Impacts of the Metropolitan Person of the Rise of the Post-Modern Urban Condition - Essay Example

? Impacts of the Metropolitan Person of the Rise of the Post-Modern Urban Condition (Case of Sacramento, CA   City and State: Date: Introduction Comprehending the wide-reaching design of man-made infrastructure and landscape is becoming more and more important to societies, as they try to administrate urban sprawl, reduce the emission of harmful waste and improving the quality of life. Modern movements like Smart Growth and New Urbanism have challenged the motor vehicle dependence, the placelessness and the insufficient nature of many constructions of the 20th century. As a solution, they have shifted to the promotion of a range of alternative designs (Duany et al., 2000). Within the US, a range of regional planning processes have designed place-type models to help the public and policy makers during the patterning of redevelopment and urban expansion. These model place-types will ordinarily indicate the land use mixtures and the densities, and in some cases, street patterning and building forms. Through the proposals, decision-makers can estimate the environmental and transportation impacts of optional area place-type blends, using I-PLACE3S and GIS-based software. However, irrespective of new attention to large-scale urban design, some suburbanization histories and the classic examination of urban forms throughout history; the developments of urban expansion for cities in North America have not been charted out in a systematic way. This report will detail a study of the evolution of spatial developments across the Sacramento urban area, using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software to map the growth and the changes that came with the growth. Additional research from secondary sources will offer more information on the history of the urban area and the triggers of growth. The report aims to provide the morphological growth of the region, pointing out the full range of constructed landscapes created through its history, which will help in the management of urban growth. Related Literature The commonly available historical accounts of suburbanisation and urbanisation tend to emphasize the general aspects of growth, and the forces triggering urban development, compared to giving information on the systematic growth of urban forms. Most times, these accounts depict an impressive history, and may assume a normative outlook; Mumford’s “the City in History” of 1961 is among the iconic examples of both areas. The main focus of these accounts includes financial, cultural and the institutional factors that trigger growth. Others like Hall (2002) focus on the planning ideas and the visions of urban areas. Additionally, some scholars emphasize the urban histories of the urban areas, and many others have reviewed the historical account of certain cities (Abbott, 2008). Although, many of the works mentioned before focus on demographic, sociological and cultural change, some iconic planners, geographers and historians have directed more attention towards form. Through the analysis of official maps and designs, which are supported by other sources of graphic evidence, the information is used to offer information on the changes that have taken place in economic needs, cultural values and governmental purposes. Other accounts like Kostof (1992) focuses particular features of design of the city, throughout history, emphasizing on the reflection of purpose and meaning from patterns. Lynch (1981) pointed out the significance of different spatial aspects of a city, including edges, paths, nodes, districts, and grain, going further to explore the ways in which they affect the lives and the experiences of visitors and the residents of the region. Vance (1990) reviewed function and form in urban settlements in human history, directing special attention towards the stages of development, the location of cities and their connectivity – with reference to transportation and trade. Recent literature has been highly systematic in analyzing form, by developing models of form at varied scales. Sothworth and Owens (1993) evaluated the morphologies of neighbourhoods, community, residential lots and streets at the Eastern Suburb areas of San Francisco bay, emphasizing on the developments of the mid-20th century. Wheeler (2008) drew typologies of constructed landscapes from a historical point of view, evaluating the neighbourhood-scale models for different metropolis, emphasizing on growth and sustainability management implications. Others like Song and Knaap (2004) applied parcel-level GIS information in their classification of residential centres at Portland, Oregon – making reference to quantitative models like street patterns, land-use mix, plot density, transportation infrastructure and accessibility. The studies established that internal street interconnectedness and density increased after the 1960s, while the connectivity of external neighbourhoods had reduced considerably, and the land use mix had remained limited. Many of the studies focusing on built structures have emphasized on the identification of strategies for the creation of more bikeable and walkable communities (Handy et al., 2002). The ‘transect’ concept in urban studies, forms an ideal chain of place-types running from the centre to the fringes of the urban area – has been explored by the main scholars linked to new urbanism, (Duany and Talen, 2002). The development codes associated to the new concept influence regional and local planning. Other studies in the area have examined the spatial growth of urban areas, from the viewpoints of economics, sociology and geography. For example, starting in 1920s, the Chicago School of urban sociology saw the city as expanding over concentric circles characterized by factories and working class residential, and the central business district lying at the core of the urban