An Interdisciplinary Ride Navigating Human History around the Globe
to Find the Junctions between Better Public Health, Economic Growth and
a Sustainable Environment to a Well-Planned Public Transportation System
That Will Help Answer the Question:
Are Many U.S. Cities, Like Arlington, Texas Missing the Trip to a Brighter Future?
Author: Susan Paige Vinson
Planning The Trip
As urban and suburban communities across the world deal with concerns about the public health of their populations, the economic opportunities available, and the sustainability of the environment in which their people exist, their arises a need for a well-planned public transportation system that can address these concerns with a positive impact overall to the long term benefit of these communities. Throughout human history, planning and implementing a public transportation system can and has faced additional challenges in the United States compared to the European Union due to various factors, including public opinion on funding, and in Arlington, Texas, the population has voted against planning and implementing a public transportation system due to the local funding requirements, and as of 2008 is seeking alternative funding options (Demon, 2008). Riding across the anthropological variables between the U.S, the European Union, and developing countries, as well as transversing the disciplinary lines that may tend to separate information and research results regarding public health, economics, and environmental studies, will provide any U.S. urban society, as well as the people in Arlington, with a better understanding of the long term benefits of a well-planned public transportation system. At best, the integration and correlation of the long term positive impacts to the overall public health, economic growth, and the sustainability of the environment to a well-planned public transportation system will provide public planners good reason to include public transportation in any overarching and long term growth and sustainability plan for any U.S. urban city, like Arlington, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of north Texas. At the least, this integration of ideas from various disciplines will allow the voters of any urban city within the U.S. that may be voting for their future public transportation plan with a more informed opinion. “While American cities are synchronizing green lights to improve traffic flow and offering apps to help drivers find parking, many European cities are doing the opposite: creating environments openly hostile to cars. The methods vary, but the mission is clear — to make car use expensive and just plain miserable enough to tilt drivers toward more environmentally friendly modes of transportation” (Rosenthal, 2011, para. 1).
Public health. The health discipline grew out of the need to assess and address the impacts of urbanization in the 19th century on human health of the individual and the community (Northridge & Sclar, 2003). A review of the health professionals’ data and observational insights into what affects the health and wellness of an urban population is necessary when considering the long term benefits of social programs, including public transportation. Included in the realm of the health perspective in correlation with public transit are the insights surrounding the benefits of mobility of any person regardless of age, ability, or social class to be able to obtain proper healthcare as well as ease of access to public parks and other physical recreation that promotes health and wellness.
Economics. Review of the socioeconomic impact of any social system like public transportation is required to ascertain the long term benefits of implementing a well-planned system within an urban society. Economists, and specifically social economists, use observation and data gathering to garner knowledge. In this specular fashion social economists can demonstrate that economic exchanges within a society are imbedded in the social and economic networks that exist and use this data to gain transaction based knowledge for an informed view of the society’s social and economic actions (Cetina & Preda, 2001).
Environmental studies. Although environmental studies is not necessarily a discipline, it is a studies program that has a common curriculum that focuses research on the causes of an unhealthy environment and potential solutions to support a healthier or more sustainable environment and therefore, it will therefore be used as a discipline. There are many approaches within environmental studies aimed to cultivate and use knowledge of the environment for the greater good. It is specifically integral ecology that takes an integrative approach to environmental studies, and aims to use various disciplines perspectives and knowledge to be fully informed of the reality of environmental situation (Esbőrn-Hargens, 2005). Drawing from multiple perspectives within a society allows for the integration of disciplines relating to mind, culture, and nature to constructively plan for a society that is ecologically wise and sustainable (Wight, 2005).
Purpose. The purpose and ultimate destination of this paper is to create awareness of the impacts to public health, economic growth, and overall sustainability, or lack thereof, of a large urban society, like Arlington, Texas, that does not have a well-planned public transportation system. Leveraging the perspectives and insights of these various disciplines will heighten awareness and better inform the public of the urgent need for a well-planned public transportation system in any society (Boix Mansilla, 2005). Using an interdisciplinary approach, will enhance the insights made available to the public of the inter-relatedness of planning and implementing a public transportations system for better health, economic growth, and a sustainable environment in which they live and work for an informed public opinion on the need for funding public transportation.
