Maquilapolis

Thanks for that excellent post about the MSN, they've become really active and are an inspiring organization.

Here is a link to a film entitled "Maquilapolis", which sounds many of the themes of the film on Ciudad Juarez/El Paso, but is about Tijuana/San Diego. It connects a number of issues, from toxic chemical leaks during rainstorms into workers' pueblos neighborhoods, the insane monotony of factory-assembly work, women's labor organizing, globalization, and the list continues.

http://www.maquilapolis.com/

Maquiladora Solidarity Network

Just in case anyone has become especially interested in the maquila situation in Tijuana, I thought I'd share some resources about it. There is a group called the San Diego Maquiladora Workers’ Solidarity Network that does work with trying to bridge the struggles of factory workers in Tijuana with people in San Diego. They do a tour, its called a Human Rights Tour, I think, about once a month. I've been on it, and while I have my criticisms of it, I think it can be a really good thing to experience and the folks doing it are good connections to have if you plan on doing any work concerning the maquilas. The website is http://sdmaquila.org/ and you can sign up for the tour there. Also, for another class I read pieces of a text called Beautiful Flowers of the Maquiladora: Life Histories of Women Workers in Tijuana. Its a very good look at the issue, from a very human perspective.
All of this is so near to us, I think it's important to know about.
peace

Sad but very true reality of globalization

Students:

Your work on the midterm was truly outstanding, the average was in the B+ range, and I was so happy with the answers on the essays in particular. I think people could have engaged better with the Davis and Herzog texts, but overall I felt the vast majority of the class had learned and begun to master the course material. Well done.

Here is a link to a sobering article from a TV program I caught last night. It really hits all aspects of our class, and I was amazed at how economic globalization, world-wide climate change, rural-to-urban migration patterns, and the literal erasure of centuries-old patterns of life are combined in this story.

Here's the article about changes in Algerian nomads in the Sahara Desert, but I encourage you to try and find the broadcast, it's damn depressing, but it's all happening...

Worldwide, more than one billion people have no access to clean drinking water. The shortage of water in the world's deserts is making life for many nomads increasingly difficult. The Tuareg in Algeria, for example, are struggling to locate enough water to live. When digging wells, the nomads now have to dig up to 40 metres to find water. They blame the industrialized countries for producing climate change, which has decreased levels of rain and made temperatures climb...Abdou Hmais says: "Without water, we would be forced to sell our animals or kill them. But what would we do then? We could only work as beggars in the city. We're nomads, and we want to carry on living our lives like before."

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3491275,00.html

Final Presentations

Students:

USP 2 Final oral presentations in class.

Reminder: All students are expected to make a short 10 minute oral presentation in class during the last week. Presentations can be made using Power Point slides or on posterboard.
The schedule is:
July 28: last name begins with Li- Z
July 30, last name begins with A-Le

All students must attend both classes July 28, 30. Final papers due on or before July 30 at 5pm. No late papers accepted.

Rio de Janeiro

For any of you working on Rio, here is a link to a Google Scholar page of a book that looks interesting. The page is actually to the list of publications that cite this book by R. Gay, Popular Organization and Democracy in Rio De Janeiro: A Tale of Two Favelas.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?num=50&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&cites=9503728749714088796

Other Research Resources

Thank you Justin for the helpful post, that's an excellent resource.

Also, here are some other ideas:

Go to "Databases A-Z" on the UCSD Libraries page and do a search for "urban"

Use jstor.org or scholar.google.com
--either of these databases are excellent research tools to get sources and complete your investigations.

Possible Research Paper Resource

For those continuing to research about your city, I had come across an interesting subscription resource called Sage Journals Online. Fortunately, UCSD is a subscriber to Sage Journals Online, providing us with free articles from various journals that have been published. One of the most important topics they focus on is urban development and planning. If you try a search for your city in their database, chances are you will be able to find an article that will provide valuable information that is relevant to your city.

You can access the Sage Journals Online database at http://online.sagepub.com.

Review Recap

Students:

Thanks for the good questions last night, and remember that I need any further questions by class on Monday to reply to them.

Just to recap:

Midterm format: 10 Definitions at 4 points each. I'm expecting you to be able to define the term, and then explain its significance. This should take 3-5 sentences, but if you write long sentences it could be done in 2. I'm also expecting you to cite a source in these definintions, as they are drawn from course readings and films, but you can also cite lecture for a few. I think a good batch of definitions will have 6 or more DIFFERENT SOURCES. This is either the name of a film [when possible] or the author's last name of a book. No need for Book titles, years, page numbers, etc.

3 Essays, 20 points each. These essays are drawn primarily from the readings, so be sure to read up, especially the Davis, Short & Kim, and Herzog texts. Try not to get lost in the details, but have summaries for each chapter, to organize your thoughts.
**Remember I prioritize having a thesis statement, which is your argument, to open an essay. Pretty writing is far less important than making a clear, unique argument in a timed essay. Taking 5 minutes to think of a good argument and briefly outline your answer will greatly help you write a top response.

Midterm Review

I just wanted to remind everyone that there will be a review for the midterm after class this evening. YOU MUST BRING QUESTIONS FOR THIS REVIEW, AS I WILL ONLY BE PREPARING PRACTICE DEFINITION AND ESSAY QUESTIONS.

Also, thanks for the post about the World Bank and IMF, I'll be sure to cover those this evening as they will be a part of the exam.

