Creating Healthy Human Habitats

How do we create the best human living conditions in cities?

Dr. Howard Frumkin, dean, School of Public Health, University of Washington, asked the audience at the National Building Museum’s Intelligent Cities forum to imagine they were zookeepers and just received a shipment of hundreds of frogs. Immediately, the zookeepers would need to create a habitat with the correct temperature, humidity, water and plants to ensure the frogs are healthy and live long lives. Cities are really just habitats for humans and our zookeepers are our elected officials, urban planners, and designers. However, Frumkin wondered if the ideal habitat is now being created for people - one that offers a healthy environment for all?

A City Dashboard

If a city were to have a “dashboard” tracking all the important indicators of a healthy human environment, “what would it feature?”, asked Frumkin. For Lucy, the dashboard would track traffic fatalities and the percentage of people driving alone to work. Lucy said traffic fatalities are actually higher in the sparser outer areas of cities. Kinney said air pollution and water quality are key data to track. Green made the case for “new intersections, miles of sidewalks and bike lanes, and percentages of people walking to work each day.”

Demographic Shifts 

Lucy sees a coming population shift that will also have major health implications. Currently, “poorer people have captured the better locations in the center of cities. They live in the convenient locations.” However, this trend is changing. With the revival of cities, “white flight has turned into white return.” As a result, the poor are moving to the suburbs. Just as in Paris, where the suburbs are the site of poorer immigrant communities, U.S. cities may soon face the same issues.

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Added value in a Staircase

A recent New York Times article looked at staircases in urban properties. Once thought primarily a waste of space and with very little real estate value placed on it, the lowly staircase is transforming. As the article states:

Click the photo for a slideshow at the NY Times

Stairs create separation. Stairs take up space. Stairs mean work. There are buyers out there, though, who seek a duplex. They like the separation of public and private rooms. They don’t mind losing a little space, and a bit of exercise isn’t a bad thing, either.

At the lower end of the market, duplexes typically have tight spiral staircases, and property values aren’t necessarily increased beyond the sum of the two parts. But at the high end, in penthouses and apartments with three or more bedrooms, Jonathan J. Miller said, “there’s a definite premium on duplexes, because it’s more like a house, with a real set of stairs.”

Developers in recent years have added duplexes to their apartment mix, some creating buildings made up entirely of duplexes. Brokers and developers say that duplexes attract certain buyers, and that if anything, their popularity seems to be on the rise.

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America’s Costliest Cities

Check out a photo slideshow of the costliest cities

Forbes has just released its report on the cities in the country that cost the most to live in – it should come as no surprise that New York (Manhattan) tops the list, with San Francisco just behind. What cities round out the top 10?

The cost of groceries, gasoline and various sundries, at a little more than twice the national average, is highest in New York City – which also has the highest housing costs in the U.S. The cost of housing also pushed San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., to top spots on our list. In all four cities, the average home price during that time was well over $600,000. While further down the list, the average price fell to $226,998 in Austin and $201,020 in Nashville.

However, housing prices are only part of the story. To compile this list, Forbes looked at cost of living expenses in six categories: grocery items, housing, utilities, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods and services. California led with six cities on the list, four that make our top 10. Texas follows closely behind with four cities: in addition to Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas appeared. Click here to see the complete list of costliest cities.

Read the full story on Forbes here.