area (McKenzie et al., 1967). In recent times, the economic geographers from the Los Angeles School explained that there is an increasing heterogeneity, polycentric landscape characterizing the postmodern area, in which the margins of the area, compared to the core exert the major influence. Further, they explained that the urban area is shaped by extensive immigration, global economic forces and the high levels of mobility (Soja, 2000). Leinberger (2008) offered a valuable evaluation of the institutional and the economic factors spanning the development industry. These factors promoted the development of certain types of constructed landscape and drew a strong inference that development models are getting more standardized due to the needs of Wall Street investors in real estate structures, which can be packaged and exchanged easily (Leinberger, 2008). Other scholars have reviewed the physical distinctiveness of the postmodern region, which has spanned economic globalization, the widespread use of motor vehicles and cultural pluralisation. Sorkin (1992) has reviewed the ways in which capital has controlled urban form and constructions to enhance consumption, which is evidenced by mega-malls; to enforce control and security. Another area of focus on the postmodern metropolis emphasizes on different themes, including the role of built constructions and spaces in shaping the identities of different groups and the ways in which form is influenced by commerce and finance. Other significant themes include the role of class in the organization of space as well as the suburbanization of employment patterns, which influence metropolitan dispersion (Davis, 2002). The early evolution of built Landscapes, 1850 -1950 Through the research carried out from published literature, the Sacramento region covers about 764 square miles, which has been subdivided throughout the 16 decades between the years 1850 and 2010 (Wheeler & Beebe, 2011). Of the total land surface, only about 12 percent was urbanised during 1950. Despite the fact that private land ownership was deep-rooted at the region during those years, as Americans repossessed the lands from Mexican or Spanish owners or the central government, many parcels remained relatively large. However, the intensification of human activities changed the areas that were grasslands woodlands and wetlands – converting them to agricultural (Leinberger, 2008). There was also the widespread disposition of mining tailings, along the floodplain of the American river, due to the mining operations started at the Sierra Nevada. Land area of built landscape types by decade Source: (Wheeler & Beebe, 2011) The rapid inflow of miners and other workers during the years between the 1840s and the 1850s started the initial residential areas developed at many areas across the region. Like many of the growing cities of the west during that time, Sacramento was developed at a rate higher than the small population at the region needed, which has been noted to be the downtown grid, with reference to the modern-times nature. The blocks used at these regions are about 350 by 350 feet, which is relatively larger than those at the downtown grid at Oakland, which measure about 200 feet by 300 feet. Those at San Francisco measure about 300 by 300 feet at the northern side of Market Street. Like Reps (1979) noted, the founders of these towns used the grid plats, mainly because they allowed for easier surveying, the selling and the subdivision of lots, and also, to some extent, because it matched the range and the township system used for the surveying of the US as a whole. Beyond the borders of Sacramento, the mining and the centres for mining supplies at Nevada City, Placerville, Crass Valley, Auburn, Roseville and Marysville sprang up – almost in an overnight – after the wide inflow of miners. At the present, many have been absorbed into the expansion of the metropolitan area. Except in the case of Marysville, which had a flat valley area, which offered a grid-like plat, the model of mining urban areas at mountainous areas was distinguished by what has been referred as Quasi-Grid. In many cases, the quasi-Grid will have one or two primary commercial lanes (streets) which are parallel to one another, and side streets converging in a perpendicular pattern (Leinberger, 2008). These side streets run in less uniform patterns across the hilly areas, the old quasi-patterned town areas can be traced at the old mining urban areas of the American West. They are ordinarily embedded in the recently developed layers of the fabric of the urban areas. Due to the expanding capacity of the economy and the transport network, particularly after the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad among other rail networks of the 1860s and the 70s – areas that were not developed before, near the early settlements of Sacramento were cultivated. Due to the spreading cultivation activity, new urban areas sprang up as service centres for the settlers that came in from around the globe, coming into the area for farming. The promoters at the region split the farming areas into agricultural communities of 5 to 20-acres in Orangevale, Ro Linda, Fair Oaks, Citrus Heights and Natoma among other areas. Lustrous advertisements spread across the area’s mild climate, particularly Citrus. Vance (1972) discussed that the publicity of the faming activities of the region was a main aspect of the creation of geography of the ideal, which attracted more settlers to come in from other parts of the world into California. The initial, small-scale farms offered the platform for a distinctively developed landscape type, which has been referred as incremental infill. The division of the ownership units into 5 to 20 acres lessened the opportunities that would have emerged from large-scale division by the developers that came later. After that, and in the years that came after, landowners subdivided