Poster Session #2: UC Ballroom

Are Planned or Naturally-Occurring Cities More Sustainable?: A Comparison of Irvine, CA and Fremont, CA

Presentation Type

Poster

Faculty Mentor’s Full Name

Jeffrey Gritzner

Faculty Mentor’s Department

Geography

Abstract / Artist's Statement

Sustainability is the basis for creating a successful, long-lasting city as well as a healthy environment. A city’s sustainability practices such as regulations and goals regarding smart-growth activities, transportation programs, energy and resource conservation, pollution prevention, land-use programs, and city beautification projects are what make that city continuously thrive. In order to determine whether planned or naturally-occurring cities provide a more suitable structure and atmosphere for sustainability, I compared the planned city of Irvine, California to the naturally-occurring, historical city of Fremont, California. I examined mainly government documents and websites created by the cities. The cities share a similar population, an economic reliance on local schools and technology, a closeness to major universities, and many similar sustainability practices. Both cities show an interest in their environmental impacts, creating plans and incentives for sustainable practices such as clean water, alternate energy, and green business. Irvine’s city plan focused on the ease of living the community, creating multiple bike paths and a neighborhood setup that’s easily navigated. The city of Fremont, though perhaps not as navigable as Irvine, focused just as much on getting community involvement on sustainable issues. Essentially, both cities seem to be actively trying to make their city more sustainable, at least environmentally, by getting the community involved. Fremont may have been better equipped to handle these environmental issues if it was a planned city and Irvine may have less of an environmental impact if it had taken sustainability more seriously from the start. However, it seems as though a city’s sustainability rests not only on the ease of creating sustainability practices, but also on the community’s active interest in creating a sustainable life.

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Apr 12th, 3:00 PM Apr 12th, 4:00 PM

Are Planned or Naturally-Occurring Cities More Sustainable?: A Comparison of Irvine, CA and Fremont, CA

UC Ballroom

Sustainability is the basis for creating a successful, long-lasting city as well as a healthy environment. A city’s sustainability practices such as regulations and goals regarding smart-growth activities, transportation programs, energy and resource conservation, pollution prevention, land-use programs, and city beautification projects are what make that city continuously thrive. In order to determine whether planned or naturally-occurring cities provide a more suitable structure and atmosphere for sustainability, I compared the planned city of Irvine, California to the naturally-occurring, historical city of Fremont, California. I examined mainly government documents and websites created by the cities. The cities share a similar population, an economic reliance on local schools and technology, a closeness to major universities, and many similar sustainability practices. Both cities show an interest in their environmental impacts, creating plans and incentives for sustainable practices such as clean water, alternate energy, and green business. Irvine’s city plan focused on the ease of living the community, creating multiple bike paths and a neighborhood setup that’s easily navigated. The city of Fremont, though perhaps not as navigable as Irvine, focused just as much on getting community involvement on sustainable issues. Essentially, both cities seem to be actively trying to make their city more sustainable, at least environmentally, by getting the community involved. Fremont may have been better equipped to handle these environmental issues if it was a planned city and Irvine may have less of an environmental impact if it had taken sustainability more seriously from the start. However, it seems as though a city’s sustainability rests not only on the ease of creating sustainability practices, but also on the community’s active interest in creating a sustainable life.