8/13/2019 Best Practices for Reduction of Air Pollution

1/1

Mobile

Sources

Area

Sources

Point

Sources

2010

2,774,283

2060

5,965,658

2X

2010

2,774,283

2060

5,965,658

BEST PRACTICESFOR

REDUCTIONOF

AIR POLLUTIONMike Christensen

City and Metropolitan Planning

Advisor: Reid Ewing

35.7%

24.3%

vs. vs.

We already know that the air quality in Utah can be terrible at certain times. Wealready know that there are serious health effect and that the unsightly pollution is

a detriment to economic development. Tis presentation will skip discussion o thegeographic and weather influences on our air quality and its detrimental effects and

will ocus on the best practices or reducing the air pollution.

L an d C on su me d i n A cr es P ro pe rt y Ta xe s p er A cr e J ob s p er A cr e R es id en ts pe r Ac re

BIG BOXRETAIL 34.0 $6,500 5.9 0.0

DOWNTOWN MIXED-USE 0.2 $634,000 73.7 90.0

Te Utah Division o Air Quality estimates that our winter air pollution is generated11% by point sources (the smokestacks o large sources), 32% by area sources (the

chimneys o buildings and a variety o smaller sources), and 57% by mobile sources(the tailpipes o vehicles). Tis presentation will ocus on reducing the 57% emitted by

mobile sources.

Te Governors Office o Management and Budget estimates that Utahs population will

more than double in the fify years between 2010 and 2060. I our amount o drivingand its associated pollution also doubles, our air quality will be even more terrible!

We could make significant reductions in air pollution by switching our vehicles to

alternative uels such as natural gas, electricity, or hydrogen. However, we would stillsuffer the effects o living in an auto-oriented urban environment, which include the

detriments o social disconnection, poor physical health, poor mental health, damagedsocial capitol, andlast but not leastroad rage.

ransportation issues usuallyhave their roots in land useissues. Te necessity o havingto drive everywhere in order toperorm our daily activities isdue to the poor design o urbanenvironments. Tis type opoorly designed human habitatis reerred to as sprawl. Tehigh amount o driving we dois not the root illness, but rathera symptom o sprawl. In orderto solve the t ransportationproblem, we must change thepolicies and regulations thatallow sprawl to persist as parto our built environment. Inmany municipalities, sprawldevelopment patterns are theonly possibilities allowed by code.Building urban environments,which actually ulfill humanneeds, is ofen not legal.

Te diagram to the right comparestwo human habitats. Te sectionbelow the collector road is typical

o sprawl and eatures the extremeseparation o land uses and adisconnected street network

that avors driving, which makeswalking and biking difficult. Inthis environment, driving is anunortunate necessity, and only

those with a license and a car areull citizens. Te section abovethe collector road is typical o a

traditional neighborhood andeatures integrated land uses andan integrated street network that

encourages walking and biking. Inthis environment, transportation

options abound, and peoplehave access to a more equitable

transportation system.

One o the biggest detriments o sprawl is to our health. Te poorly designed humanhabitats reduce the amount o walking and biking that people do and, thereore, reduce

the amount o exercise that people get. Do our cars make us at? Not necessarily, butsprawling neighborhoods have been shown to result in residents with higher rates oobesity.

Te Centers or Disease Control and Prevention estimate that more than one-third oU.S. adults (35.7%) are obese. Almost one-quarter o adults in Utah (24.3%) are obese.

Te estimated annual medical cost o obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008 U.S.dollars. Te medical costs or people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those onormal weight.

Sprawl consumes large amounts o land and requires large parking lots, which do notgenerate value or the community. Te example above compares the true value o the

sprawl landscape and the traditional downtown. Ofen tax revenues rom sprawl are someager that they do not generate enough tax revenue to pay or the maintenance o the

streets and utilities that serve it.

Our vehicles consume huge amounts o energy. While replacing our old incandescentlight bulbs with new compact florescent light bulbs is a worthy endeavor, we can saveorders o magnitude o energy by choosing to live in a neighborhood where drivingis not a necessity and where most o our daily t rips can be accomplished by walking,

biking, and transit.

While the doubling o Utahs population could be perceived as a threat to our quality

o lie, it should be seen as an opportunity. Hal o our urban environment is yet to bebuilt. Tis represents a tremendous opportunity to build it correctly in a way that will

allow us to live high-quality, sustainable liestyles.

An overlooked resource is present in many o our communities. In the last hal

century, we have all too ofen over-built our retail properties, and many are now ripeor redevelopment. Additionally, it would be a much better use o land to ocus on

redevelopment rather than developing agricultural or natural land.

As an example, above is an aerial photo o the Salt Lake Valley at 9000 South andRedwood Road. Te parking lots o the retail properties are mostly empty, which

evidences a severe underutilization o the properties. Tis scene repeats itsel all alongthe Wasatch Front.

Te comparison in the images above is an example o how development needs tobe rethought. Unortunately, returning to traditional development patterns is ofen

difficult due to land use regulations in communities that only allow sprawl patterns.More legislative effort is required in order to change the land use paradigm.

In the end, our choices shape our urban landscapes and the transportation modesconnecting them. We can continue to build auto-oriented sprawl, which does not meet

our human needs. Or we can choose to change the paradigm and build proper humanhabitats. 16th Street in Denver is an example that people will thrive in an environmentdesigned to satisy their needs.

BIG BOXRETAIL DOWNTOWN MIXED-USE

TRADITIONAL NEIGHBORHOOD

SPRAWL