Planet of Slums

Having just finished reading "Planet of Slums", I can't help but be both depressed and grateful at the same time. Some of the facts in the book made me sick to my stomach, ashamed to be living in a world where things like this are allowed to happen, and made me see that the little inconveniences that I complain about are incomparable to what the rest of the world lives and breathes on a daily basis. There was one thing that was unclear upon finishing that hopefully someone can clarify for me: How do the IMF and World Bank work and what exactly is a Structural Adjustment Plan? It is clear that Davis feels both of the orgs have negatively impacts slums throughout the Third World despite their apparent roles as helpers, but I just don't understand how they function and what they have done. In lamence economics terms please, if possible. Thanks!

Informal Housing in San Diego County

Students:

Here is an article brought to my attention by Randall Stevens that relates to our topics on migration, informal housing situations, and responses by the state [aka the government]. Lest we think these things happen 'somewhere else,' keep in mind that our region very much is part of larger transnational routes of human and economic globalization:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/justfixit/20080709-9999-lz1m9fixit.html

Blogging

Students:

So far there has not been much enthusiasm for posting, which I understand. But I wanted to quickly suggest some of the types of things to consider posting, especially as the class progresses.

• Comments or questions related to class readings or lectures
• Questions about the midterm. Obviously I can't say what will be on it but feel free to send in your questions as you are preparing for the exam.
  
• Experiences in the research project. One thing I'd especially like to see are some of your experiences in the field doing research so that your colleagues can benefit from your successes and frustrations. Any of the following could be valuable to someone else, either as things to emulate or failures to avoid:
• Research sources--online, journals, books, news media, etc
• Sources for visual materials--atlases, encyclopedia, etc
  
• How to relate your topic to the class' themes
• Putting together a PowerPoint presentation of your findings

And remember, even if you don't feel like posting to this space, you can send me an email and we can discuss.

Good luck

Proposal Reminder

Students:

Again to reiterate some points made in lecture today about your proposals, and your projects generally:

First, you probably already know this, but the more you put into this effort the more you will get out of it. And almost inevitably [although it might not seem like it at the time] your grade will rise with the amount of time spent as well.

Secondly, we are absolutely looking for the most focused project you are able to produce. As you are reading class and outside materials and thinking of your topic, try to make a list of all the things that are interesting to you about Mexico City, for example. From there, hierarchize them so you can fit in other ideas into one, coherent thesis.

• So if you're interested in housing, but also environmental issues, choose one to be your theme. But of course tell us how these are inter-related as well, such as how we saw the rainforest being destroyed on the edges of Rio de Janeiro by favela sprawl [and probably elites' golf courses in other areas as well...].
  

So a quick and dirty proposal must have: city chosen, theme picked, and sources listed. A quality proposal will go much more deeply into these topics; as Professor Herzog suggested, the more specific you are, the more helpful we can be.

Also, feel free to type out questions or brainstorms you're having below your proposal. These can often be very helpful to key me into your larger thought process, as I realize you haven't had much time to think about this project yet.

Keep reading, and I thought I'd add a link to an interview by Mike Davis about Planet of Slums to help you on your way. Even if you read the first bit of this, you get a sense of how fantastic this man is and how he truly has a knack for cities and how to study them.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/82655/tomdispatch_interview_mike_davis_turning_a_planet_into_a_slum

Projects

Students:
Remember that next Wednesday July 9th your proposals are due.

I'll be looking for:
--which city you're going to investigate
--what sources you're going to use [at least 2 or so as a start]
--what topic you're going to focus in on--poverty, housing, transportation, globalization, squatting, public health, etc are all acceptable topics. Of course you can touch on more than one, but the more focused you can be, the better for producing a quality paper.
--please feel free to include any pictures or maps as well, visual data will be crucial to an effective presentation of your final work, so if you already have any they are welcome.


As always, feel free to send me an email. I won't be checking over the holiday, but in general I will reply within 24 hours.

Best-
ac

Globalization and the City

Students:

First of all for those of you who have not taken a summer course before please be prepared to keep up with the reading, which will seem like a lot if you do not stay on top of it.

Secondly, I'd like to offer a couple of thoughts about the first week's topic of globalization. I urge you to think about the quote from Waters on the page 3 of Short & Kim (1999):

"The concept of globalization is an obvious object for ideological suspicion because, like modernization, an earlier and related concept, it appears to justify the spread of Western culture and of capitalist society by suggesting that there are forces operating beyond human control that are transforming the world"

One of the most important things to keep in mind about globalization is that however powerful its many aspects may appear, it is NOT INEVITABLE and there are alternatives. So when the authors talk about "metanarratives," they mean that just the idea or the story we tell ourselves about 'globalization' can take the place of what's really happening, why things happen the way they do, and the fact that people are always making the decisions responsible for what is called globalization.

Hopefully that sinks in, because one of the things we are bombarded with is that "there is no alternative" to globalization, which makes it a slippery subject to critically think through.

But, I also encourage you to look over yesterday's lecture, which highlighted many of the topics covered in the Short and Kim book. Here are some ideas to keep in mind:

--globalization is not one thing but many trends suggesting the transnational, interconnected nature of the contemporary world. These include trade, finance capital [money & investments], communications, culture, working bodies [immigration], and many others.
--globalization is often centered in cities [i.e. Tokyo p28] but it affects cities as well, encouraging incredibly vast, uneven growth in cities across the world, but also producing hierarchies between cities, as the book nicely details.

There are two ways in which you will be evaluated in this course, the midterm and the project. So when you read these books, keep in mind that of course we cannot test you on every aspect of every text. What you should be doing is looking for the important themes the authors suggest, as I have started to do for you above. This will help you keep going through the readings. But secondly, look for interesting themes and ideas the authors put forward that you will be able to delve into more deeply for your project. Even if the example is about Tokyo, you could really be interested in this idea of a "command center" and want to explore it regarding Sao Paulo, for instance.