their land further, and built structures on them. The areas that were used for agriculture before, were later characterised by the presence of random collections of lowly commercial strips, residential courts and multifamily houses, linked by the arterials marking section lines that appeared on the initial maps by the promoters of the area (Leinberger, 2008). The areas were marked by unimproved roads and streets with two or more lanes in every direction, but due to the poor interconnections of the street patterns around them, which are the contrast of the gridded residential areas; these have became exceedingly congested. Beyond enhancing the growth of the towns at the margins, the initial rail network had less impact on the more urbanised residential developments, mainly because of the huge costs of transportation and travel. The consequence was that, many of the urban residents in the area were still residing at the initially gridded areas, until decades had gone by, when the rail network arrived. The wealthiest people in the area, as well as the less wealthy residents lived around the core of the city, at residential centres like Boulevard Park and Mansion Flats (Leinberger, 2008). The case shifted during 1889, after electric streetcars started running from the city to Oak Park, which was then a new amusement park built on a subdivision by a Streetcar company. Similar to the case of other landscapes of its nature, the upcoming neighbourhoods of the metropolis were distinguished by narrow, long blocks, which were vertical to the lines. However, in the case of East Sacramento, some level of uniformity in street layout is evident. As of 1906, the city was covered by eleven street car lines, which were run using the cheap power of hydroelectric plants. The power was generated by the initially, state-run dam projects located at the Sierra mountains. Additionally, the Northern Railroad, which is a commuter service line, linked the city to the cities at the Northern end, including Marysville and Yuba City during the same period (Duany and Talen, 2002). The network extended to the Western side, connecting the city with Oakland, which offered a new line for the development of the area, along its route. A brochure on the real estate business of the region, which served the Northern Sacramento Community, described the role played by the streetcar network, as one that was primary to the development of the area. The two factors that had the most potential in the development of construction and the appreciation of property at any of the suburbs included the rapid nature of transit and the location, which were present in the case of North Sacramento. The early 20th century witnessed a dramatic and rapid increment of the availability of the motor vehicle infrastructure at Sacramento, following the provision of the local and the federal governments, which helped in reshaping of the outlook of the urban areas. In the year 1907, the voters residing at the city endorsed a bond requiring the creation of a network, of paved roads to link Sacramento to surrounding towns, including Stockton, Folsom, Franklin, Florin, Auburn, Jackson and Riverside. The routes to these different centres are still widely used to date, although there is the issue that many of the target towns they served have been encapsulated by the fast-swelling metropolis. In 1912, the initial bridges connecting the lands at the opposite ends across the American River became operational, at East’s H Street and at the North Street at the North. As of 1916, there were more than 6400 registered transport automobiles serving the city (Leland, 1989). During the same year, the Yolo Causeway was unveiled as the first highway in the state, linking the city to the Bay Area through nearby Davis, which had been previously identified as a farm of the University of California. After some decades, the new automobile routes moving out of the city were paralleled by commercial stripe landscapes. These commercial stripes lining the railroads are still strongly evident throughout the region, and different generations of businesses have cropped up and vanished at different locations. To the south of the City, a number of motor-vehicle-oriented subdivisions cropped up during the 1920s and the 30s. One example of these newly developed centres was Land Park, which surrounded and in a way integrated with the New City Park referred using the same name. The centre had curved streets, ornamental characteristics like decorative streetlights and extensive street planning. It appeared that it was the first subdivision at the Sacramento region, where characteristics like pastoral and curvilinear designs, like the case was a common feature at garden suburbs at other locations during the same time (Hayden, 2003). Garden city landscapes were rare at the Sacramento area, but their creation was at its peak during the 1920s, although they declined thereafter. Presently, they make up about 0.15 percent of the areas urbanised area. During the 1920s, a more prestigious residential area called the Fabulous Forties, to the east of Sacramento was developed by the “Sierra Oaks Development Company” (Wheeler & Beebe, 2011, p. 322). The development pattern of the prestigious neighbourhood was based on the Degenerate Grid model, which is evident from the relatively short streets, the commonness of T-section and dead-end intersections, which are comparable to the interrupted parallels identified by Southworth and Owens (1993). During the years between the 1910s and 40s, the central government enhanced rapid regional dev elopement through the establishment of large military centres. These centres were offered the landscape model, characterised by a single parcel, rectilinear housing and layout and large-scale infrastructure. So as to attract workers and military personnel, speedy suburban development had to be done outside the base, for instance, the case at the