URBAN PLANNING by Akila Muthukumar

URBAN PLANNING By Akila Muthukumar

INTRODUCTION

New York City. Los Angeles. Chicago. Miami. Philadelphia. Dallas. Atlanta. Boston. These are just a few of America’s metro centers. According to the US Census Bureau, 80% of Americans live in urban cities, bustling with jobs and opportunities. However, a large proportion of urbanites expressed desire for suburban and rural life. Their reasons? Chronic underinvestment in infrastructure, housing, and transportation that often leads to crowding and One pressing issue congestion. Simultaneously, they decried the rampant crime and in America’s poverty that sullies city image. burgeoning urban Urban planning is a dynamic field that involves studying the landscape is development and design of metropolitan land to improve the lives of sustainable and city-dwellers. Urban planning requires detailed, futuristic policies efficient and regulations at the local, state, and national level to prevent a transporation. mass exodus from metro cities. Urban planning asks questions like: Oceans of Data Where will people live and work in the future? How can we ensure environmentally sustainable mobility? How will electrical grids, water supplies and sewers fit into the city? How will we regulate businesses and provide social services?

XPLANATION OF THE SSUE Urban planning E I takes inspiration Historical Development from early pre- Classical cities. Early Origins Urban Planning takes inspiration from cities throughout history, as early as the pre-Classical period. These early cities were laid out as grids with a hierarchy of streets and alleys that were intended to

HARVARD MODEL CONGRESS

provide privacy and protect people from noise. This pre-Classical concern for the quality of residential life lives on in modern neighborhood models. As cities became more developed and established their own water and sewage systems, public health became inextricably tied with urban planning. Today, we understand the repercussions of sanitation on not only health, but also the environment. The Roman Empire’s model, which used orthogonal structures and consolidated city services at the center, continues to shape how resources are distributed from urban centers to suburbs. The influence of Renaissance urban planning and rebuilding cities to reflect their cultural prowess lives on today in the need to preserve aesthetic and beautify urban cities. Industrial Revolution During the Industrial Revolution, the urban population increased dramatically as farmers looked for wage labor in factories. Urban planning needed to accommodate exponential population growth and was largely dictated by private business concerns. Alarming levels of pollution from factory fuels and chemicals led people to champion healthier environments for the working class. Major cities became epicenters for the future of leftist politics as this urban working class revolted for safer conditions and better wages. Modernism – a Although the blue-collar urban core from the Industrial revolution movement that has left cities, the occupants of today’s cities – college graduates and focuses city immigrants – still tend to favor similar Democratic and leftist functionality, often politics. relying on high-rise architecture and strict By the 1920s, Modernism brought forth utilitarian zoning skyscrapers, airports and glorified the use of cars. This movement was focused on maintaining zoning, order, and function within cities to ensure they operated like well-oiled machines. After the 1960s, post- World War II, the federal government began processing more grants for slum clearance, improved housing, roads, and urban renewal intended to revive community in addition to function. At the turn of the 21st century, following events like the collapse of the twin New Urbanism towers on 9/11, New Urbanism encouraged critical re-evaluation – A movement and reform of Modernist high-rise architecture and advocated for promoting higher-density projects that focus on human life within cities, environmentally including walkable green space. friendly and human- scaled projects Scope of the Problem Residence and Homelessness First, there is a need for more affordable housing. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), approximately 12 million renter and homeowner households pay more than 50% of their annual incomes for housing – even though

