Utopia

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Often a Utopia can be associated with being the perfect place by fulfilling some of the aspects of moral. social, and political aspects in our lives. Yet, it is almost impossible to achieve the perfect place. Cities for centuries have tried to achieve such a goal but have failed in many different ways. Although some have made great strides in achieving this dream, there is still a long ways to go to be even close to tackle all three principles completely. One place which made such attempts is the city of Vancouver located up north in Canada has adopted a design which for years seemed to go against the utopian life of the suburbs, but in today’s reality a sort of Utopian life style actually lies within the city, one such design which promotes a utopian life style in Urban Density.


One important aspect to urban density is the impact it has on transportation and the significance of getting to the places where we're needed. Throughout American history there has been a huge admiration between the people of the United States and its fascination with the automobile. There have been movies, car shows, and even magazine articles advertising the automobile attaching with it a sense of elevated status or even power to the individual owning such an item. Take for instance Hollywood stars and their appearance in an exotic car to an award ceremony. Status and wealth aside, there is a large correlation between automobiles and the amount of greenhouse gasses and pollutants in which automobiles produce. Approximately 23 percent of all greenhouse gases emitted in the U.S. in 2007 were from cars, trucks, and buses, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Abraham). The U.S. is known to be the largest automobile polluter in the world because of how it is designed with urban sprawling in mind and encouraging our dependence on the automobile. Yet, the city of Vancouver has sought a why in which can decrease its dependence of the car and has seen a way to solve transportation issues by simply making amenities such as schools, work, food, and living spaces closer together.

Abraham, J. (2009, May 18). Reducing greenhouse gases from cars and commercial vehicles. Retrieved from http://www.southwestclimatechange.org/solutions/reducing-emissions/transportation-emissions