North Highlands neighbourhood located at county land which borders McClellan Air Base. Early residential developments were evident at the comparatively flat lands at Carmichael and Aden-Arcade, which were initially used for agriculture (Hayden, 2003). Throughout the supergrid drawn by the regions section lines, self-contained, heterogeneous housing models started spreading to the fields bordering the area, following degenerate Grid, suburban area landscape models and incremental infill. Trailer Court landscapes, which is evident from their tight spacing and insular design of units, seemed among significant members throughout the rotation. As of the 1950s, the urban explosion was considerably coming into existence at the Sacramento region, and was continually triggered by the use of motor vehicles and public investments. However, the urbanized areas evidently contiguous, small and well connected in the areas of neighbourhood and street access, as compared to the modern-day metropolis (Hayden, 2003). The rise of the postmodern urbanized area, 1950 – 2010 The developments that took place during the six decades after 1950 have led to the expansion of the urbanized region of Sacramento by about 90 percent. The same time has also seen the introduction of an increasingly wide range of developed landscape that forms the characteristic postmodern collage of built structures (Duany and Talen, 2002). Despite the fact that few of the structures have their roots in the years after 1980, including Office Park, Freeway Retail and New Urbanism, most models appear to considerably have existed during the post-war time. For that reason, it becomes hard to differentiate the modern and the post-modern times from the spatial structures at the region. In contrast, the structures depict that it is an issue that can be explained, more on the basis of continual spatial fragmentation and expansion, despite the few different traits of the different decades. State and federal government efforts of building infrastructure, combined with national military spending are the main catalysts of the changes of form and urban expansion after 1950. The endorsement of the “National Interstate Defence Highways Act of 1956 as well as the launching of the “California Freeway and Expressway plan of 1959” saw the development of interstates 5 and 80 across the region (Wheeler & Beebe, 2011, p. 322). The developments also entailed the improvement of the US Highways 99 and 50 to freeway class, and the expansion of other arterial roads in the area. Following the 1960 Winter Olympics, international attention were channelled towards Sacramento, Lake Tahoe and Sierra Nevada. Additionally, due to the improvement of the freeways in the area, the improved accessibility catalysed development and subdivision at the Eastern mountainous areas. Other kinds of public programs had considerable influence, and in many case, triggered the creation of new-construction landscapes on their own. During the years between 1940 and 1970, the local government launched four airports, ending with the 1967 case of Sacramento Metropolitan Airport at the interstate 5. The airports were accompanied by the development of large-scale infrastructure and parking areas characterised by support buildings and smaller terminals. In 1963, the engineers of the US Army completed a 20-year project that saw the opening of a Deep Water canal, which enhanced the development of industrial coverage at the West (Wheeler & Beebe, 2011). The close of the Folson Dam program offered the residents a major recreational centre at the Eastern side of Sacramento in 1955, which catalysed the upscale development of residential landscapes. Military spending in the area led to the increment of large-scale industrial structures by different companies, including Douglas Aircraft and Aerojet, which saw the creation of markets for a wide range of residential development players. Of similar effect were state and federal water projects, particularly the Central Valley program, which triggered general development at Sacramento and California as a whole. Despite that they existed in few cases before, heavy and light industrial plants expanded fast, at the area during the 1940s and 50s, mainly outside the developed urban area. A new kind of industrial construction outlook started during the 1960s, with developments in distribution and warehousing. These were characterised by extensive loading areas, large floorplate constructions and smaller areas for employee parking. These construction models were developed, virtually in all cases, at areas neighbouring freeway interchanges, although after the advancement of airfreight during the twentieth century, a newer version characterized by light industry manufacturing seems to have started at the neighbourhoods of airports (Duany and Talen, 2002). Office park structures became evidently common at the area in the 1960s and their development reached its peak during the 1980s and the 90s. The clustered low buildings along collector or arterial streets were characterized by multiple building entry areas, modest sizes, extensive parking landscaping and sizeable parking areas. During the later years of the 20th century and the 21st century, a newer version of these structures, characterized by taller and larger buildings with more parking spaces became common around freeway interchange centres. Commercial building development progressed across several phases during the latter years of the 20th century: commercial strip construction was at its peak during the 1950s, but then reduced through the 1960s and 70s. The second generation was marked by commercial structures, including malls and shopping centres with parking areas peaked during the 1970s. The third stage was the development of auto malls and big-box retail centres started appearing the 1960s, but increased in a steady manner, during the 2000s (Wheeler & Beebe, 2011). These models are