paying more than 30% of income for housing is considered an unsustainable economic burden. Additionally, in cities like Palo Alto, California, a modest urban lot located near city workplaces costs nearly 4 million dollars, which often means that middle-class families end up as super commuters with over 90-minute travel times. Other difficulties include pushing residents to sell their homes foreclosure – in foreclosure, eviction from apartments, or legal difficulties seizing property when leaving leases and permanent housing. Finally, densely populated a homeowner is cities need more housing units to accommodate for population unable to pay their growth, a struggle exacerbated by lack of land set aside for residential mortgage development. Homelessness has been concentrated in and around urban centers. According to data from 3,000 cities in the 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, major cities accounted for half of all homeless people in the US, and one in five were either in New York or Los Angeles. More recently, on a single night in January 2019, more half of all people experiencing homelessness were in one of the 50 largest cities in the United States. According to a HUD press release from Secretary Ben Carson, homelessness increased in California by 21,306 people, or 16.4 percent from 2018 to 2019, which is more than the national average and contrasts the decline in homelessness in other states and more rural or suburban areas, signaling that West Coast homelessness is at an all-time high (“Homelessness Ticked Up”). Business and Industrial Regulation Starting a business requires acquiring significant documentation West coast and meeting complex standards including construction permits, rent homelessness control, zoning clearance, building permits, and when selling food, increases seller and food-handling permits as well. Many requirements and drastically in zoning intricacies are handled on a city level and lack federally California cities standardized procedures. Thus, business opportunities in urban including Los centers are often given only to the regulatory experts and actively Angeles. disadvantage immigrants who are not fluent in English or Los Angeles Homeless entrepreneurs with full-time jobs and families who are looking to Services Authority start a business on the side. Entrepreneurship and businesses are the lifeblood of urban economic development and require our immediate attention. Second, retaining America’s manufacturing base is a matter of national interest since many of our global competitors’ industrial bases are growing and forcing us to outsource labor. America is struggling, even in our clean-energy-based sectors, to handle trade inequities and cost competition. Urban industries and industrial land use must both be evaluated to eliminate bias against decentralized bases of small manufacturers, which pay high median wages, provide job opportunities for a wide skill-range and

contribute to industries such as entertainment and fashion in New York and Los Angeles (Mistry).

Transportation, Parking, and Pollution Historically, America was built to accommodate cars: residential, employment and shopping zones were separated to mandate travel and off-street parking incentivizes automobile use. More recently, however, parking spaces have been shown to contribute to “increasing traffic congestion, polluting the air, encouraging sprawl, raising housing costs, degrading urban design, preventing walkability, damaging the economy,” and in 2015, the average parking space construction cost was $24,000 aboveground and $34,000 underground, more than the net worth of many U.S. households (Shoup). However, automobiles harm the environment with increased air and noise pollution, and they aggravate gridlock. The average yearly number of hours spent in gridlock per commuter – 54 hours, has tripled since the 1980s and rises to nearly 80 hours in major cities like Chicago, according to the 2019 Urban Mobility Report (Wisniewski). Road construction tends to be a short-term fix that relieves congestion but immediately fuels increased travel capacity. Thus, higher density and compact development are likely necessary to minimize travel distance between locations. Current alternatives to automobile transit mainly involve public transit or cycling and walking, especially for travel across smaller urban corridors. Crime and Safety Residential crowding and increased interaction results in higher crime rates. For example, New York City and Los Angeles have a notorious record of aggressive broken window policing for minor Nearly three- crimes, predominantly in neighborhoods of color. This leads to quarters of urban public opinion about certain neighborhoods being unsafe and a cities experienced a decline in property value. FBI uniform crime reports showcase that rise in violent “Nearly three-quarters, 60 out of 81, of urban cities experienced a crime between rise in violent crime between 2014 and 2017, as the overall number of murders across U.S. cities in the database increased by 25 2014 and 2017. percent.” Chicago and Baltimore had particularly large increases” (Florida). Congressional Action In tackling homelessness and land-use regulations, Republican Senator Todd Young, a Republican from Indiana, introduced the Yes In My Backyard Act S.1919 and its companion bill from the House, H.R. 4351, with over 20 policies encouraging affordable housing under the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. It was passed in March 2020 and moved to the Senate with 13 bipartisan

