SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainable Communities and Cities

(Taught in week 11)

Tutorial - Student Version

General Education Program GESU121

Date: ____________ CRN: _________ Section: ___________

Teacher name: ___________________________ Student name: ___________________________ Student ID: ___________________________ Classroom: ___________________________

Adapted from the text ‘Living in the Environment’

1

Sustainable Communities and Cities

Go to the website below and answer the following questions about why trees can help makes cities more sustainable. Give your answer in note form.

http://www.fao.org/zhc/detail-events/en/c/454543/

1. What can urban trees help mitigate? What does ‘mitigate’ mean? 2. How do trees play an important role in the lives of flora and fauna? 3. How much carbon dioxide can an adult tree absorb each year? 4. Between what temperature range can trees help cool the air in cities? 5. What role do large trees play with particulate pollution?

What kind of problems do you think could be created by cities of this size? Discuss with a partner and give your views to the class. 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Teacher note: In case the website changes (or disappears), the info can be

found in the teachers file on the BB shell.

A megacity is usually defined as a city with a population of over 10 million people.

Adapted from the text ‘Living in the Environment’

2

Where are the world’s mega cities?

Add the country in the column and match the following cities to their location on the map above.

# MEGACITY POPULATION (includes outer metro/urban areas)

COUNTRY

1 Tokyo 37.5 million Japan

2 Delhi 28.5 million

3 Shanghai 25.6 million

4 Mexico City 21.6 million

5 Cairo 20.1 million

6 New York 18.8 million

7 Istanbul 14.8 million

8 Lagos 13.5 million

9 Moscow 12.4 million

10 Paris 10.9 million

https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/bigcities.htm

Teacher note:

Different websites can give different numbers (some include the outer metropolitan number). To save time, the

countries can be determined as a whole class activity.

Japan

Example

Adapted from the text ‘Living in the Environment’

3

Match the statements below to the pictures above. The first is done as an example.

Natural Capital Degradation

A Increased air

pollution F

decreased natural sewage treatment

K Increased runoff and

flooding

B Loss of wetlands G Loss of tax base in

central city L

Loss of forests and grasslands

C Increased use of

surface water and groundwater

H Increased

greenhouse gas emissions

M Enhanced global

warming

D Increased energy use

and waste I

Loss and the breakup of wildlife

habitats N

Increased surface water and groundwater

pollution

E Increased

unemployment in central city

J Decline of

downtown business districts

O Loss of cropland

A

Meaning = unrestricted growth of housing, and other developments

Land & Biodiversity

Water Energy, Air & Climate

Economic Effects

Adapted from the text ‘Living in the Environment’

4

Find the meaning of the words you do not know:

Scanning skills exercise

Mexico City is an urban area in crisis. About 21 million people live there. This is only around 3 million less than the population of Australia and more than the state of New York. Each year, at least thousands of new residents arrive.

main idea

Population stats on Mexico City

main idea Mexico City suffers from severe air pollution, high unemployment, deafening noise, overcrowding, traffic congestion, inadequate public transportation, and a soaring crime rate. More than one-third of its residents live in slums or in squatter settlements that lack running water and electricity.

At least 3 million people have no sewer facilities. As a consequence, huge amounts of human waste are deposited in gutters, vacant areas, and open sewers every day, attracting armies of rats and swarms of flies. When it is windy, this waste can be blown

over parts of the city. This bacteria-filled fallout leads to widespread salmonella and hepatitis infections, especially among children.

main idea

vocabulary meaning PoS

deafening so loud as to make it impossible to hear anything else. adj.

congestion n

slum n

squatter n

sewer n

gutter n

fallout v

topography n

respiratory Adj.

smog n

Case Study – Mexico City

Example

Example

Adapted from the text ‘Living in the Environment’

5

main idea Mexico City has one of the world’s worst air pollution problems because of a combination of factors: too many cars, polluting factories, a sunny climate and thus more smog, and topographical bad luck. The city sits in a high-elevation, bowl-shaped valley surrounded on three sides by mountains. These conditions trap air pollutants at ground level. Breathing this air is said to be roughly equivalent to smoking three packs of cigarettes per day, and causes large numbers respiratory diseases.

See below for diagram on how temperature

inversion can help trap pollution

The city’s air and water pollution cause thousands of premature deaths per year. One writer has nicknamed it “Makesicko City.” Large-scale water withdrawals from the city’s aquifer have caused parts of the city to subside by 9 meters during the last century. Some areas are now subsiding as much as 30 centimeters a year. The city’s growing population increasingly relies on pumping in water from as far away as 150 kilometers and then using large amounts of energy to pump the water 1,000 meters uphill to reach the city.

main idea

main idea Progress has been made in solving some of Mexico City’s problems. The percentage of days each year in which air pollution standards are broken has fallen from 50% to 20%. The city government has banned cars in its central zone and required catalytic converter air pollution control devices on all cars made after 1991. Furthermore, it has phased out the use of leaded gasoline, and replaced old buses, taxis, and delivery vehicles with cleaner ones. The city also bought land for use as green space and planted more than 25 million trees to help absorb pollutants.