I hope this helps you get off on the right foot, and feel free to post questions, thoughts, and other relevant issues to this space--
AC

Greetings and Missing Power Supply

Students:

Welcome to USP2. Please use this space to communicate with me, and get in the habit of checking it at least once a week as I will be posting class updates, helpful thoughts about the readings, and ideas about successfully executing your projects.

Remember you are authors of this blog too! So feel free to post interesting articles you come across, and things of that nature.

And please use this instead of email whenever appropriate--if you have a question I can guarantee you someone else does as well.

Finally, a student left aToshiba laptop power supply in the class yesterday. Did anyone see it or pick it up?

Again welcome=
Andrew

Reality Check -- AND -- WebCT site [I think]

Students:

A quick post on the world as it really is out there. I apologize if I ranted in section yesterday, but I feel that this class--as much if not moreso when Professor Pezzoli teaches it--is willing to call a spade a spade and acknowledge that because of the environmental consequences of our daily lives that we are in dire staits all across the globe.

But here's an example of how serious the consequences are of the systems we have in place to support urban lifestyles across the southwest, at this point an enormous proportion of the American population, and how are already facing them.

http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/science/02-08LakeMead.asp

Lake Mead may go dry by 2021, according to Scripps researchers. Remember, that it is the same Scripps Institute that was the home of Roger Revelle, the man who through an inadvertent military contract ended up discovering the carbon emission-ocean warmth data which became part of the scientific evidence for the discovery of global warming.

Not to mention the fact that there would probably be no UCSD without Revelle's intervention.

http://www.sandiegohistory.org/bio/revelle/revelle.htm

So try to imagine those consequences and think through what it takes to put our lives together and how radically we have to change the organization and functioning of our societies if we want to maintain them with anything near the level of development we've achieved. Because without water--remember almost all of it actually goes to agriculture--we're going to have to revisit the fact that we've sprawled over our arable lands, and all of a sudden these pieces start to connect.

Also, there is now a WebCT site for our class up due to Jeff's help. Let me know if this is not true, and I'll keep in touch with him. But I think we will be able to put up all of the slides past the midterm this time. As always I'll keep you posted on these issues.

Meetings and Grammar

Students:

Unfortunately I do not know when these meetings with prominent politicians and private sector folks will be taking place, but I do know that you should email me if you are interested.

And keep thinking of questions for the former mayor of Tijuana [not sure which one] and also the mayor of Del Mar, who hopefully will give us an incredible in-class opportunity on March 11th.

For all of you, but most immediately affecting those who are writing papers, here is a link to getting the difference between affect and effect figured out. If you have questions, start here, and then email me. But I expect proper uses of these--and all--words in your papers. Remember, it's not that grammar is the primary purpose of these papers, but they are invaluable practice for the real world where there can be professional consequences for bad writing.

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/affect-versus-effect.aspx

From Grammar Girl:
"It's actually pretty straightforward. The majority of the time you use affect with an a as a verb and effect with an e as a noun.

Affect with an a means "to influence," as in, "The arrows affected the aardvark," or "The rain affected Amy's hairdo." Affect can also mean, roughly, "to act in a way that you don't feel," as in, "She affected an air of superiority."

Effect with an e has a lot of subtle meanings as a noun, but to me the meaning "a result" seems to be at the core of all the definitions. For example, you can say, "The effect was eye-popping," or "The sound effects were amazing," or "The rain had no effect on Amy's hairdo," or "The trick-or-treaters hid behind the bushes for effect."

NYT Story about Trestles and the California Coastal Commission

Here's an interesting article about the recent decision by the California Coastal Commission to block the Foothills Toll Road. I get the impression the author hasn't actually spent much time in California, but she gives a good overview of the CCC's rare jurisdictional/political power.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/23/us/23clemente.html

Extra Credit Due March 4

Students:

Jeff and I have agreed to have the Extra Credit paper due in class on Tuesday, March 4th. As this is an extension of the original deadline of Sunday March 2nd, there will be no exceptions for late papers. Again, papers will only be accepted from students who turned in proposals to me in section on Wednesday.

I'd like to thank you all for your feedback last Wednesday, and know that Jeff and I are doing everything we can to get the slides to you as soon as possible, and I will also keep you posted on the final just as for the midterm.

AC

Final

Students:

I realize there has been confusion regarding the final exam, so I'm reposting the information from Tritonlink:

FI

03/20/2008

Th

08:00a - 10:59a

Extra Credit Proposal Due in Section

Students:

This is just a reminder that you MUST turn in a proposal in section on Wednesday if you want to write an extracredit paper. As this was previously mentioned in section, and posted in this blog, there will be no exceptions.

http://usp2.blogspot.com/2008/01/extra-credit-optional-assignment.html

I have also received feedback on the exam, and all I can say is that I hope you could tell from last section that I sympathize with your concerns. I have already put in motion changes for the final, so I think that exam will run more smoothly.

Finally, I want you to know that in the upcoming weeks the Mayor of Del Mar, and possibly of Tijuana, will be joining our class. Possibly this week--so please, inform yourselves with knowledge of local issues, I would think especially if Jorge Ramos makes himself available to us that you will be able to engage in a dialogue with him.

For example, Voiceofsandiego is a fantastic source of local information, I encourage everyone to check it out for your own interests about the area. Here is a link to a piece about the proposed extension of the border at San Ysidro.

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/02/08/news/border020808.txt

I heard that all the students who went down to make pavers experienced first hand this binational issue. But keep in mind that in many ways San Diego-Tijuana is one city--most clearly in sharing a collective environment, which makes that a joint urban challenge.

I'm also grading the exams and I have seen some great answers, especially in the short answer section it was nice to see those points of the curriculum get across. There have also been a lot of right answers on those biology multiple choice questions.

