Livable Cities

Livable Cities



"Eyes on the Street" (Jacobs 1961)

What do you think of when you hear those words? Actual eyes on the street or people on the street? In my community there isn't a formal community watch program but my neighbors and I watch out for each other. We have each other's phone numbers and know who is supposed to be at the homes and who is not. One of my neighbors called my husband when he noticed that our garage door was left open a bit. Knowing that we were all at work or out he knew something wasn't right. He was right, our house had been broken into. Immediately we put the word out on social media and we started getting tips as to where our personal items were moving to. Unfortunately, we weren't able to recover any of our belongings but the fact the my neighbor notified us put the robbers and the sheriff's office on alert right away. That's one of the needs in a livable city. People need to feel safe where they live, no matter if it's to walk around the community, buy a home, or simply feel free to visit at anytime. Children are free to ride their bikes in the neighborhood to the park or the baseball field as well as to school. We may not have police out always policing our streets but we have "eyes on the street" keeping it safe.

Photo by Abstrak

"New roads generate more traffic, and more traffic creates a demand for even more roads." (Farr 2008, 56)

Everywhere you turn there is something new being built which means the roads will be busier. The last new road in Collier County was the extension of Santa Barbara Blvd. That opening allowed for the availability of more homes to be built. There were homes already in the area, but the roads were of dirt so many people would rather not build there. Now with the opening more people are moving into the area. I think it relieved some of the traffic on US 41 but now the section is getting congested. Where will the next road open up? Maybe a connection of Lee county and Collier with the extension of 951 into Lee County. That would certainly take away traffic from I-75 but when that road is congested what will be next?

Photo by wired.com

"The goal is to allow viewers to grab hold of the meaning with one look." (White 2011, 9)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so why not show what is happening to our world instead of just talking about it. When we see with our own eyes then it's easier to believe. I guess it may not be a easy, as how can you see gasses hurting our atmosphere? At the same time we need to see how people, communities and businesses are doing there part in providing eco-friendly environments. People may want to do their part may not know how to help. Many of us are visual learners therefore need to physically see how something works in order to do it. Otherwise we may just think it won't work and won't do it. Let's put our world on display with the colors, smells, and visions.

Photo by Martin Tessler


Sources: Sustainability Principles and Practice (Robertson 2017)

What is sustainability?

What is sustainability?

The state of Florida will soon surpass the state of New York in population making us the third largest state in America.

           It's not a question I had really worried or thought about. Now that I have to take a course on our environment I'm forced to really look at it and see if it's something that I should be worried about. I'd like to believe that I still have a whole life ahead of me and should look forward to seeing my grandchildren grow but now I'm not sure that is true. Not because I'm ill but because at the rate that we a nation are growing and our resources are dwindling.
           That's kind of scary in a way. We've all seen movies on the hustle and bustle of New York and although I like to visit New York I don't want to live there. So, I wouldn't like to see Florida become that way. I have lived in Naples for 48 years and have seen the growth it has had. We had to drive about ten miles before we could get to a grocery store. Now that location is Naples on The Bay which has condominiums, restaurants and shopping stores. Even trying to find a convenience store was hard to find in which I believe was further than the grocery store. Now there are four convenience stores in my community and each one busy any given time. It's crazy how fast the area is growing. Not to say that we no longer have areas that aren't developed as there is still plenty of green around. But isn't that something that we want and need to keep around in order to stay environmentally friendly?

Photo by website The Real Naples

“We understand that humans and nature are not separate, and so insustainability work the systems are known as social-ecological systems: linked systems of humans and nature (Walker and Salt 2012,1).”

If we are linked in some way then we need to learn to co-exist. It’s been this way forever as we as humans can’t live without nature. Nature can survive as it’s been here way before humans have but if we destroy that how will we be able to survive. Slowly we are doing away with rainforests, our air is being contaminated and our reefs in the ocean are dying. People including myself don’t really look at things like this as we believe it doesn’t affect us but we are obviously wrong. No nature means no carbon dioxide for us to be able to breath, no food to be cultivated, and no water for us to drink. 

Photo by website theday.co.uk

“The power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race (Malthus [1798] 2008:61)” 

A powerful quote, as aren’t we seeing that already in many of the third world countries. Little babies are dying due to starvation. There are too many people and not enough food. The land is dry therefore making it hard to cultivate it for food. Even here in America we have kids going around hungry. How can that be in a country that is so rich and with so many resources? Yes we are growing as a population but we also have to ensure that we keep the earth growing in order to avoid the premature death that we will be facing. 

Photo by Alwaght.com

Sources: Sustainability Principles and Practice (Robertson 2017)