Research – Proximity in cities and transportation
Originally, I was focusing just on bikeablity in cities, but after getting feedback in class, and on my post, as well as meeting with my group I am now going to focus on proximity in cities. With our human quality being the walkability and bikeability of a city and the environmental quality being how air quality can be affected by proximity.
General Problem worldwide
With the rise of the car, urban design of cities has been changed from being designed at human scale to designed for cars. Resulting in it being difficult for people without a car to do a simple thing like go grocery shopping. This problem effects low-income groups and marginalized the most, as these groups may not have access to a car and may live in a food desert. In cities that lack proximity to everyday necessities it forces people to rely on their car for transporting, which can cause a social disconnect and can kill city life. The reliance on cars also causes more pollution in a city, negatively affect people of all ages.
Problem in Eugene
Eugene was built for the car, so everyday essentials are not in proximity to each other. The city also does not have many pedestrian friendly roads and only a handful of bike friendly streets. This means that in order to do basic things like go to the grocery store, most people need a car. This issue mainly effects students as they may not have access to a car which makes it very difficult for them to access daily essentials. The lack of proximity to essentials and places like downtown results in a disconnect between the community and students. With Eugene already on average not having good air quality, the dependency on cars cannot be helping.
https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/policy-and-strategy/planning-for-melbourne/plan-melbourne/20-minute-neighbourhoods
Sources:
https://www.mdpi.com/964654
https://www.aecf.org/blog/exploring-americas-food-deserts
https://qz.com/375745/american-cities-are-designed-for-cars-which-makes-life-worse-for-everyone
https://www.dailyemerald.com/news/accessible-biking-in-eugene-is-getting-there/article_13e7869c-28e3-11ed-bc18-13d645571a41.html
https://www.iqair.com/us/usa/oregon/eugene