Lecture Notes--Contd

Students:

I have printed out truncated versions of the 3 lectures for which I have slides:

• Urban and Demographic Growth
• Global Population Trends [Globalization]
• Millennium Development Goals

This means I do not have the 5 Kingdoms or the Water lectures.

In the interests of actually putting our ecological principles in practice [remember 'praxis'= ideas, like sustainability, put into practical action] I would like to encourage you all to use as little paper as possible in preparation for the exam. So if anyone would like me to email them the slides instead of receiving all of them in paper form, I would be grateful for this.

So if it is possible, email me in the next couple of hours if you can and would like to receive these presentations as email attachments. Otherwise I will be making copies for everyone and I will bring them to section.

I have printed out the slides at 4 to a page, and they are still entirely readable. So anyone who receives them via email keep that in mind. I also think MUCH of the information would need to be further condensed to make it useful tomorrow, but of course I don't want to make that decision for anyone.

Lecture Notes

Students:
I have the lecture notes in the form of powerpoints. I unfortunately cannot load this kind of file up to the blog; I apologize for this, I thought I was going to receive them in a different file format. I am working on a solution, but anyone who can receive large email attachments [i.e. a gmail account] can feel free to email me and I will send you the slides. You will need PowerPoint to open the files.

I also have new information on the exam: you will NOT be allowed to bring in your computer, so all notes have to be printed out.


See you in class

Our tenuous water infrastructure

Well I'm sure the last thing anyone wants to read is stuff that won't be on the midterm, but this piece directly ties into our class' discussions about sustainability, footprint, etc.

Lake Mead Could Dry Up by 2021

Lake Mead, a key source of water for millions of people in the southwestern United States, could go dry by 2021, a new study finds.

The study concludes that natural forces such as evaporation, changes wrought by global warming and the increasing demand from the booming Southwest population are creating a deficit from this part of the Colorado River system.

Along with Lake Powell, which is on the border between Arizona and Utah, Lake Mead supplies roughly 8 million people in the cities of Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Diego, among others, with critical water supplies.

The system is currently only at half capacity thanks to a recent string of dry years, researchers say.

The study’s findings indicated that there is a 10 percent chance that Lake Mead could be dry by 2014 and a 50 percent chance that reservoir levels will drop too low to allow hydroelectric power generation by 2017. There is a 50 percent chance the lake will go dry by 2021, the study says.

Researchers say that even if water agencies follow their current drought contingency plans, those measures might not be enough to counter natural forces, especially if the region enters a period of sustained drought or if human-induced climate changes occur as currently predicted.

http://www.livescience.com/environment/080212-dry-lake-mead.html

Midterm

Students:

Remember, I will not be preparing a lecture for tomorrow and your questions will drive the discussion.

Please see my previous post, as almost nothing has changed regarding the exam. At this point I only know what you know.

But, I would like to point out that Chapter 7 is NOT on the exam tomorrow: only the previously assigned readings of CHs 4, 5, and 6.1 & 6.2 will be covered from the State of the World's Cities text.

If I receive any more information about class slides or the midterm, I will of course post it here asap. I apologize that the slides have not been forthcoming as promised.

Best,
Andrew

Week 6: Come Prepared for Section Wednesday

Students:

I hope you have all gotten some studying done, and finished up Chapters 4 & 7 in Prof. Pezzoli's Human Settlements book.

Those of you who have already had me as a TA know that I do not prepare a lecture for exam reviews, so you must bring your own questions into class.

I am happy to answer any and all questions, but I will not simply review the material--this time is for you to try and take your knowledge from reviewing to the next level by filling in holes, and hopefully trying to make connections between some of the class' topics.

I should have seen the exam before section as well, and I will relay all information I can to you regarding the specific format, number of questions, etc. I have already posted some of this information to this blog below.

AC

This isn't news to us...

But it's always nice to see mainstream society, and science, catching up with critical analysis such as the one in Suburbia.

---

February 8, 2008

Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

Almost all biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels if the full emissions costs of producing these “green” fuels are taken into account, two studies being published Thursday have concluded.

The benefits of biofuels have come under increasing attack in recent months, as scientists took a closer look at the global environmental cost of their production. These latest studies, published in the prestigious journal Science, are likely to add to the controversy.

These studies for the first time take a detailed, comprehensive look at the emissions effects of the huge amount of natural land that is being converted to cropland globally to support biofuels development.

The destruction of natural ecosystems — whether rain forest in the tropics or grasslands in South America — not only releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when they are burned and plowed, but also deprives the planet of natural sponges to absorb carbon emissions. Cropland also absorbs far less carbon than the rain forests or even scrubland that it replaces.

Together the two studies offer sweeping conclusions: It does not matter if it is rain forest or scrubland that is cleared, the greenhouse gas contribution is significant. More important, they discovered that, taken globally, the production of almost all biofuels resulted, directly or indirectly, intentionally or not, in new lands being cleared, either for food or fuel.

“When you take this into account, most of the biofuel that people are using or planning to use would probably increase greenhouse gasses substantially,” said Timothy Searchinger, lead author of one of the studies and a researcher in environment and economics at Princeton University. “Previously there’s been an accounting error: land use change has been left out of prior analysis.”

These plant-based fuels were originally billed as better than fossil fuels because the carbon released when they were burned was balanced by the carbon absorbed when the plants grew. But even that equation proved overly simplistic because the process of turning plants into fuels causes its own emissions — for refining and transport, for example.

The clearance of grassland releases 93 times the amount of greenhouse gas that would be saved by the fuel made annually on that land, said Joseph Fargione, lead author of the second paper, and a scientist at the Nature Conservancy. “So for the next 93 years you’re making climate change worse, just at the time when we need to be bringing down carbon emissions.”

The Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change has said that the world has to reverse the increase of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 to avert disastrous environment consequences.