sponsors. Yes In My Backyard is intended combat discriminatory land use policies, encourage transit-oriented building, encourage localities to cut burdensome regulations that target low and middle income families, and bring a new level of transparency to the zoning process by mandating localities that receive a Community Development Block Grant (or CDBG) provide 5-year updates on fund use. It is an ambitious bipartisan reform effort in Congress with a 20% prognosis for being enacted. In tackling transportation concerns, The Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 gave $375 million for large urban public or private mass transit projects and created a precursor to the current Federal Transit Administration, which provides financial and technical support to public transit systems. This act encouraged commuters to leave individual automobiles for new and improved systems of mass transit, but since investing in mass transit, there have been important questions about safety, cleanliness, and accessibility for the elderly, disabled, and poor urban residents. Noise pollution arising from mass transit and its construction have environmental repercussions and impacts on human development and wildlife that have yet to be addressed. In tackling crime and safety, some June 2020 bills include H.R. 1714 which intends to stop militarizing law enforcement by limiting the Secretary of Defense’s ability to transfer excess military weapons to local law enforcement. Opponents claim that we should not limit repurposing military assets to keep communities safe while proponents claim that the line between urban police and military is unnecessarily blurred. H.R. 2927 targets preventing tragedies between police and communities by requiring annual training in verbal and physical de-escalation and alternatives to force. Opponents claim that reducing force can endanger police officers while proponents explain we need more education about mental health standards, and this will hold police accountable. These bills have lower prognosis for enactment but nevertheless represent important liberal ideology toward safer urban landscapes. Other Policy Action Urban planning in communal living spaces directly impacts public health, which has been especially evident during the COVID- 19 pandemic, during which many cities and states have mandated social distancing. Thus, public health experts are using Urban Health San Francisco Indicators or UHIs to influence urban planning policy. A 2020 study Department of from Palgrave Communications concluded that scientific knowledge Public Health is often conceived outside of policy systems and thus difficult to shapes local urban properly implement. However, tailoring UHI research to local city planning policies. planners created positive change in test cities, including San SF Department of Public Health Francisco. For example, the San Francisco Department of Public Health contributed to policies to prevent residential displacement, a

city ordinance requiring stricter building ventilation standards in areas with high air pollution, and the redeployment of traffic police to high-injury corridors between 2007 and 2013 (Pineo). Integrating urban public health research into public policy remains a relatively novel endeavor and has yet to be executed at a state or federal level, but has the potential to revolutionize residence, homelessness, transit, policing and more.

IDEOLOGICAL VIEWPOINTS

Conservative View Conservatives believe that liberal Democratic rule in most major urban cities has only led to economic, environmental, and social degradation. They advocate for local input and increased self- government for businesses since years of over-regulation and over- spending has left cities bankrupt. They believe in targeting cities via Radicals advocate the marketplace, in creating competition between private groups, for defunding or non-profits, and even religious organizations to address blights like abolishing the homelessness and to provide other social services. They support police entirely. limited housing vouchers, police reforms, and question the economic burden of maintaining public transit as opposed to individual automobiles. Most conservative policies aim to preserve individual freedom, economically strengthen American cities, and make them great sites for businesses and people to thrive.

Liberal View Liberals are generally sensitive to how individual actions have consequences on others in densely populated cities and want to infuse public housing, transportation, and other communal services with federal money. The negative externalities of pollution, negative energy waste, accidents and misallocation of land also leads them to externality – a cost champion walking, biking, and mass transit more than their of an economic conservative counterparts. They are more inclined to invest in transaction that is not expensive urban planning policy measures to accommodate for borne by the initial public health concerns or to prevent environmental degradation and parties of that climate change. They believe everyone should be guaranteed transaction affordable housing and safe neighborhoods. They also tend to advocate for measures like street outreach and rapid emergency housing response. Radicals advocate for defunding or abolishing the police entirely and most liberals advocate for extensive police reform.

AREAS OF DEBATE

There is significant contention and ideological difference between conservative and liberal urban planning policies. Increase Housing Housing is responsible for 18% of our Gross National Product and the catastrophic repercussions of the 2008 housing market collapse are still felt in today’s unstable housing market. The heart of addressing homelessness also involves increased housing. Both parties want more Americans to contribute to higher-wage and higher-productivity cities and support increasing housing. Increasing housing involves reducing or eliminating land devoted exclusively to single family housing and advocating instead for denser building types. Modern construction allows for multi-story apartments and policymakers in Minneapolis have permitted three- Policies to increase story homes possible and in Oregon, two-story homes (Yglesias). In housing include addition to increasing land available for housing, policymakers strive reducing land to increase funding for the National Housing Trust Fund to allocated for single- construct, preserve and rehabilitate millions of housing units family homes in (Calhoon). major cities. San Francisco Planning Senator Bernie Sanders and former Housing and Urban Department Development Secretary Julián Castro advocate for “housing for all” to solve America’s housing crisis by 2028. The plan reforms Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program legislature to guarantee subsidized rent benefits for everyone who qualifies. Sanders specifically wishes to devote $1.48 trillion to housing projects. Political Perspectives on this Solution Conservatives tend to see homelessness as a blight on city identity and emphasize the positive role of responsible homeownership in creating communities, recognizing those who work hard to protect their families. Although they support increasing housing, they do not wish to rely on taxpayer bailouts for funding and believe a self- sufficient free market economy should incentivize housing development. Since 2007, red states have seen almost a third of a drop in homelessness while blue states have not seen any changes. In fact, half of America’s homeless live in major cities, with four- fifths of them in blue states (Weigel). Thus, President Donald Trump effectively defends Republican governors and encourages national discourse to frame homelessness as a public safety issue, advocating for forced relocation. Democrats encourage subsidized housing, addressing zoning concerns and creating new homes, especially for marginalized populations. They tend to appeal to families, especially communities of color, needing housing since current federal social safety nets fail