Disciplinary Perspectives and Insights into Public Transportation.
This paper will use the Comprehensive Perspectives Model (Repko, 2008) to compare and contrast the perspectives and insights of each discipline found through research of peer-reviewed publications in public health, economics, and environmental studies. In using this model that requires integrating more than one discipline while focused on the issue at hand, it is the objective of this paper to come to a greater understanding or comprehensive perspective through the culmination of these various disciplines that have various perspectives, concepts and specific insights into how a well planned public transportation system can affect the future of urban cities in the United States.
The order of the disciplines is logically laid out to begin with the public health discipline, as common sense would speak to the understanding that a healthy public is required first in consideration for planning for a healthy city with a bright future as it is the people that make up the city. The second discipline considered is the economics of the city, as it is not enough to have a healthy public within the city, as the people must then have a place to work to earn money, places to buy food, clothing, shelter, and healthcare to maintain the public health. The third discipline, environmental studies, is considered at the end as it has the consideration of long term consequences to the overall well being of not only the environment, but also the people that are within said environment. A city can have a healthy public and a growing economy over periods of time, and in the end it must also have a sustainable environment for the people to live and work to maintain a healthy public and growing economy over the longer term and therefore, environmental studies are considered in the end.
Public health, a necessary tour on the trip to a brighter future. The World Health Organization’s 2009 global report on road safety sites that a nations roadways provide a benefit and a burden on the health of the people (WHO, 2009). The existence of roadways has direct and indirect benefits to public health by giving the people increased access to jobs, education, healthcare, and markets. The harmful health consequences come from increases in roadway transportation that increases respiratory illnesses, traffic accidents, and other health issues that arise from a decrease in physical activity by the public. The WHO further claims that public policy makers should plan accordingly to create the ability of the public to walk or cycle safely, have public transportation that is not only safe but affordable as well, and remove the need for using personal transportation (WHO, 2009). The majority of the literature from public health professionals, discusses the need for planners to make informed decisions regarding how transportation plans can affect the overall health of the public. In reference specifically to urban cities, health professionals tend to agree with the need to promote safely regulated public transportation in lieu of private car use and more walking and cycling paths with direct access to public transportation to be equitable even in urban areas that span large areas, as is the case of the urban cities found in the United States (Dora, 2007). As many urbanites are concerned with air pollution versus the health benefits of taking a walk, one recent study shows that the physical workout associated with walking to and from public transportation versus taking a private car, outweighed the risks associated with exposure to air pollutants with an average of 1 pound lost per 6 week period commuting using public transport in lieu of driving a car to and from work (Morabia, Mirer, Amstislavski, Eisl, Werbe-Fuentes, Gorczynski, Goranson,Wolff, & Markowitz, 2010). Another study of adults over age 65 and/or with mobility issues, shows that without access to transportation, there is an increase in mortality and a recommendation by public health professionals is made that transit planning include transportation specifically for mobility impaired individuals to promote public health equitably (Knight, 2011). Although the City of Arlington is considered a sprawling urban city, it does not have a public transportation system available to all as of 2011. It does however have a fee based special transportation service for senior citizens and persons with mental or physical disabilities called the Handitran Special Transportation Service that does meet the recommendations of public health professionals in regards to the elderly or immobile population (City of Arlington, 2011).