In the wake of the new studies, a group of 10 of the United States’s most eminent ecologists and environmental biologists today sent a letter to President Bush and the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, urging a reform of biofuels policies. “We write to call your attention to recent research indicating that many anticipated biofuels will actually exacerbate global warming,” the letter said.

The European Union and a number of European countries have recently tried to address the land use issue with proposals stipulating that imported biofuels cannot come from land that was previously rain forest.

But even with such restrictions in place, Dr. Searchinger’s study shows, the purchase of biofuels in Europe and the United States leads indirectly to the destruction of natural habitats far afield.

For instance, if vegetable oil prices go up globally, as they have because of increased demand for biofuel crops, more new land is inevitably cleared as farmers in developing countries try to get in on the profits. So crops from old plantations go to Europe for biofuels, while new fields are cleared to feed people at home.

Likewise, Dr. Fargione said that the dedication of so much cropland in the United States to growing corn for bioethanol had caused indirect land use changes far away. Previously, Midwestern farmers had alternated corn with soy in their fields, one year to the next. Now many grow only corn, meaning that soy has to be grown elsewhere.

Increasingly, that elsewhere, Dr. Fargione said, is Brazil, on land that was previously forest or savanna. “Brazilian farmers are planting more of the world’s soybeans — and they’re deforesting the Amazon to do it,” he said.

International environmental groups, including the United Nations, responded cautiously to the studies, saying that biofuels could still be useful. “We don’t want a total public backlash that would prevent us from getting the potential benefits,” said Nicholas Nuttall, spokesman for the United Nations Environment Program, who said the United Nations had recently created a new panel to study the evidence.

“There was an unfortunate effort to dress up biofuels as the silver bullet of climate change,” he said. “We fully believe that if biofuels are to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem, there urgently needs to be better sustainability criterion.”

The European Union has set a target that countries use 5.75 percent biofuel for transport by the end of 2008. Proposals in the United States energy package would require that 15 percent of all transport fuels be made from biofuel by 2022. To reach these goals, biofuels production is heavily subsidized at many levels on both continents, supporting a burgeoning global industry.

Syngenta, the Swiss agricultural giant, announced Thursday that its annual profits had risen 75 percent in the last year, in part because of rising demand for biofuels.

Industry groups, like the Renewable Fuels Association, immediately attacked the new studies as “simplistic,” failing “to put the issue into context.”

“While it is important to analyze the climate change consequences of differing energy strategies, we must all remember where we are today, how world demand for liquid fuels is growing, and what the realistic alternatives are to meet those growing demands,” said Bob Dineen, the group’s director, in a statement following the Science reports’ release.

“Biofuels like ethanol are the only tool readily available that can begin to address the challenges of energy security and environmental protection,” he said.

The European Biodiesel Board says that biodiesel reduces greenhouse gasses by 50 to 95 percent compared to conventional fuel, and has other advantages as well, like providing new income for farmers and energy security for Europe in the face of rising global oil prices and shrinking supply.

But the papers published Thursday suggested that, if land use is taken into account, biofuels may not provide all the benefits once anticipated.

Dr. Searchinger said the only possible exception he could see for now was sugar cane grown in Brazil, which take relatively little energy to grow and is readily refined into fuel. He added that governments should quickly turn their attention to developing biofuels that did not require cropping, such as those from agricultural waste products.

“This land use problem is not just a secondary effect — it was often just a footnote in prior papers,”. “It is major. The comparison with fossil fuels is going to be adverse for virtually all biofuels on cropland.”

Midterm!

Before you get too excited, I haven't heard all that much. But I do have information about the Midterm Format:

• Multiple Choice
• Short Answer [brief paragraph]
• Long Answer [lengthy paragraph]

I do not know the exact proportion of these sections, but there will be no essays. The test will be open note and open book.

I have been told that the slides will be available online by Tuesday. I realize this doesn't leave a lot of time for studying them, but since the test is open notes, I suggest studying your notes and readings for now, and identifying areas where you will want to consult the lecture slides.

Please also keep in mind that in addition to knowing the lecture information, I will expect you to make reference to our readings, the guest speakers, The End of Suburbia, and The Corporation where appropriate. I will be more specific as to these expectations on Wednesday, when I hope to have seen the exam. In general, the best exams will make the fullest use of our course resources.

Take care, and I wish you all the best studying,
AC

Bring your Books tomorrow

Please remember to bring your Human Settlements text tomorrow

And go vote if you haven't

-Andrew

Revised reading for Prof. Pezzoli's book

Students:

Please keep in mind that we will focus our discussion on CHs 4 & 7 of Professor Pezzoli's book tomorrow. As I hope you've already started that reading, I would like you to also read the Introduction, as it is an excellent overview of his entire project.

The questions I've already posted apply well to the assigned chapters so please keep them in mind as they will drive our discussion tomorrow.

Finally, I feel that the most provocative argument laid out by Professor Romo this morning was for us to consider the similarities of urban poverty and slum conditions experienced worldwide.

• Given our discussions about levels and scales, what opportunities and challenges do these similarities between cities provide for attempting to reduce and eliminate human inequalities, so often tied to urbanization?
  
• And, what lessons can we draw for other cities from the case Professor Pezzoli analyzes? In what ways do we consider Los Belvederes, Ajusco and Mexico City both unique and similar to other cities?
  

See you tomorrow.

Week 5: Professor Pezzoli's Human Settlements and Planning for Ecological Sustainability

Students:

While this is a dense book and there is so much to take away from it, here are some initial aspects I would like you to keep in mind while you read:

• How is Mexico City unique and in what ways is it similar to other metropoles in South America, Asia, and elsewhere? Think in particular of it's economic/industrial development, environmental management, human migration and settlement, its many relationships with the rest of the country, or other aspects.
  