Answer the following questions – you can answer in note form:

1. What does a soaring crime rate mean?

2. What types of rodent are there armies of? 3. Who does the fallout affect the most? 4. What can a sunny climate help create more of? 5. What shape of valley does the city sit in?

The crime rate is growing rapidly. Example

Adapted from the text ‘Living in the Environment’

6

blanket mountain down respiratory topography height it inversion temperature

Temperature happens when the of air gets warmer as you go up in

. This is against what normally happens since temperature usually goes

as you climb in elevation. The of Mexico City is such that it sits in-between hills. As a

result, cold air can flow over the peaks and then go under the warm air of the city

making rise. This warm air then sits above the city and acts as a that

traps the pollution and prevents normal convection. This kind of weather condition can cause

serious levels of air pollution, which can lead to illnesses.

inversion

Complete the paragraph by filling in the blanks

Teacher note:

This can act as an extension activity.

Temperature Inversion

cold airflow

cold airflow warm air

cold air

cold air

smog

6. What is the air pollution equivalent to? 7. By how much are some parts of the city subsiding by each year? 8. What type of fuel has been phased out?

Adapted from the text ‘Living in the Environment’

7

Prepositions: We use prepositions to explain time, movement, location and direction.

Complete the following sentences by using the correct preposition:

Location & Direction: Huge amounts of waste are deposited gutters each day.

She highlighted some important environmental concepts her book.

To help save energy, they placed solar panels their roof.

Ahmed works the Center for Environmental Studies.

The smog hung the city for days.

The network of sewers the city were dilapidated.

She moved the city find better work.

They moved the countryside to get away from the city pollution.

The storm blew sand the entire city.

Time: The World Energy Day is 22 October every year.

She planned to hold the meeting Wednesday at 14:00.

They planned to hold a meeting the weekend.

2017, the global amount of greenhouse gases released peaked 400 ppm (parts per million).

All lights in the building will be switched off 20:30 for Earth Day.

Movement: They ride to work the newly built bicycle path.

The wind blew the waste all the city.

They looked each other’s eyes with amusement.

There has been a steady migration of people rural areas inner city areas.

Grammar Focus: Using prepositions. Teacher note:

For some students, this will be a review. Higher-level students could do the sentences and lower ability do

the diagrams on the next page.

In – on – at – under – over – towards - below – to – along – around – from - across

in

Example

Adapted from the text ‘Living in the Environment’

8

More use of prepositions:

in/within

within under following beneath through

behind up over among on down at

beside between in

Example

Adapted from the text ‘Living in the Environment’

9

Below are some unusual ways to make cities more sustainable. Go to each website, answer the

questions and then discuss with your class. Write your answers in note form.

Bioluminescent trees:

https://theweek.com/articles/763908/glowinthedark-trees-could-someday-replace-city-street-lights

1. What is the Danish startup company called?

2. Which use of electrical energy contributes the most to a city’s energy bill?

3. Name two species that have bioluminescence.

4. Which common office item does MIT want to replace?

5. What is one of the main worries of researchers?

6. What type of nursery will benefit from glow-in-the-dark trees?

Teacher note: This activity could be done in groups with each group

choosing one site and reporting back to the class. If the websites change, the reading is in the teacher’s folder in

your BB shell.

Notes:

Adapted from the text ‘Living in the Environment’

10

Porous (pervious) concrete

https://www.concretenetwork.com/pervious/how_it_works.html

1. What does porous concrete contain little (or none) of?

2. How much storm water can porous concrete absorb per minute?

3. What does the filtration process help with?

4. What are the three pollutants in urban runoff?

5. Give two environmental reasons for using porous concrete?

6. How does porous concrete help reduce heating effects?

Notes:

Adapted from the text ‘Living in the Environment’

11

Electricity from walking:

https://futurism.com/new-flooring-tech-generates-electricity-through-your-footsteps

1. What type of energy is harnessed from walking on the tiles?

2. How much energy is generated by a walking person?

3. How can this technology help reduce crime?

4. How many people walk through Grand Central Station in one hour (as an example)?

5. Why are the tiles triangular?

6. In the future, energy by walking, could be equally as beneficial as what other forms of energy?

Notes:

Adapted from the text ‘Living in the Environment’

12

Cycle bridges:

https://stateofgreen.com/en/partners/state-of-green/news/copenhagens-bicycle-bridges-create-high-socio-economic-benefits/

1. What was the bicycle capital of the world two years ago?

2. In which year does Copenhagen hope to become CO2 neutral?

3. What is the cycle bridge called that was built by Danish architecture firm Dissing+Weitling?

4. How many hours per day can be saved by using the bridge?

5. How much CO2 is reduced each year?

6. Why is cycling a good method of transportation?

Notes: