Chapter 26. Chapter 26: Urbanization and Sustainable Communities

What is environmental justice?

Why You Should Care

A common acronym associated with environmental justice is NIMBY: Not In My Back Yard. In other words, most people are all for environmental stewardship, like responsible waste disposal, as long as the process or facility isn’t in their neighborhood. Unfortunately, it’s usually those with the most political sway who get to decide where environmental improvements are done and where landfills are placed. Underrepresented groups from poor socioeconomic backgrounds, therefore, are the people most likely to be exposed to pollution or live in poorly zoned neighborhoods near industry. Urban flight is the phenomenon of the affluent leaving cities for the suburbs. This concentrates and segregates the affluent from the less fortunate, and means that it’s harder for environmentally threatened or degraded neighborhoods to get the political and financial support they need to make improvements. A way to combat this issue that has slowly become standard practice over the past four or five decades is to scatter public and subsidized housing throughout cities. This helps prevent concentrations of poverty and the subsequent environmental injustice that follows.

1.

Colonizing is to evacuating as urbanization is to:

A.

rural migration.

B.

suburb.

C.

urban flight.

D.

exurb.

999

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Correct.

Incorrect.

2.

Urban flight was facilitated through:

A.

increased affordability of personal automobiles.

B.

the interstate highway system and other limited access roadways.

C.

urban relocation programs subsidized by the federal government.

D.

Both a and b are correct.

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Correct.

Incorrect.

3.

Choose the option that lists the following events in chronological order:
I. Natural habitat is fragmented.
II. More affluent residents leave the neighborhood and less affluent people move in.
III. Neighborhoods become neglected .
IV. Outlying areas are developed, usually with poor civic planning.

A.

II, IV, I, III

B.

III, II, IV, I

C.

I, III, II, IV

D.

IV, I, III, II

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Correct.

Incorrect.

4.

Of the following items, this one CANNOT be connected to urban flight from the South Bronx.

A.

Discriminatory lending practices based on neighborhood

B.

Insurance fraud

C.

Increased drug and violent crime

D.

Strengthening of zoning laws

999

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Although the trend in recent years is for improved zoning laws to prevent mixed development, this wasn't the case in the South Bronx.

5.

The cause-and-effect relationship, if any, between urban flight and suburban sprawl is BEST described as:

A.

urban flight directly contributes to suburban sprawl.

B.

suburban sprawl directly contributes to urban flight.

C.

suburban sprawl and urban flight both result from redlining.

D.

urban flight and suburban sprawl are not connected.

999

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Although the trend in recent years is for improved zoning laws to prevent mixed development, this wasn't the case in the South Bronx.

6.

Thought Question: Why do the two pairs of maps in Infographic 26.4 appear to be negative images of each other?

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Basically, wherever and whenever the relative amount of the black population increased in a district, the white population decreased.

7.

Thought Question: How is urban flight an environmental justice issue?

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Urban flight usually involves the more affluent (usually majority) inhabitants of a city leaving as minority people, who are often relatively disadvantaged, move in. Often, the majority people leave the neighborhoods because of some kind of environmental disadvantage associated with it, or as the disadvantaged move in, they are less financially able to make their own improvements, and their needs are less likely to be heard by lawmakers. This means that they will often receive an unfair share of environmental degradation.

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