Writing Assignment #3: The City of the Future (47 points total)

There are those that say all American cities look the same. There are skyscrapers, cars, and perhaps a subway system. There are malls and fast food restaurant chains and the occasional playground. There are “cookie cutter” residential areas that might include apartments or condominiums, and perhaps rows of single-family homes. For these reasons it might be hard for a foreigner to distinguish downtown Seattle from downtown Denver from downtown Minneapolis from downtown Atlanta. They all look very similar. In order to build these cities, humans have flattened hilltops, channelized rivers, and established agricultural, energy, and supply systems that bring resources to the cities from hundreds if not thousands of miles away.

It has been suggested that this “one size fits all” approach is not sustainable for the city of the future, especially when faced with the unknowns associated with global climate change. Many city planners are turning to geographers and other scientists in order understand to how to design cities that take into account the environment in which they are located. For example, attractive rock gardens and xeriscapes (“cactus gardens”) are replacing water-thirsty residential lawns throughout southern California, and the city of Chicago has established a “Green Roof Initiative” with the goals of reducing summer temperatures within the city limits, mitigating air pollution, and controlling rainwater runoff.

CONTENT (32 pts)

Based on what you have learned from the GEOG 101 labs and lecture, how would you design the city of the future? What would be the ideal location for your city and why? What features would it have, and why? In writing this essay, visualize an IMAGINARY city and thoughtfully address the each of the following FIVE content areas using information learned over the course of the semester.

1) Location & Latitude (Lab 1, 2, 3, 4) 8 pts

Where is your city located? Different locations have different advantages and disadvantages. For example, coastal cities tend to have less variation in temperature, but they can also be prone to hurricanes. Cities in the mountains may have cleaner air, but mountains also come with building challenges. Inland regions tend to have a greater temperature variation over the course of both a day and the year.

What is the latitude of your city? The higher the latitude, the greater the extremes between winter and summer. Latitude is also related to insolation.

All of these factors are directly linked to the energy needs of your city as it relates to the heating and cooling of buildings. Can the use of different construction materials or strategic placement of landscape plants help to increase (or decrease) albedo at key times during the year? Are there other strategies you might consider to help control the temperature of your city?

You might also consider if your city is located in a desert (EX: Tucson), among grassland (Ex: Denver), or in a forested region (Ex: Cincinatti, Ohio).

2) Climograph (Lab 4) 6 pts

Create a fictional climograph for your city that simultaneously displays a bar graph for average monthly precipitation (in mm) and a line graph for average monthly temperature (celcius). Your climograph should reflect your decisions for #1. Describe your climograph in a single paragraph in your essay and attach your climograph to the end of your paper (this last page does not count toward the length of your paper)

3) Water Resources (Lab 6, 9) 6 pts

How will your city insure that it has a sustainable water supply? Will there be a reservoir nearby? Will you depend on a snowpack, winter rains, groundwater, or some other water source? Locating your city along a river comes with certain risks. How will extreme hydrological events such as potential drought or flooding be addressed?

4) Food (Lab 8, 10) 6 pts

It has been argued that the cities of the future will be located nearer to their food sources than they are now. Edible plants require nutrients (usually found in soil), water, and sunshine. Many (but not all) plants are sensitive to colder temperatures. The best soils on the planet tend to be near rivers, though some cultures have created terraced hillsides to create growing space in mountainous regions. If your city sees winter temperatures much lower than 0°C (32°F), then you may need to make accommodations such as greenhouses during the winter months, or perhaps you might consider changing your diet to reflect the plants that grow best in your city’s climate.

5) Energy (Lab 2, 3, 5) 6 pts

As fossil fuels (coal, petroleum, natural gas) are phased out, sources of energy such as wind, solar power, geothermal power, and hydroelectric power (dams) and other renewable energy sources will need to fill the void to supply electricity to your community. Which of these is most appropriate for your city and why? For example, a coastal city might not be the best location for solar power (because of fog), but might be great for windmills or tidal generators. Transportation is another challenge. Without fossil fuels (including gasoline), how will people and goods get from place to place?

EXTRA CREDIT: Fictional or Real? (up to 7 pts)

Identify an existing city that most matches—or has the potential to become—the city you describe in your essay. Fully explain and justify your reasoning. (An extra ½ page is allotted to students who go for extra credit)

FORMAT + GRAMMAR (11 pts)

a. Bring in two hard copies of your completed ROUGH DRAFT to lab on Dec 6/Dec 8 (3 pts)

b. Your 3 – 4 page paper (not including “works cited” or attached climograph) should begin with a clear introduction, followed by a body, and end with a conclusion that summarizes your key points. It is okay to use the first person (“I”) in your essay.

c. We will be looking for smooth transitions between paragraphs, with correct spelling and grammar. Organization of information is crucial.

d. Please use 12-point font, double spacing, 1-inch margins.

