Midterm Exam Study Guide

Midterm Exam (Thursday, Feb. 8) Study Guide (continually updated ) (word version of this file) (pdf version), (ppt version)
NOTE: This is the final version of the study guide (updated for the last time during our review session on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007)..

The exam will be composed of multiple choice, definitions, short answers, and an essay question. Below are the values to be assigned to each section with the instructions exactly as they will appear on the midterm exam.

(I).MULTIPLE CHOICE (10 @ 2 points = 20%)
Select the letter of the correct answer. Place your answers in your blue book.

(II) DEFINITIONS (4 @ 5 points = 20%) Pick four out of the eight terms listed below. For each term you pick, give: (a) a brief definition, (b) a concise observation about the term's meaning (significance) with respect to urban-regional development and/or planning, and (c) at least one reference to literature on the subject (one of your required readings in USP2). Your references should include the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the title of the article or book.

(III) SHORT ANSWERS(2 @ 15 points = 30%)
Pick two out of four questions listed below. For each question be sure to include reference to at least one required reading in USP2. Your references should include the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the title of the article or book.

(IV) ESSAY QUESTIONS (1 @ 30 points = 30%)
Answer one out of the three questions listed below. Be sure to include reference to at least two required reading in USP2. Your references should include the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the title of the article or book.

(I) MULTIPLE CHOICE (10 @ 2 point = 20%)

The multiple choice questions will be taken from the details listed in this section of the study guide.

From the abstract describing Core Theme #1

A recent study of Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and the US documents the immense volume of natural resources required to run a developed economy; it is in the range of 45 to 85 metric tons of material per person each year (WRI, et al. 1998: 161).
According to the World Bank, if present productivity and population trends continue, the economic output of Third World countries would rise by 4-5 percent a year between 1990 and 2030. By 2030, Third World economic output would be about five times what it is today. The output of countries in the First World would rise more slowly but would still triple over the same period. Total world output by 2030 would be 3.5 times what it is today.

The Urbanization Process (UN Habitat 2006)

Three important trends characterize the urbanization process in this new urban era:
1. The biggest cities in the world [metacities] will be found mainly in the developing world, having profound environmental impacts.
2. Despite the emergence of metacities, the majority of urban migrants will be moving to small towns and cities of less than a million inhabitants. These intermediate cities are predicted to grow at a faster rate than any other type of city. The relative absence of infrastructure such as roads, water supply, and communication facilities, in many small and intermediate-sized cities make these cities less competitive locally, nationally and regionally, and leads to a lower quality of life for their citizens.
3. Cities of the developing world will absorb 95 percent of urban growth in the next two decades, and by 2030, will be home to almost 4 billion people, or 80 percent of the world’s urban population.
Informal-or illegal-growth has become the most common form of housing production in the developing world.
Improved infrastructure between rural areas and cities increase rural production and enhances rural residences’ access to education, healthcare, markets, credit, information and other services. Enhanced urban-rural linkages also benefit cities through increased rural demand for urban goods and services and added value derived from agricultural produce
Key ingredients for sustainable urban development:

Inclusive and visionary urban planning and governance that includes slum upgrading and prevention.
Pro-poor urban development policies that expand and improve opportunities for employment

Experts have described the unprecedented rise in the number of evictions (6.7 million people in 60 counties between 2000 and 2002) as a global epidemic. This can be attributed to a variety of factors including globalization, which is putting pressure on national and local governments to beautify or clean-up their cities in order to become more competitive in the global economy.
Metacities are defined as massive conurbations of more than 20 million people above and beyond megacities that will be found mainly in the developing world. They are currently gaining ground in Asia Latin America and Africa and are expected to cause significant environmental impacts. Also called hypercities, they gradually swallow up rural areas, cities and towns, becoming multi-nuclear entities counted as one.

Slum Conditions (UN Habitat 2006)

A slum household is a group of individuals living under the same roof in an urban area who lack one or more of the following 5 conditions:

Durable Housing

A house built on a non-hazardous location with a structure that is permanent and adequate enough to protect the inhabitants from extremes of climatic conditions.

Sufficient living area

A house in which not more than three people share the same room.

Access to improved water

A household with access to a sufficient amount of water for family use, at an affordable price, available without extreme effort, especially on the part of women and children.

Access to sanitation

A household with adequate access to an excreta disposal system, either in the form of a private toilet or a public toilet shared with a reasonable number of people, available to all household members.

Secure tenure

The right of all individuals and groups to effective protection against forced evictions. People have secure tenure when there is evidence of documentation that can be used as proof of secure tenure status or when there is either de facto or perceived protection against forced evictions.

