URBAN ECOLOGY

MURP 1ST YEAR

1ST SEMESTER (MPL -107)

ASSIGNMENT - 1

SUBMITTED BY
SHREYA SINGH
1200106019

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING,

BABU BANARASI DAS UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW

 ASSIGNMENT

Question-1. What do you mean by Urban Ecology?

Answer – Urban ecology is the study of ecological processes in urban

environments.
This includes all aspects of the ecology of any organisms found in urban
areas as well as large scale considerations of the ecological sustainability
of
Cities.
The urban environment refers to environments dominated by high-
density
Residential and commercial buildings, paved surfaces. Interdisciplinary
field
that aims to understand how human and Ecological processes can coexist
in
human-dominated systems and help societies with their efforts to become
more sustainable.

 URBAN ECOLOGY IN PLANNING

Urban ecology is the study of community structure and organization as

Manifest in cities and other relatively dense human settlements. Of
particular
Concern is the dynamic evolution of cities and contrast in urban structure
Across time periods, societies, and urban scale.

Question-2. How does Urban ecology study help urban growth?

Answer – The study of urban ecology carries increasing importance because more than

 50% of the world's population today lives in urban areas. ... Often,
explanations
for phenomena examined in the urban setting as well as predicting changes
because of urbanization are the center for scientific research.

Urban ecology is a recent field of study compared to ecology as a whole.

The study of urban ecology carries increasing importance because more
than 50% of the world's population today lives in urban areas. At the same time, it is
estimated that within the next forty years, two-thirds of the world's population will be
living in expanding urban centers. The ecological processes in the urban environment
are comparable to those outside the urban context. However, the types of
urban habitats and the species that inhabit them are poorly documented. Often,
explanations for phenomena examined in the urban setting as well as predicting changes
because of urbanization are the center for scientific research.

 METHODS TO STUDY URBAN ECOLOGY IN URBAN GROWTH

 Chemical and Biochemical techniques
 Temperature Data and Heat mapping
 Remote sensing
 Long –Term Ecological Research (LTER)

 CHEMICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL TECHNIQUES

 Use to determine Pollutant concentration and their effects
 Tests can be as simple as dipping a manufacture test strip, as in the case of PH
testing Heavy metal Contamination due to industrial runoff
 Test for nitrates, phosphates, sulphates etc. which are commonly associated with
urban pollutants

 TEMPERATURE DATA AND HEAT MAPPING

 Temperature data is the ability to correlate temperature with various factors that
may be affecting or occurring in the environment
 Data can be overlaid with maps of land, urban features, and other factors which
effect areas create the heat maps
 These heat maps can be used to view trends and distribution over time and space.

 REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES

 Remote sensing allows collection of data using satellites
 Remote is the technique in which data is collected from distant locations through
the use of satellite imaging radar and aerial photographs
 In Urban ecology, Remote sensing is used to collect data about land, weather
patterns, light. Land cover and Land use pattern.

 LONG –TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH TECHNIQUES

 Long term ecological research technique (LTER) sites are research sites funded
by the government that have collected reliable long-term data over an extended
period of time.
 These sites provided long-term temporal and spatial data such as average
temperature, rainfall and other ecological processes
 These long –term data sets can then be analyzed to find the trends relating to the
effects of the urban environment.
Question -3 Write Short notes on –

1. URBAN FRINGE

 FRINGE is defined as relation to the city and exists in agriculture hinterland (area
around or beyond a major town) where land use is changing.
 URBAN FRINGE is an area that situates between urban and rural system. It’s the
most sensitive, dynamic and swiftly changing area during the urbanization process.
 Urban fringes character is deciding based on the availability of amount of land in
countries.
 If any country has less land to accommodate more population, those countries are
trying people to settle them in outskirts of the cities which is giving negative impact
on the existing environment
 Urban fringes are receiving more and more attention, given the transformational
changes in both urban and rural areas plus the fact that both are becoming
increasingly interwoven.

2. LEAP FROG DEVELOPMENT

 Leapfrog development means land development that occurs well beyond the

existing limits of urban development and thus leaves intervening vacant land
behind.
 This bypassing of the next-in-line lands at the urban fringe results in the haphazard
shotgun pattern of urbanization known as "sprawl".
 Leapfrog development is defined as the development of lands in a manner requiring
the extension of public facilities.
 The development is made from their existing terminal point through intervening
undeveloped areas that are scheduled for development at a later time.
 The main idea behind the concept of leapfrogging is that small and incremental
innovations lead the dominant firm to stay ahead. However, sometimes, radical
innovations will permit to new firms to leapfrog the ancient and dominant firm.

3. URBAN MIGRATION

 An increase in a country's urban population can be due to three causes: the natural

growth rate of the urban population, the re-classification of rural settlements as they
grow and hit the magic number that makes them cities and towns, and rural-urban
migration.
 Urban migration, industrialization, globalization, and other political, social and
economic changes have also left an impression.
 Urban migration, unemployment, the expiry of land leases, and the breakdown of
nuclear and extended families were among the factors blamed for the trend.
  The growth of towns and cities, from a combination of population growth and urban
migration, would lead to early forms of market economies.
 One factor contributing to neighborhood distinctiveness and social cohesion in past
cities was the role of rural to urban migration.

4. URBAN HEAT ISLAND

 Urban heat islands" occur when cities replace natural land cover with dense
concentrations of pavement, buildings, and other surfaces that absorb and retain heat.
 This effect increases energy costs (e.g., for air conditioning), air pollution levels,
and heat-related illness and mortality.
 An urban heat island, or UHI, is a metropolitan area that's a lot warmer than the rural
areas surrounding it. Heat is created by energy from all the people, cars, buses, and
trains in big cities like New York, Paris, and London.
 Urban heat islands are created in areas like these: places that have lots of activity and
lots of people.