• What does Pezzolis mean by the term "co-evolution" of Mexico City's human/urban and ecological aspects? How does this relate to our discussions of the 5 Kingdoms and the overall topic of interconnectivity?
  
• Staying with this idea, what lessons about urban sustainability can we learn from this book's emphasis on issues relating to the interconnectedness of:
• land access, tenure [land security], work & employment, urban infrastructure, etc?
• Although this book seems to include a dizzying number of actors, try to systematize the role played by various key groups:
• citizens and occupiers of ejido land in Los Belvederes/Ajucso
  
• the Mexican government [at multiple levels]
• foreign advocates and intellectuals
• The book provides a startling and perhaps unintuitive idea for sustainability put forth by residents in the CEP. What do you make of this argument, and its attack on the goverment's "politics of containment"?
  
• Scale: this book certainly is the work of an author who is intimately aware of the issues surrounding the idea of scale. For example, think through the ideas Pezzoli presents about urban sustainability in Ajusco, Sierra del Ajusco, Mexico City, Mexico, and at the global scale. How does the case he presents show an example of local sustainability, and in what ways does it provide and not provide clues to achieving sustainability at larger scales?
  

Today's Section

Students:

I apologize for this being last minute, but for those of you who can, please print out and read this short piece by Roland Robertson. He is one of the authors presented yesterday about 'glocalization,' and these are some of his original remarks at a conference in 1997.

You only need to skim this, but it should help embellish your understanding of a few key terms. During your reading, keep these questions in mind:

• What does globalization and glocalization mean?
• How does he intend these terms to be different? Or, why does he feel we need a new term besides globalization?
• Are there different processes--and outcomes--for different spheres of social life according to Robertson? Pay particular attention to his ideas separating and connection culture [national cultures, religion, attitudes] and economic behaviors [marketing strategies, product placement, overall success or failure]. How are these connections part of his argument?
  

http://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/global/15robertson.html

Comments on the "Global Triad" and "Glocalization"

Roland ROBERTSON

Thank you very much. I'd like to thank the organizers of this conference for a very pleasant and very stimulating occasion, and in particular, to thank two people who have entertained me, and dealt with me with great courtesy, on previous visits to Japan, Professor Inoue and Professor Abe --- and others --- but those are the two people who have most continually been very helpful to me.

......

But having said this, let me turn very briefly --- perhaps not so briefly --- to the whole theme of globalization. Now, it had never occurred to me that I would ever hear people say so forcefully, and without seeming reservation, that globalization constitutes Americanization, or that globalization emanates, in some way, from the United States.

Because, after all, much of the contours of what we now call globalization were laid down historically before the United States ever entered the modern world system. It is of more than passing interest to note that two of the most significant nations in the modern world --- significant for various reasons, which is not to say that one necessarily has to love either of them, namely, the United States and Japan --- entered what is often called the international community --- the Euro-centric international community --- at approximately the same time, namely, the declining years of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century. And ever since that period at the turn of the century, the relationship between Japan and the U.S.A. has often been problematic --- and violently problematic, of course, at one tragic time. But the major point is to emphasize that, in the long perspective of globalization, America entered the whole global situation a long time after its basic structure was set in place.

So it seems to me ridiculous, quite frankly, to talk about globalization as emanating from the United States. And moreover, to suggest that articles written in the Harvard Business Review in the late 1980s, prove in some way that globalization is an American phenomenon or an American idea, is very, very doubtful. Because I myself happened to be reading the Harvard Business Review in detail in the period about 1985 to 1990, and what is so striking --- and I challenge anybody here to go back and look at the years in question, 1985 to 1990 --- about the articles written about globalization, is the major significance of Japanese writers on the subject of globalization. In any case, as far as America is concerned, American business people and economists have, in fact, come to employ in recent years the term globalization almost obsessively, but --- and this is a very important "but" --- as far as academic disciplines are concerned, economists, particularly American economists, came very, very late into the situation of talking about globalization.

As far as disciplines are concerned, it was in the discipline of the sociology of religion, it was in the discipline of anthropology, the discipline of comparative literature, and to some extent, the discipline of political science, that the word and the term, and the exploration of the dimensions of globalization had been proceeding --- for at least ten years --- before economists, particularly American economists, ever began to use the word.

And teaching at an American university, I can only report here, autobiographically, that I had tremendous difficulty in trying to convince my colleagues in sociology, my primary discipline, and in other disciplines, to take the notion of globalization seriously.

On top of that, I can assure you that the anti-global sentiment is very, very strong in the United States of America. It is playing a key part in the current campaign to decide which candidate should run for president from the Republican Party; the phrase "anti-globalism" is a significant one in American politics; there are numerous movements which are directed in opposition to the teaching of the subject of globalization, to so-called "international education"; there have been people protesting at school boards all over America about American children learning about other countries; they fear that if they learn about ancient Greek philosophy or about Japanese religion or French philosophy, that their minds will be destroyed, in other words, that their views will be relativized.

Now, the term "relativize" is absolutely essential here. Because I think that a lot of what we have been talking about with respect to "indigenization" comes about because virtually every tradition in the contemporary world feels itself in some way to be threatened, to be "relativized." Relativized, broadly speaking, of course, means to be made one among an increasingly large number of different world views, of different traditions and so on. And the best example, which nearly everybody knows of, is shown in the case of the great controversy surrounding the publication of Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, where Moslems, or leaders of a certain segment of Islam, felt that Islamic views were being relativized, were being placed in a larger context. And so we had the ensuing fatwa issued against --- the death judgment concerning --- Salman Rushdie, and to this day, he still lives under heavy protection, and in hiding, coming out only occasionally.