People living in slums have worse health outcomes and are more likely to be affected by child mortality and acute respiratory illnesses than their non-slum counterparts. They are also more likely to live near hazardous locations with few basic services, making them more vulnerable to natural disasters such as floods, and saddling them with heavy health and social burdens, which ultimately affect their productivity.
Worldwide, 18 percent of all housing units (125 million units) are non-permanent structures, and 25 percent (175 million units) do not conform to urban building codes or regulations. 3-4 of every 10 non-permanent houses in cities in developing countries are located in dangerous areas that are prone to floods, landslides and other natural disasters.
Units that are in the worst condition often house members of ethnic minorities or immigrants. Often these houses are overcrowded and dilapidated dwellings located in low-income neighborhoods. Many are sub-standard units that are contaminated and lacking light, air and open space. Others are poorly built, poorly maintained and isolated, often situated in inaccessible or unhealthy locations.
Approximately 20 percent of the world’s urban population was living in inadequate dwellings, in terms of sufficient living area, in 2003.
More than a quarter of the developing world’s urban population lacks adequate sanitation. Globally, an estimated 2.6 billion people lack toilets and other forms of improved sanitation.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people die as a result of living conditions made unhealthy by lack of clean water and sanitation options. The number of deaths attributable to poor hygiene alone may be as high as 1.6 million per year.
One out of every three children in the developing world do not have access to a toilet of any kind in the vicinity of their dwellings.
Between 30 percent and 50 percent of urban residents in developing countries lack any kind of legal document to show they have tenure security

Informalization (UN Habitat 2006)

Two main processes have significantly contributed to the rise in urban informal activities:

The failure of the formal sector to provide adequate jobs and income-generating opportunities for a rapidly growing urban population.
The growing tendency of the formal sector to contract services out to secondary labor markets, which are mainly in the informal sector.

In developing countries, informal employment comprises one-half to three quarters of non-agricultural employment. Women account for a disproportionately larger share of the informal labor force than men. In developing countries as a whole, more than 60 percent of women are engaged in the informal employment in the non-agricultural sector.
About 85% of all new employment opportunities around the world occur in the informal economy.

Global Facts and Figures (UN Habitat 2006)

The year 2007 marks a turning point in history. One out of every two people will be living in a city.
Between 2005 and 2030, the world’s urban population is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 1.78 percent, almost twice the growth rate of the world’s total population
By 2030 there will be 5 billion people living in cities
Cities of the developing world will account for 95% of urban expansion in the next two decades and by 2030 will be home to 80% of the world’s urban population (4 billion people).
One out of every three city dwellers lives in slum conditions.
More than 53 per cent of the world’s urban population lives in cities of fewer than 500,000 inhabitants, and another 22 per cent of the global urban population lives in cities of 1 to 5 million inhabitants.
By 2020, Mumbai, Delhi, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, New York, Dhaka, Jakarta and Lagos all will have achieved metacity status.
The vast majority of slums, more than 90 per cent, are located in cities of the developing world, where urbanization has become virtually synonymous with slum formation.

Where we stand today: Socially (UN Habitat 2006)

Economic growth has not helped to reduce inequalities in much of the world; the wealthiest 20 percent of the world’s people account for 86 percent of private consumption, while the poorest account for only 1 percent. The highest levels of income inequality exist in Africa and Latin America.
Approximately one-fifth of slum households live in extremely poor conditions, lacking more than three basic shelter needs.
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest prevalence of slums in the world-71.8 percent of its urban population lives in slums.
95 percent of the world’s urban dwellers have access to safe drinking water but only 72 percent of the world’s rural population has the same access. Additionally rich countries consume 10 times more drinking water (500-800 liters per day) than poor countries (60-150 liters per day).
In 2002, nearly half the developing world (2.5 billion) had no access to proper sanitation.
Poor urban families may have to spend 70 - 80% of their disposable income on buying food.

Where we stand today: Environmentally (UN Habitat 2006)

China is home to 16 of the 20 most polluted cities on the planet and is the second largest producer of greenhouse gases, after the United States. Environmental degradation robs China of up to 12 percent of its GDP, and every year some 400,000 Chinese die prematurely of respiratory illnesses and some 30,000 children die from diarrhea caused by drinking unclean water. Additionally, river pollution costs the country $1.9 million annually.
The developed regions of the world emitted 12.58 metric tons of CO 2 per capita in 2002.
The developing world emitted 2.07 metric tons of CO 2 per capita in 2002.
Global emissions of CO 2 will increase by more than 60% between 1997 and 2010.
Developing countries will generate 65% of this increase, primarily from China.
Urban outdoor air pollution kills 3 million people annually.
1 million children die as a result of indoor air pollution every year.
The Kyoto Protocol, signed by 84 countries in 1997, encourages investment in renewable energy. At least 48 countries now have a renewable energy promotion policy, including 14 developing nations
Only 4%of the world’s electricity is generated by renewable energy
The pollution and contamination produced by higher-income groups put lower-income groups at risk because they live and work near the industries and garbage dumps that generate it.

