More and more people around the world live in cities, and the number of megacities is increasing. There are costs and benefits to living in cities, and in an effort to increase the benefits, there is a growing movement toward “greening” cities. Environmental and social scientists have published a number of studies documenting the effects of greener cities on environmental and human health.
Go to the website Green Cities: Good Health (http://depts.washington.edu/hhwb/). Read the introduction to the site.
Evaluate the website and work with the information to answer the following questions:
Is this a reliable information source? Does it have a clear and transparent agenda?
Who runs this website? Do the organization’s credentials make it reliable or unreliable? Explain.
Who are the authors? What are their credentials? Do they have the scientific background and expertise to lend credibility to the website?
Look under Research Themes to see what research the program pursues. Choose one of the links under Fast Facts, such as Crime & Public Safety, Active Living, or Mental Health & Function.
What type of information is provided on the page? What is the source of the information?
List a couple of the fast facts provided. Then scroll down the page and read each section. For the topic you chose, what is the primary claim? What data is provided to support the claim?
Do you find the data convincing? Why or why not? How does what you read relate to your own life? Give specific examples.
Find an additional case study online at http://www.macmillanhighered.com/launchpad/saes2e