to provide for all low-income families’ housing needs. During their presidential campaigns, current Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris popularized refundable tax credits for those who spend a disproportionate amount of money on housing.

Reduce Regulation for Urban Businesses Aspiring business owners in urban America face countless regulatory hurdles that hinder people’s ability to begin or advance business projects. Loosening regulations in just three cities — New York, San Jose, and San Francisco — has been projected to expand the national economy by nearly 10% (Hsieh). Successful cities with plentiful business revenue are then able and incentivized to address other crises like homelessness and transportation. Dudley Square in Boston, Massachusetts presents a compelling case for creating more entrepreneurship-friendly zones to encourage business. The zone is inspired by positive results in Devens, Massachusetts and will encourage enterprise through “one-stop permitting shops, merging existing business support programs into a single office, and connecting networks of entrepreneurially minded individuals with community platforms such as incubators” (Evans). Part of the central zone will include space for start-ups to innovate in the same building as the Boston public school system's headquarters. There is also a push to unify state and local business grant programs into a single funding office in the city and implement entrepreneur mentorship programs. The focus is on empowering community education, especially for the poor, as opposed to more traditional right-wing policies that chase the smokestacks of industry.

Political Perspectives on this Solution Conservatives favor policies to reduce the regulations and barriers to entry for businesses, since three-quarters of America's aggregate GDP growth from 1964 to 2009 came from cities with fewer regulations, primarily in the South (Evans). However, even lightly regulated cities, like those in Texas, have high taxes based on development that deter land development so there is additional advocacy to tax only property, not land when implementing these policies. Most Democrats and liberals advocate against lowering regulations and push for stricter regulations, especially since businesses and industry have exponentially larger carbon footprints and contribute far more to air, water and noise pollution than do individual homes. Liberals argue that stringent regulation is often the best way to ensure safety standards for long-term urban health. Additionally, devoting space to business ventures in urban environments directly takes away from space for protected housing.

Democrats tend to prioritize housing protections over business success. Some Democrats also oppose excessive development out of concern for gentrification and cultural displacement, fearing a repeat of what happened in San Francisco’s Mission District when large technology businesses moved in and drove up rent costs.

Implement Public Transit to Reduce Congestion and Increase Urban Mobility Despite expending significant amounts of time, money, and HUD manpower to researching and improving urban transportation, we have yet to identify a salient solution to traffic congestion or parking difficulties. National figures demonstrate that public transportation produces significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions per passenger mile than do private vehicles. Beyond reducing oil consumption and methane pollution from cars, “heavy rail transit such as subways and metros produce on average 76% lower greenhouse gas emissions per passenger mile than an average single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) and light rail systems produce 62% less and bus transit produces 33% less” (Transit’s Role in Environmental Sustainability). Transit can also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by facilitating compact development, which conserves land and decreases the distances people need to travel to reach destinations. Moreover, by reducing congestion, transit reduces emissions from cars stuck in traffic. Political Perspectives on this Solution Both conservatives and liberals tend to value private-public partnerships and want to implement these policies but wish to acquire funding from different sources. Conservatives want to encourage more private sector investment in infrastructure by eliminating regulatory hurdles. They also believe mass transit is an inherently local affair that only serves six big cities and want to strip programs from the Highway Trust Fund that are not directly related to cars or roads. They remain staunchly opposed to hiking the federal gasoline tax, which finances the Highway Trust Fund. On the other hands, liberals push for private sector and business taxes to pay for infrastructure reform (Zanona). They support dramatically increasing federal infrastructure funding, pushing for trillion dollars devoted to work on roads, bridges, public transit, airports, rail lines, and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure with a special focus on tribal land. Hold police accountable for safer cities Poverty and likelihood to resort to crime to meet basic needs are correlated and addressing one will shed light on the other. In the wake of George Floyd’s death, the Black Lives Matter movement has