very common at areas where different highways converge, and these were characteristic of the post-1990 sprawl. In the area of residential constructions, suburban tracts were expanded across 19000 acres, for the decades between 1950 and 2000s. Starting with the 1960s, developers covered large land areas at the Sacramento region with Enclave housing. These models featured large houses with features like lakes, golf courses and landscaping. The rural development boom was triggered by the so-called “equity refugees”, many of whom were retired citizens. Among these citizens, based on virtue of the value of their homes at the Bay area, they could buy one to ten acres of land, where they built houses at different areas including Placer and Nevada among other areas (Travis, 2007). During the late 20th century, the region was dominant with office centres linked by freeways, and a radical reduction in the level, to which the suburbs were dependent on the core of the city, which resulted from employment suburbanization (Walker & Lewis, 2001). However, the Sacramento region did not gain clustered suburbanization referred as edge cities, with the exception of Roseville. New urbanism, a movement of the years between the 1990s and 2000s focused on the promotion of mixed use, walkable, transit-oriented and comparatively dense communities. One example of these projects is Capital Village, which is developed at Rancho Cordova is denser, smaller and more urban in nature. Conclusion Comprehending the design of infrastructure is extremely important, because it helps societies, policy makers and individuals to control urban growth and in waste management. Through the case of Sacramento, this report will review the impacts of the metropolitan person on the rise of the post-modern urban conditions. Different literature sources reveal that the metropolitan person is a very important agent in determining the development and the rise of post-modern urban conditions. For example, built constructions shape the role of class, finance and commerce. From a review of the early evolution of Sacramento between 1850 and 1950, only 12 percent of the region was urbanized in 1950, despite the fact that private land ownership had taken roots. At flat lands like Marysville, which had grid-like landscaping, the hilly areas of the region were mainly not organized in grid-like style, due to the sloppy plane. During the years between 1950 and 2010, the developments of constructions led to the growth of the region by 90 percent of the present area. During these years, the state and the federal government played a major role in fostering development. The end products of the developments are modern structures like shopping malls, which are characterized by larger parking lots and strategic placement at highway intersections. The different studies, cases and literature demonstrate that the metropolitan person has shaped the post-modern urban condition of Sacramento, like other urban centres around the globe. Reference List Abbott, C., 2008. How Cities Won the West: Four Centuries of Urban Change in North America. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Davis, M., 2002. Dead Cities and Other Tales. New York: New Press. Duany, A., & Talen, E., 2002. Transect planning. Journal of the American Planning Association, 68(3), pp. 245–266. Duany, A., Plater-Zyberk, E., & Speck, J., 2000. Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream. New York: North Point Press. Hall, P., 2002. Cities of Tomorrow, 3rd Edn. Oxford: Blackwell. Handy, S. L., Boarnet, M. G., Ewing, R., & Killingsworth, R. E., 2002. How the built environment affects physical activity: views from urban planning. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 23, pp. 64–73. Hayden, D., 2003. Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth 1820–2000. New York: Pantheon. Kostof, S., 1992. The City Assembled: The Elements of Urban Form Through History. Boston: Little, Brown. Leinberger, C. B., 2008. The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream. Washington DC: Island Press. Leland, D. K., 1989. A Short History of Sacramento. San Francisco: Lexikos. Lynch, K., 1981. A Theory of Good City Form. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. McKenzie, R., Park, R., & Burgess, E., 1967. The City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Reps, J. W., 1979. Cities of the American West: A History of Frontier Urban Planning. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Soja, E., 2000. Postmetropolis: Critical Studies of Cities and Regions. Oxford: Blackwell. Song, Y. & Knaap, G., 2004. Measuring urban form: is Portland winning the war on sprawl? Journal of the American Planning Association, 70(2), pp. 210–255. Sorkin, M., (Ed.).1992. Variations on a Theme Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. Southworth, M., & Owens, P., 1993. The evolving metropolis: studies of community, neighbourhood, and street form at the urban edge. Journal of the American Planning Association, 59(3), pp. 271–287. Travis, W. R., 2007. New Geographies of the American West: Land Use and the Changing Patterns of Place. Washington DC: Island Press. Vance, J., 1990. The Continuing City: Urban Morphology in Western Civilization. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Vance, J., 1972. California and the search for the ideal. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 62(2), pp. 185–210. Walker, R., & Lewis, R. D., 2001. Beyond the crabgrass frontier: industry and the spread of North American cities, pp. 1850–1950. Journal of Historical Geography, 27(1), s3– 19. Wheeler, S., & Beebe, C. W., 2011. The Rise of the Postmodern Metropolis: Spatial Evolution of the Sacramento Metropolitan Region. Journal of Urban Design, 16(3), pp. 307-332. Wheeler, S. M., 2008. The evolution of built landscapes in metropolitan regions. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 27(4), pp. 400–416. Read More