, over 80% of the U.S. population resides in urban areas, and this number is continuing to increase.
Urbanization happened the fastest in the Northeastern United States, which had an urban majority before the 1890s. The Midwestern and Western United States became urban majority in the 1910s and the Southern United States only became urban majority after WWII, in the 1950s. Today, the Western U.S. is the most urbanized part of the country, trailed closely by the Northeastern U.S.
What problems does urbanization create for a city?
Walkable
Adj. [waw-kuh-buhl]
capable of being traveled, crossed, or covered by walking.
When rapid movement of people to metropolitan cities happens, the city faces growth issues. As more and more people move into the city the city's zoning and urban plan starts to feel strained on the drastic increased need for housing, transportation, utilities, public services like trash, and more. With all of this growth, city plans and zoning cannot keep up with how fast the need is growing. What happens is, housing gets developed further away, so the need for cars increases, as there are more cars on the road, the roads need to be expanded, the roads expand into downtown areas and neighborhoods where people who live and enjoy their neighborhood don't anymore. As the city sprawls, it creates a dependence on cars and the United States has had this city plan in mind for centuries. But, we're now seeing how the dependence on cars decreases quality of life, and most importantly the walkability of a city.
Walkability in a city is important because it allows for people to become dependent on themselves. By having all the goods, services and jobs within walking distance from their homes allows for independence from an unnecessary expense, cars. Having a city that is walkable allows for more space, usually taken up by large roads, to be more enjoyable, green and memorable.
Decreased Quality of Life
It is a key issue in many communities of not having enough outlets of walkability to promote healthier lifestyles, opportunities to transportation, and functionality as a whole. Walkability relates to the physical behavior of being able to walk from place to place with the actual environment that allows for that action to take place. Walkability has a direct impact on communities in both the sustainability of the design of the environment and creating areas that encourage community and exercise. Having a city with walkable areas can help a community towards healthy habits of embracing the outdoors. It can encourage taking extra time to get places to be seen as a positive, and can promote a different lifestyle. With the growth in Denver being so rapid, it can be seen that buildings are being put up faster than green areas can be maintained. This issue is directly related to walkability as the possibilities of walkable areas slowly are diminished.
Increased Traffic & Pollution
Understanding how the built environment has an impact on walkability is essential. As cities expand, transportation needs only grow as well. Specifically in Denver, the emission rates are sure to only keep rising even as Denver ranks in the top ten for worst emission rates in the US. A city that has easily accessible walkways can help reduce the toxicity in the air.
Increased traffic can also pose a different harmful effect. Increased cars on the roads has increased pedestrian and auto accidents. Increased accidents have been reported between 2011 and 2015. Typically in Denver these crashes are happening on large main roads such as Colfax Ave., or Federal Blvd.
Not only does increased traffic hurt the pollution of the city but they also hurt the walkability of the city.
Decreased Natural Areas
Denver is the epitome of what it looks like when nature continues to disappear in the city. The city is trying to keep up with the rapidly growing population. In the early 1900s, Denver’s leaders built towards the idea of a “city within a park” that included natural preserves of more than 100 acres. In the last 20 years, this idea has been forgotten and the city has shifted towards high-rise towers, yard-devouring duplexes, and shopping plazas. The original pattern of settlement surrounded by green space has been replaced by a dense format that has allowed for a 41 percent population growth.