From: Robert Costanza, et al. (1997). The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. NATURE. Vol 387: 253-260.

The authors estimate the current economic value of 17 ecosystem services for 16 biomes, for the entire biosphere, to be in the range of US$16–54 trillion per year, with an average of US$33 trillion per year. Global gross national product total is around US$18 trillion per year.
At the equator, the Earth is about 8,000 miles in diameter (7,926.41 miles, or (12,756.32 kilometers)

From: William Rees and M. Wackernagel (1996) Urban ecological footprints: Why cities cannot be sustainable and why they are a key to sustainability. Environmental Impact Assess Review. 16 (4-6): 223-248.

...human beings, one species among millions, now consume, divert, or otherwise appropriate for their own purposes 40% of the product of net terrestrial photosynthesis (Vitousek et al. 1986) and up to 35% of primary production from coastal shelves and upwellings, the most productive marine habitats (Pauly and Christensen 1995). (p. 224)
The present per capita ecological footprints of North Americans (4-5 ha) represents three times their fair share of the Earth's bounty. By extrapolation, if everyone on Earth lived like the average North American, the total land requirement would exceed 26 billion hect ares. However there are fewer than 9 billion hectares of such land on Earth. This means that we would need three such planets to support just the present human family. (p. 238).

From: Mathis Wackernagel, et al. (2002) Tracking the ecological overshoot of the human economy. PNAS, 99 (14). http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/142033699v1.pdf

.... human demand may well have exceeded the biosphere’s regenerative capacity since the 1980s. According to this preliminary and exploratory assessment, humanity’s load corresponded to 70% of the capacity of the global biosphere in 1961, and grew to 120% in 1999.

(II) DEFINITIONS (4 @ 5 points = 20%)

The midterm will have a list of eight terms. You will be instructed to pick four of these. And for each term you pick, you will be expected to give: (a) a brief definition, (b) a concise observation about the term's meaning (significance) with respect to urban-regional development and/or planning, and (c) at least one reference to literature on the subject (one of your required readings in USP2). Answers should be brief. The example below is provided as a model of the length/format we want for each "definition."

Agenda 21
(a). Agenda 21 is the principal outcome of the 1992 UNCED conference (also known as the Earth Summit). It is the most comprehensive environmental action plan ever adopted by the international community. It contains an integrated set of strategies and programs to halt and reverse the effects of environmental degradation.
(b). The strategies spelled out in Agenda 21 are cited by many governmental and non-governmental organizations as their conceptual as well as practical guide for implementing sustainable development in urban and regional settings. But implementation of the plan has proven difficult.
(c). Pezzoli's book titled, Human Settlements and Planning for Ecological Sustainability, underscores the importance of Agenda 21's prescriptions with respect to resolving the third world's urban housing crisis.

LIST OF TERMS (eight of which will appear on your midterm)

Ecological Footprint Ecosystem Services Natural Capital Colonias Ecologicas Productivas (CEPs) Colonias Populares Sustainable development	Globalization "Race to the Bottom" Informalization Neoliberalism Keynesianism
Capitalist Mode of Production Export Led Industrialization Long Waves	Politics of Containment Industry of Destruction Desalajo Machine Irregular Land Tenure
Metacities Urban agglomeration World cities Informal economy Millennium Development Goals Slum [Also called informal settlement, squatter settlement, and unplanned neighborhood]	Durable housing Sufficient living area Access to improved water Access to sanitation Secure tenure Privatization Informal tenure systems

(III) SHORT ANSWERS (2 @ 15 points = 30%)
Pick two out of four questions listed below. For each question be sure to include reference to at least one required reading in USP2. Your references should include the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the title of the article or book..

*1. Draw the diagram that Castells (1991) created to illustrate how some of the output (product) of our economy goes to reproduction while the remainder becomes surplus (for consumption and investment).

*2. Draw the diagram we used in class (based on Castells 1991) to illustrate long waves and the process or restructuring over the period 1920s-1990s. Outline the four periods and the bullets for each.