sparked incredible public interest in holding the police accountable by investigating police departments and pushing for transparent, comprehensive reporting. Policies to increase safety include mandating body-cameras, emphasizing de-escalation tactics in police academies, banning chokeholds and strangleholds, and requiring a verbal warning before shooting. Radicals are also pushing Broken window to defund, demilitarize, and investigate social work alternatives for policing – a policy of all police jobs, citing an oppressive history of broken-window removing visible signs policing that has inflicted systemic violence on communities of of disorder and color for minor or even nonexistent crimes. targeting petty crimes Political Perspectives on this Solution in the belief that these actions will prevent Despite traditional invocations of law and order among more serious conservatives, there has been a call for decreased incarceration from violations Koch brothers and Republican politicians like Rick Perry, Rand Paul and Newt Gingrich. However, ultimately conservatives believe that even under the best social circumstances, strong, well trained law enforcement is necessary to protect us all, and especially the weak and vulnerable, from criminals. They support mandatory prison sentencing for gang crimes, violent or sexual offenses against children, repeat drug dealers, rape, robbery, and murder and oppose parole for dangerous or repeat felons (Chammah).

BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s budget briefing, their budget for the 2021 fiscal year is $47.9 billion. Of this sum, $41.3 billion is dedicated to constructing new housing and helping 4.6 million low income Americans pay rent. $2.8 billion is set aside specifically to target homelessness, but the National Alliance to End Homelessness asks for $3.1 billion to keep up with higher eviction rates. $425 million is dedicated to removing The 2021 President's health and safety hazards in residential spaces, including testing for HUD budget is radon, carbon-monoxide, and lead-based paints. $190 million is $47.9 billion, $8.6 dedicated to ending cycles of poverty (“Fiscal Year 2021: Budget in billion less than the Brief”). Keep in mind, federal spending can be supplemented with enacted level for funds from private businesses or corporations and non-profits. 2020. HUD Budgetary Funds are also available to cities through property tax revenue and Briefing sometimes even sales and income taxes.

CONCLUSION

Together, we can revitalize the nation's roads, bridges, transit, and water systems in a way that is not just cost-effective and

expedient, but also environmentally conscious about air, water, and noise pollution. We can reimagine and reform policing to keep every community safer. We must renew our support for innovative projects fueled by private entrepreneurial energy to boost city economies but frequently evaluate long-term sustainability and not overlook the practical need for regulation. We want to cure our cities of homelessness, housing instability, and bolster our national housing market. Each of these facets of urban planning is multidimensional and involves multiple stakeholders – public health researchers, architects, environmentalists, the police state, communication industries, public schools, and many others. The US government must implement creative bipartisan Congressional policies that think beyond the scope of even this briefing and any existing bills to provide for this diverse array of stakeholders and envision a better future for urban America.

GUIDE TO FURTHER RESEARCH

Carceral state – There is some ambiguity involved in defining urban metro spaces, the set of practices, especially in relation to suburban fringes and smaller cities so policies, and understanding local landscapes is essential to research. Future institutions that research topics might include zoning, redlining, gentrification, and define how people the relationship between home ownership, upwards mobility, and experience the public education. Additionally, the police state is inextricably tied criminal justice with mass incarceration, the death penalty, and policies associated system with Senate Judiciary. Delegates are encouraged to think critically about the relationship between public safety and the carceral state. Urban landscapes and population sizes have changed tremendously since even a decade ago, so it is especially important to collect recent Urban planning is statistics. multidimensional and involves multiple GLOSSARY stakeholders. Modernism – A movement that focuses city functionality, often relying on high-rise architecture and strict zoning

New Urbanism – A movement promoting environmentally friendly and human-scaled projects

Foreclosure –seizing property when a homeowner is unable to pay mortgage

Broken window policing – cleaning visible signs of disorder and targeting petty crimes will also prevent larger ones

Negative Externality – a cost of an economic transaction that is not borne by the initial parties of that transaction

Carceral state – not only law enforcement, courts, and prisons, but private security, the Department of Homeland Security and Armed forces

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