CITATION OF SOURCES (4 pts)

A word document with proper citation format for Labs, the Geography textbook, and lectures will be provided for you. You are welcome to cut and paste from this document! While much of this paper will consist of your own, original ideas, you should cite additional outside sources as needed (see document). You will include a “Works Cited” page as well as provide reference to your sources within the body of the text. Claiming another person’s ideas or information as your own (by failing to cite the source of the content) is considered plagiarism. All university policies regarding plagiarism and academic honesty apply to this paper.

After reading Chapter # 7 of the course textbook, compose an essay based on the following topics:

1. How can religion influence people’s perception of the environment? Explain using some examples.

2. Explain the use of fish and wine in Christianity as examples of the relationship between religion and economy. Explain using some examples from other religions.

Your answer should reflect knowledge of the topic applying the concepts learned in our course, and, most importantly, using your own words.  Explain your answer in NO less than 200 words and no more than 400 words for each question.  Note that essays that are less than 600 words in length will lose points.  You must also separate each answer clearly using titles or numbers.  The word count does not include your name, PID, date, title, prompt/question/s posed, Bibliography, etc.  In fact, to reduce the Originality report (in Turnitin), you should avoid including the questions posed in your essay.

It is required to cite the course textbook in this and in all written assignments.  Any source cited in the essay must be included in the text, in parenthesis at the end of the sentence using quotation marks if it is a direct quote, including the last name/s of the author/s, year of publication, and the page number (i.e., Domosh et al. 2013: 63).  If you are using an external source writing this information in your own words, then you must cite at the end of the sentence, using parenthesis, the last name/s of the author/s and the year of publication (i.e., Neumann and Price 2013).  All sources cited in your essay must also be included in a separate page on a Bibliography/Reference section at the end of your essay.

Note # 1: Late work will be accepted but it will incur in a 10-point deduction for each week it is submitted late.  The weekly point-deduction will be applied starting on the next day after the deadline (Sunday at 12:00 AM).  No late work will be accepted after Friday, July 26.                                           

Note # 2: Students are not allowed to work in teams.  Your answer must be your own, original thoughts.  If you plagiarize your thoughts from a website, journal, or any other source, not only you will be sad because you cannot write the small number of words of your own, but because you will also earn a failing grade in our course.

Note # 3: You must format your work according to the required Technical Aspects described in the course syllabus:

· 12-point font (Arial, Times New Roman, Garamond, or Book Antiqua);

· one-inch margins all around;

· double-spaced;

· numbered pages.

Works not formatted accordingly will lose 10 points in their grades for this and any other written assignment in this course.

Exact citation:

Domosh, Mona, Neumann, Roderick, Price, Patricia and Terry Jordan-Bychkov. 2013. The Human Mosaic: A Cultural Approach to Human Geography. 12th edition. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company.

Exercise #3: Earth-Sun Relationships and the Seasons (15 pts)

Earth-Sun relationships are important in understanding climate and weather patterns. Variations in the amount of solar energy at the earth’s surface are a direct consequence of the earth’s position and orientation in orbit. Variations in the angle of intercepted solar radiation, and differences in daylength are responsible for seasons.

1) Figure 1 is a view of the Earth in orbit looking down on the northern hemisphere. Match the correct letter in Figure 1 with each of these seasonal events (6 points):

aphelion

perihelion

vernal equinox

autumnal equinox

summer solstice

winter soltice

2) At what two points in the Earth’s orbit are daylengths the same at all latitudes? (1 point).

3) Which of the following latitudes experiences the longest period in the circle of illumination on January 1? (1 point)

36° S

18° N

35° N

63° N

Sun Angle

Because solar energy received by the earth follows essentially parallel pathways, and because the earth is spherical, at only one place on the earth’s surface can the sun’s rays strike vertically (this is known as the subsolar point). In other words, at only one place at any one time can the sun appear directly overhead. This occurs at solar noon when the sun reaches the highest position in the sky for that day. Because of the earth’s limited axial tilt, the sun can appear directly overhead at the subsolar point at a relatively narrow range of latitudes over the course of a year (between 23.5° N and 23.5° S).

An important relationship exists between latitude and the angle of the noon sun. On the equinoxes (on March 21 or 22 and September 21 or 22) the sun’s rays are perpendicular to the earth at the equator. Those same rays would also be tangent at both of the poles, so that the sun would appear only on the horizon at those locations. On the same dates an observer at 30° N would record a sun angle of 60° above the southern horizon. Remember, the sun is 90° to the observer at the equator, minus the latitude of 30° (30° of arc) which equals 60°. This is called the angle of incidence, or sun angle. The angle of incidence decreases by 1° for every degree of arc of latitude between the observer’s position and the location where the sun’s rays are vertical. This rule is the same for the other times of the year but is complicated by the earth’s declination–the shift in angle when the sun’s rays are not perpendicular to the equator. If the declination is 10° S, this means that the sun’s rays are vertical at 10° S and an observer at 30° N would see the sun at 50° above the horizon 90-40 or 90-(30+10).