Now, to go back to the Harvard Business Review. The articles written in that period of the late '80s by Japanese economists sometimes employed the word "glocalization," which is usually rendered in Japanese --- and excuse my pronunciation --- as dochakuka. This is a word, incidently, which has played an increasingly important part in my own writings, recently, about globalization. Because "glocalization" means the simultaneity --- the co-presence --- of both universalizing and particularizing tendencies.

Let me give you a little example here of a different kind. Some years ago the World Health Organization took upon itself the task of promoting world health. And in so doing, the major, influential figures within the World Health Organization said that they couldn't have a conception of "world health" without incorporating a whole variety of different traditions of medicine. And so the way in which this has been developed has been to try and obtain a sense of world health by incorporating particular traditions of medicine, by not favoring one medical tradition over another.

But the interesting point here is that when particular medical professionals in particular societies were called upon to produce statements about their own medical practices, some areas of the world did not really have a medical tradition, and so they had, in fact --- and I use the word advisedly --- to invent an indigenous tradition of medicine. And so, in the world in which we live, we have to be very conscious about the fact that indigenization is the other side of the coin of the homogenizing aspects of globalization.

Now, in Professor Voyé's paper, she in fact uses, without using my exact language, this kind of approach to describe the strategy or the globalization project within Europe, of the Roman Catholic Church, which she shows --- in my judgment very successfully and in a very interesting way --- to be following what I think she calls, herself, the "double strategy" of claiming a kind of universality, at least within Europe, and on the other hand, to relate that universality to particular sacred places, or what I believe Lilian Voyé, following Durkheim, calls "totemic places."

And indeed, in the contribution by Professor Dollfus, which was, of course, read in his absence, he insists that globalization in fact, produces differences. I would put it slightly differently --- it's more in line, in fact, with Professor Voy --- which is to say it's not so much that globalization produces differences, but to say that we should consider globalization, in and of itself, to be simultaneously homogenizing --- making things the same --- and at the same time, making things different.

Now, this is difficult, perhaps, for most of us --- including myself --- to grasp. But I think we have to get used to this interpenetration, this relationship between universality and particularity, or else we are going to continue to produce a distorted image of what is happening in the modern world. Even if we were to completely forget the word globalization, if we were to say, "Don't let's use this word globalization, it's a bunch of American rubbish" --- let's assume we say that, let's throw the idea out of the window --- but, if we throw it away, we've still got to come to terms with the obvious fact that we live in a world in which there is a much, much greater interdependence --- economically, politically, culturally, conferencewise, travelwise, touristwise --- and so on and so forth, compared, let's say, with fifty years ago, one hundred years ago, and so forth. So if we were to call it, not "globalization," but simply "X" we would still have the same kind of problem concerning the relationship between these universalizing and particularizing trends.

And this, incidentally, is not just a simple matter of the global situation, because one can see this kind of complicated relationship between the universal and particular occurring within a number of modern societies. I will, perhaps against my better judgment here, give an American example. In the American legal system, there has, in a controversial way, arisen in recent years what is sometimes called the "cultural defense." The term cultural defense refers to the way in which the lawyers acting on behalf of a defendant may say: "This defendant has been brought up in a different cultural tradition from that to which this court is used. And so, sadly, many people accused of wife-beating, of cruelty to their wives, have not infrequently claimed, not necessarily successfully, that within their own tradition, hitting your wife whenever you feel angry with her is perfectly acceptable. And there are a few cases in which, in fact, defendants have, so to speak, gotten away with this defense.

And this kind of defense has become increasingly important since --- as somebody said yesterday --- increasingly since 1965, when the whole immigration pattern to the United States was shifted towards, broadly speaking, favoring people from Asia rather than from Europe, that one gets a great mixture, a complicated mixture, of cultural traditions, people from different backgrounds, in court. And one gets some very, I might say, perverse cases like this, and here I draw on some cases that have happened in Western Europe.

For example, in Britain, people have, on occasion, tried to defend the practice of the mutilation of genitals of females as an indigenous, respectable tradition, deriving primarily, but not only, from East Africa. In this case, I can quite frankly say, and I hope that everybody agrees with me, that, thank goodness, that "cultural defense" has not worked in any case of which I am aware. But the cultural defense is not confined to the two countries which I have mentioned. The cultural defense has been made in various other parts of Europe --- in Sweden, in Germany, and so on and so forth --- again, not necessarily successfully. But the important thing to say is that there is a kind of world-wide tendency to increasingly bring the particular into relationship with the universal. As has been said, "the particular is what makes the universal work."

And a final example before I close my comments at this stage, we know, of course --- or many of us here will know --- that quite recently a conference was held by the United Nations on the whole subject of human rights. Many will also know that that conference was preceded by some regional conferences, and the Asian conference which took place in Bangkok probably received the most attention in the Western press, because its attempt to defy --- or at least present an alternative to --- the Western conceptions of human rights was so strong. Now some people would say that there is no such thing as universality here, and throw up their hands and say, "Nobody is going to win," and so take a very pessimistic attitude to the situation.

But there is a completely different way to look at the situation, because here we have a universal theme, human rights," accepted as a problem by virtually everybody concerned, east and west, north and south; so they agree on the universality of the topic of human rights, but they disagree --- they have particular points of view --- with respect to the contents of those human rights. Broadly speaking, the Asian is a much more collectivist conception of human rights, while the Western --- or the West European or the European generally and the North American --- is a much more individualistic conception of human rights.

But we might say that we shouldn't just look at things as they are at a particular point in time. As we sometimes say, the game goes on, so the next time this issue is discussed, there will again be controversy, there will perhaps forever be controversy, but my main point is that the tussle between the particular and the universal will go on and on.

