Regional Accessibility
In the Oriole Park neighborhood located in Northwest Chicago, most people work in the near Northwest suburbs or closer to inner-city neighborhoods while some work in the downtown district. For those who travel to work in the inner-city and downtown areas, there is a CTA blue line stop located on the Northeast edge of Oriole Park. There is a limited degree of walkability to places of work and shopping centers. Unless you are employed by the various businesses and restaurants down the main street, Harlem Avenue, it is likely you have to travel by car to reach other areas of employment, either in or outside of the city limits. Oriole Park is not connected to any green infrastructure systems like regional parks or nature systems. Instead, the neighborhood is bounded on all sides by wide, busy streets.
Within Oriole Park
Under my discretion, I believe the identifiable center of the neighborhood is its park, which is next to the library and public school. The boundaries of the neighborhood are Harlem, Foster, Canfield Avenues, and the 1-90 Expressway. Within the neighborhood itself, there are not many reasons to walk around other than to utilize the large park for the various recreational activities offered, to visit the neighborhood school, or library located nearby. Because Oriole Park is a residential neighborhood, one other reason why one may walk within its borders is to travel from one home to another. Oriole Park can improve its walkability by building a CTA blue line stop entrance closer to the residential blocks where a greater number of local commuters reside. As a frequent rider of the CTA, I can speak from experience that the current path leading to the CTA entrance is not walker-friendly and takes significantly longer to reach than if it were built with residential commuters in mind. Considering "bike-ability," this neighborhood serves bikers well within the neighborhood limits. Wide streets allow considerable space for both two lane traffic and bikers and the paths within the park are wide enough that at times of low park visitation, biking is possible with ease.With regard to access to areas outside of Oriole Park, bikers are hindered by lack of corridors and nature paths to ride.
I would not consider any of the streets in my neighborhood to be "complete" because all of the inner streets are residential, containing no places of work or stores to shop in while the streets bounding the neighborhood are high traffic, wide-laned streets with nothing but shops or vacant storefronts. There is not a high degree of mixed land-use in Oriole Park, therefore, I would not consider any of the street blocks to be "complete". I believe due to the neighborhood's location in an isolated pocket in the farthest corner of the Northwest side of Chicago, there are very low instances of crime reported in the neighborhood. As a result of this separation from other surrounding neighborhoods, I feel very safe when roaming the streets, even far after dark.
In the next 50 years?
I predict that over the next 50 years, I believe this area will generally stay the same and maybe (hopefully) see an economic improvement in the local businesses. Maybe more chain restaurants will spring up along the edges of Oriole Park on the busy avenues. More home renovations will take place and many newer more modern houses will be built in place of the traditional styles still standing. Possibly more improvements will be made to the neighborhood's walkability and changes to the nearby Harlem CTA stop will give more consideration to walkers. With a more walkable neighborhood may come more smaller shops and employment opportunities located inside its borders. This would give way for a more sustainable neighborhood, one that is less reliant on automobiles to travel for daily necessities and more conscientious of on harnessing the benefits of its natural amenities. Improving elements of the neighborhood "center" (the park) and designing it to work in tandem with the natural environment is how Oriole Park can implement green infrastructure systems, having positive impacts for residents quality of life.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Tragedy of the Commons in Our Oceans
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21596942-new-management-needed-planets-most-important-common-resource-tragedy-high
In the above news article, the issue of declining biodiversity among the world's oceans has been a direct result from Garrrett Hardin's "Tragedy of the Commons" phenomena. Hardin argued that when a resource is collectively owned , over-exploitation leads to the resources long-term viability. In the case of our fragile ocean ecosystem, overfishing has caused the demise of our ocean life in the same way Hardin's example of overgrazing causes the degeneration of the pasture in which cows feed. Because of human tendency to underestimate the long-term vitality of our natural resources, there have many instances of the tragedy that have captured the attention of sustainability efforts. In this instance, the high seas are the commons, where the worlds thousands of miles of coastlines offer fish for all. However, overfishing has resulted in a catastrophic collapse of the oceans biodiversity and has had an impact on the larger biota. The oceans fish stock is not the only part of oceans system which has been affected by the overexploitation of this resource. Declining fish populations have larger implications for the oceans oxygen content, causing the spread of dead zones throughout the globe.
The tragedy of the commons occurs when there are not sufficient rules and institutions governing the use and allocation of a limited resource. Massive individual fisheries have acted in the favor of short-term interests and have failed to recognize the balance needed between short-term benefits and long-term conservation. This article offers several reform solutions to the tragedy. First, fish subsidies are suggested to be ended, as fisheries have been depending on government funds to do major environmental damage. Because there is not a required global fishing registry, individual fishermen have easily gotten away with taking more than their fair share of fish. In addition, less than 1% of the high seas are protected by marine reserves. If there were more reserves, more species of sea life would be conserved from the rapture of private corporations.
I believe all of the solutions presented here could work to revive fish populations and curb their overexploitation. Whatever the solution taken, I believe it is necessary that there be large-scale institutional reform to cut overfishing and, more crucially, to change attitudes toward the way we as a collective society share the bounties of the ocean. If we are looking to create sustainable ways to ensure the longevity of our planet's ocean life, we need to recognize that although the ocean may seem vast and limitless, the fragile species that call it home are in danger because of our overzealous demand for them.
In the above news article, the issue of declining biodiversity among the world's oceans has been a direct result from Garrrett Hardin's "Tragedy of the Commons" phenomena. Hardin argued that when a resource is collectively owned , over-exploitation leads to the resources long-term viability. In the case of our fragile ocean ecosystem, overfishing has caused the demise of our ocean life in the same way Hardin's example of overgrazing causes the degeneration of the pasture in which cows feed. Because of human tendency to underestimate the long-term vitality of our natural resources, there have many instances of the tragedy that have captured the attention of sustainability efforts. In this instance, the high seas are the commons, where the worlds thousands of miles of coastlines offer fish for all. However, overfishing has resulted in a catastrophic collapse of the oceans biodiversity and has had an impact on the larger biota. The oceans fish stock is not the only part of oceans system which has been affected by the overexploitation of this resource. Declining fish populations have larger implications for the oceans oxygen content, causing the spread of dead zones throughout the globe.
The tragedy of the commons occurs when there are not sufficient rules and institutions governing the use and allocation of a limited resource. Massive individual fisheries have acted in the favor of short-term interests and have failed to recognize the balance needed between short-term benefits and long-term conservation. This article offers several reform solutions to the tragedy. First, fish subsidies are suggested to be ended, as fisheries have been depending on government funds to do major environmental damage. Because there is not a required global fishing registry, individual fishermen have easily gotten away with taking more than their fair share of fish. In addition, less than 1% of the high seas are protected by marine reserves. If there were more reserves, more species of sea life would be conserved from the rapture of private corporations.
I believe all of the solutions presented here could work to revive fish populations and curb their overexploitation. Whatever the solution taken, I believe it is necessary that there be large-scale institutional reform to cut overfishing and, more crucially, to change attitudes toward the way we as a collective society share the bounties of the ocean. If we are looking to create sustainable ways to ensure the longevity of our planet's ocean life, we need to recognize that although the ocean may seem vast and limitless, the fragile species that call it home are in danger because of our overzealous demand for them.
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