Use the formula:

angle of incidence = 90° – (latitude in degrees + declination in degrees*)

* If the declination is in the same hemisphere as the observer substract this.

Note: Keep in mind that solar noon is not the same as noon on our clock or watch because we are on standard time and typically daylight savings time. In the summer months in the U.S. solar noon is found around 1:00 pm.

4) For the locations listed below, calculate the solar noon sun angle (angle of incidence) for the following locations on the days listed (.5 points per angle, total of 3 points).

Note: Keep in mind you should know the sun’s declination for the solstices and equinoxes! If you cannot solve this, look at Figure 2 later in this exercise.

The sun’s declination for October 20 = 10° S

May 15 = 19° N

April 15 = 9.5° N

Honolulu, Hawaii (19° N) on: May 15____

December 21____

Seattle, Washington (47° N) on: April 15____

October 20____

Nome, Alaska (65° N) on: December 21____

June 21____

Length of Daylight

Another factor in the spatial variation of insolation is length of daylight in a 24-hour period. Because of the Earth-Sun relationship and the spherical nature of the earth, low latitudes differ greatly from high latitude in the amount of time they spend in the circle of illumination. Examine the pattern of sunlight, latitude and time of year on Table 1.

Duration of Sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere

Table 1

5) Answer the following questions using Table 1.

a) What is the approximate daylength (time in the circle of illumination) for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (23.5° N) on June 21? (1 point)

b) What is the approximate daylength (time in the circle of illumination) for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (40° N) on December 21? Compare this with Oslo, Norway (60° N) on the same day. How much do they differ in hours and minutes? (3 points)

Spatial Patterns of Insolation

As one might expect, changing sun angle and daylength results in a distinct pattern of insolation by latitude over the course of a year. This pattern is shown in Figure 2. Figure 1 illustrates insolation levels, as measured in watts per square meter per day (watt/m2/day), at the top of the atmosphere.

Figure 2

6) Answer the following questions using Figure 1.

a) How much does Seattle’s latitude receive in insolation on January 31, approximately? (1 point)

b) How much does Miami’s latitude receive in insolation on June 1, approximately? (1 point)

c) Which latitude receives the greatest variation in insolation over the course of a year? How much is this variation in watts/ m2/day? (2 points)

After reading chapter # 9 of the textbook, compose an essay based on the following question:

1. How does international tourism impact (a) economics, (b) cultures, and (c) natural environments globally and locally? Explain each impact and its positive and negative connotations using relevant examples.

Your answer should reflect knowledge of the topic applying the concepts learned in our course, and, most importantly, using your own words.  Explain your answer in NO less than 200 words and no more than 400 words for each item [a) economics, b) cultures, and, c) natural environments].  Note that essays that are less than 600 words in length will lose points.  You must also separate clearly each answer using titles or numbers.  The word count does not include your name, PID, date, title, prompt/question/s posed, Bibliography, etc.  In fact, to reduce the Originality report (in Turnitin), you should avoid including the questions posed in your essay.

It is required to cite the course textbook in this and in all written assignments.  Any source cited in the essay must be included in the text, in parenthesis at the end of the sentence using quotation marks if it is a direct quote, including the last name/s of the author/s, year of publication, and the page number (i.e., Domosh et al. 2013: 63).  If you are using an external source writing this information in your own words, then you must cite at the end of the sentence, using parenthesis, the last name/s of the author/s and the year of publication (i.e., Neumann and Price 2013).  All sources cited in your essay must also be included in a separate page on a Bibliography/Reference section at the end of your essay.

Note # 1: Late work will be accepted but it will incur in a 10-point deduction for each week it is submitted late.  The weekly point-deduction will be applied starting on the next day after the deadline (Sunday at 12:00 AM).  No late work will be accepted after July, 26.                                                   

Note # 2: Students are not allowed to work in teams.  Your answer must be your own, original thoughts.  If you plagiarize your thoughts from a website, journal, or any other source, not only you will be sad because you cannot write the small number of words of your own, but because you will also earn a failing grade in our course.

Note # 3: You must format your work according to the required Technical Aspects described in the course syllabus:

· 12-point font (Arial, Times New Roman, Garamond, or Book Antiqua)

· one-inch margins all around

· double-spaced

· numbered pages.

Works not formatted accordingly will lose 10 points in their grades for this and any other written assignment in this course.

Exact Citation:

Domosh, Mona, Neumann, Roderick, Price, Patricia and Terry Jordan-Bychkov. 2013. The Human Mosaic: A Cultural Approach to Human Geography. 12th edition. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company.