Now, very briefly, to the term "glocalization," as I derive it from the Japanese term dochakuka.

As it is used in Japanese business practice, this term actually refers to the selling, or making of products for particular markets. And as I think most of us here know, Japanese business people have been particularly successful in selling their products in a variety of different markets, unlike the clumsy strategies of the Americans, who until very recently, were --- and you all know this very well --- stupid enough, and some of them are still silly enough, to believe that you can get Japanese people to drive on the "wrong" side of the road, because the wrong side of the road from their point of view is on the left-hand side; we know that, but other people don't. (The French certainly don't.)

But the basic idea of glocalization is the simultaneous promotion of what is, in one sense, a standardized product, for particular markets, in particular flavors, and so on. In my judgment, this does give a very interesting cast or tone, to the Japanese presence in the modern world. Because I myself believe --- and I am not saying this just because I am in Japan, just because I am sort of confronted here, in a very pleasant way, by many Japanese people, but I believe that because of the indigenous nature of the concept of glocalization, that the Japanese are in a particularly strong position to, in fact, identify themselves as genuinely global people, in a way which the Americans are not.

In fact, if one had to think of the two most opposite nations in this respect, I would say that the Japanese have a major strategic, cultural advantage in the whole globalization process, and that up to now, up to this point, the Americans are out of it --- they stand no chance, because they don't have a conception, they don't have a philosophical, cultural conception, of the interpenetration of the particular and the universal.

Extra Credit -- Optional -- Assignment

Students:

I just wanted to remind everyone, and put it in writing, that anyone who wants to submit an optional extra credit essay MUST turn in a proposal to me in section February 20th [one week after the Midterm 2/14] according to the following guidelines:

• 1-page [max]
• single spaced

The text of your proposal should:

• introduce your topic [I am especially interested to hear how it relates to one of our class themes]
  
• offer a research question [you may but do not have to offer a thesis statement at this point]
• briefly outline your research strategy/sources

This will not give me time to get these back to you before the essays are due, unfortunately, but this will help produce better essays by encouraging you to organize your thoughts and commit them to paper.

Remember tomorrow we're going to go over the questions for discussion I posted previously, as well as discuss the film The End of Suburbia.

Questions for Week 3

Students, here are questions to consider for section next Wednesday, based on our readings [Chs 4, 5, 6.1, and 6.2 of State of the World]

Chapters 4&5: Greening Urban Transportation & Energizing Cities
What public transit and energy policies does San Diego [or other California cities you know] have at this point? What options are being considered to improve and green these infrastructures?

Do you use public transportation? Have you or others you know undertaken energy conservation or alternative energy solutions?

In our city and region, what obstacles and opportunities do we have for public transportation and alternative energy?

Given that the book emphasizes the importance of political leadership, what do you think about Jim Bell's vision for San Diego?
-For example, the book emphasizes regional governance--what does this mean, and can you think of any examples of this in San Diego?

On a more theoretical note, I want to discuss the issue of scale--we often use the word level, but I appreciate how this book uses the word scale. How do these words differ when we refer to the urban or local level versus the urban or local scale?

Related to this is the book's key concern with scalability--how to take what might work in a city to be enacted in entire regions, nations, or hopefully across the globe?

Chapter 6: Natural Disaster and Risk

The larger issue I'd like you to consider is the relationship between urbanization and natural disaster--as the world's population crosses the 50% mark where more than half of us live in cities worldwide, how are cities making us safer and putting us at risk? Are risks distributed evenly or whom do they affect disproportionately [and remember we're discussing both local and global scales here]?

Closer to home, how can we evaluate recent urban natural disasters in this country, namely Katrina in New Orleans and the Southern California fires of October 2007? I'm sure many of you were affected by the fires, but an overlooked issue was the bias many felt toward the Witch Creek fire and the relatively little attention the Harris fire received, mirroring the balance of ethnicity and wealth in San Diego County.

Also, and this is not a small point, but I felt that the book severely misrepresented what happened in New Orleans during Katrina. I don't know if many of you have seen Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke, but it is a powerful and sobering look at our government's futility in the face of a gigantic federal disaster. The damage in New Orleans was due to the levees failing, not the hurricane itself.
http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/whentheleveesbroke/

Welcome to USP 2

Hello students:

I will use this space to communicate with you, but I also hope that you all use it as well to post questions, ideas, and links that come up over the course of the quarter.

Here is my TA information for this course:

Andrew Cheyne
Office Hours: 5-6 pm Wednesday at Perkz Cafe and by appointment.
Email: acheyne@ucsd.edu Please allow 24 hours for me to reply to your email, and I do not check email over the weekend.


Here is an example of the kind of posts you might consider for this blog:

As this course is intimately concerned with the connections between economic, urban, and environmental systems, here is a link to an article discussing what we might call the growing 'footprint' of Europe.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/world/africa/14fishing.html

And here are links to some additional resources that will be useful to you in this class:

UN Habitat Report: State of the World's Cities 2006/7.
*This is the .pdf version of what we used in last year's class. The information is easy to read, includes a lot of charts and graphs, and really hones in on Professor Romo's points about sub-saharan Africa and Southeast Asia as the crucial sites for contemporary urban development

http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=3397&catid=7&typeid=46&subMenuId=0

Mike Davis, Planet of Slums This is simply an incredible, if gloomy book, about worldwide urbanization as the final buildout of humanity. Remember, this book is from a Marxist perspective, which is not something to chide but it's useful to remember that ALL texts have a position or 'take' on their topic.

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:IdWtFdLoT84J:www.clas.ufl.edu/users/dreznik/Slums.pdf+mike+davis+planet+of+slums&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=15&gl=us&client=firefox-a


So again welcome to the course, and I hope you all begin to share your comments in this space.
Andrew