3. No matter what political perspective colors one's analysis, the past half-century of globalization can be viewed as having four fundamental features (as spelled out in USP2 lectures). What are they?

4. As discussed in USP2 lectures and readings, what is the significance of this diagram:
[From D-->E, to E-->D]? Incorporate into your short answer evidence and reference to USP2's required readings.

5. In the Mexico city case discussed in Pezzoli (2000), what are the so-called politics of containment? And how has this politics of containment given rise to an industry of destruction?

6. Briefly list all four key topics discussed during USP 2 weeks 1-4 (give no more than a one or two sentence description of each)

* note: for #1-2, the proper reference is cited below:

Castells, M. (1991). The informational city: information technology, economic restructuring, and the urban-regional process. Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Mass., USA, B. Blackwell: Chap. 1. In a couple places the reference shows up a 1989, that is correct too (1989 was the first publication of the book in hardback followed by a paperpack release in 1991).

(IV) ESSAY QUESTIONS (1 @ 30 points = 30%)
Answer one out of the three questions listed below. Be sure to include reference to at least two required reading in USP2. Your references should include the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the title of the article or book.

1. The grassroots leaders of the “Colonia Ecologica Productiva (CEP)” movement in Mexico City argued that urbanization under conditions of resource and income scarcity demands the integration of concerns about the environment and development. (a) In what way did the CEP model aim to integrate concerns about the environment and development (helpful tip: their strategy sought a comprehensive approach to land use, livelihood, and environmental management)? And (b) What do you think are the most important lessons—from the perspective of promoting sustainable urban development—that we can learn from the CEP case? (helpful tip: be specific and relate the lessons you identify to some of the literature we covered in USP2).

2. One way to characterize the dynamic socio-political and economic changes that have taken place over the past fifty years is in the form of long waves (cycles wherein expansion follows recession, with periods of restructuring in between). In class, we discussed this historical dynamic (from the 1920s to the 1990s) with reference to four periods: the depression of the 1930s, Post-WWII restructuring, the economic crisis of the 1970s, and, finally, the current period of capitalist restructuring. The capitalist restructuring taking place in the 1990s up to the present and the creation of a new model of socio-economic organization is based on what three fundamental processes? (helpful tip: the answer concerns surplus, the state, and economic organization). Give an example to illustrate each of the three processes.

3. The aim of the Millennium Development Goal 7, target 11is to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. According to UN-Habitat 2006/7 a slum is defined as a group of individuals living under the same roof in an urban area lacking one or more of five defined conditions. (A) Briefly list each of the five conditions. (B) Of these five conditions, pick one and give some detail on its magnitude, (C) Of the five conditions, pick one and explain why resolving this deficit (unmet need) is so difficult (in other words, why, as some planners would say, is it such a wicked problem), and (D) Of these five conditions, pick one and identify a potential remedy or partial solution spelled out in the UN-Habitat book, or in one of your other readings. Make sure you include reference to at least two required readings.(NOTE: you can use the same condition for parts B, C and D, or different ones if you prefer).

4. The UN Habitat (2006) book highlights three important trends that characterize the urbanization process in our new urban era. List each of these trends, including reference to its magnitude and geographic aspects. Of the three trends, pick one and relate it to one of USP2s readings other than the UN Habitat book. In other words, use one of USP2s readings to add some meaningful context to one of the trends you selected.

5. In what ways has the capital mobility model influenced economic and urban development policy in the US since the 1980s? What are the pro and con arguments in favor of/against unfettered capital mobility? Organize your essay around the themes of market rationality and social rationality as discussed in class. You can reference the Roger and Me documentary, but also be sure to cite at least two USP2 readings in your essay.

6. Michael E. Porter in "Global City Region" argues that substantial changes are underway in the nature of competition, the sources of competitiveness, and the principles of economic policy. He outlines a "new economics of competition" in which he discusses six transitions in the creation of wealth (Hint: macro- to micro-, productivity to innovation, economywide to clusters, internal to external, separation to integration of policy, and national to local. All involve economics). (1) Briefly describe each of the six transitions. (2) Then comment in greater detail on Porter's main point about geographical scales: "The nation-state has been the principal geographical unit of economic analysis, and the locus of economic policy has tended to be national. The more that one thinks in terms of microeconomics, innovation, clusters, and integrating economic and social policy, however, the more the city-region emerges as an important unit." What does Porter mean by this statement (i.e., in what ways have city-regions become increasingly important units of analysis for policy and planning)? In light of this trend, according to Porter, "Should companies worry about where they locate operations and take a proactive role in their communities?" Give your own view on this subject (justify your view with reference to one or more USP2 readings).