Economics, a tour of the benefits to the individual, the city, and the national economy of a well planned public transportation system. When considering the economics of the city one should consider the socioeconomic networks on an individual or micro level, as well as the city’s economic structure, and ultimately how this can affect or be affected by national or macro economic considerations as each city is not closed off from neighboring cities and much like the people create the city, the cities can create the nation. Reviewing the economic situation of the city by considering the poverty or affluence of that city’s populace is one consideration when reviewing economists’ insights into public transportation. If there is any portion of the populace that is considered low income or on welfare, access to public transportation is necessary for that populace to have an opportunity to rise out of poverty or welfare for a better economic situation for themselves, as there will be access to better jobs and higher education opportunities, and so that those individuals can contribute to the overall economy in lieu of not working due to not having access to private transportation (Garasky, Fletcher, & Jensen, 2006). Public transportation to access public assistance programs is essential for lower or non- income persons that typically do not own an automobile to make the transition out of welfare and this connection may often be overlooked by policymakers. Even for the individual that is not part of the welfare or low income population can benefit from an efficient public transportation system as it alleviates traffic congestion, reduces air pollution, enhances mobility of the population, and reduces energy consumption for a more efficient and affluent city overall. Another point in considering the economics of the city and the transportation department costs is that if fare structure is optimized to be kept low while still allowing for profit and the quality of service high for the greatest amount of ridership, the revenue can be used to continue improving the overall public transportation system, which can reduce the overall infrastructure cost of creating an efficient public transportation system in the long term (Chien &Tsai, 2007). On the national level the power of technology is being used in many countries to innovate transportation economics and contributing to these countries abilities to compete in the global economy while the United States is falling behind other countries in regards to transportation technology systems that are currently helping other nations like Japan, South Korea, and Singapore stand out as world leaders in intelligent transportation systems (ITS) (Ezell, 2010). This is primarily due to the fact that the United States, unlike the leading countries in ITS, does not have a national public transportation system policy, or comprehensive strategy, as many transportation policy decisions and infrastructure investment decisions are left to state and/or local jurisdictions. Another reason that there is not a national standard for gathering intelligent data for informed decisions on public transportation is that the national policymakers could believe that the private sector is keeping up with these technologies that other countries are using to optimize transportation systems for cost effectiveness on a national level (Ezell, 2010). Perhaps further studies are required into ITS and costs versus benefits analysis research is needed to identify if a national standard for public transportation in the United States is required to keep up with the world and also help urban cities like Arlington, Texas stay connected to nearby cities for a greater economic impact at the individual, city, regional, and national level.
Environmental Studies, a tour of the impacts to the ecological and social environment of a well planned public transportation system. Considering the environment does to some degree overlap both public health, and economics considerations and in this way concerns about the environment may need to be investigated further to identify long term considerations that should not be ignored due to the far reaching impact that a poor environment can have on the future of any city and in regards to multiple perspectives like public health and the economy. It takes time to change public policy for the protection of the environment as geologists have been writing for decades about the consequences of increasing oil production in light of the eventual peak production of petroleum and the impact that new methods of production that will be needed to produce more oil with limited resources that ultimately will impact the environment and the public health even more and yet there have not been any significant energy or climate policy changes to limit the use of petroleum (Schwarz, Parker, Hess, & Frumkin, 2011). With the world population rising exponentially and with more than half of the world population residing in urban cities, it is imperative that public transit planning entities focus transit planning around the future urban environment, which will have an even greater need for a reduction of the air pollution caused by the lack of cleaner or alternative transit solutions, as well as a reduction in the use of petroleum, and other non renewable materials to sustain the urban environment. Many studies of various urban cities discuss the issues that are created within a city that is growing in population without an adequate public transportations system. One exemplary study in Delhi, the capital of India, outlines the primary problem as not having a public transportation system, and a sprawling urban city that has a separation of housing and work areas, that has led to the secondary issues or problems of increased personalized vehicular traffic, which has increased congestion, air pollution, and is ultimately energy inefficient as the traffic jams further increase the oil consumption and emissions as traffic slows to a crawl in the urban areas (Dewan & Ahmad, 2007). The primary problems as described in Delhi are similar to any urban city that has potential for a rapidly rising population and therefore planning for population growth is needed when considering the urban environment health and planning for an efficient public transportation system should begin well before that growth reaches the point of many cities like Delhi in which the population has outgrown the transportation systems and impaired the urban environment in regards to air quality. Ultimately, every city planner hopes to have a healthy city and it is the environment of any urban city that will influence the health of the people. To stretch the definition of environmental studies to include considering for the overall well being of the population and the structure of the social environment, shows that the health, wealth, and social connectedness of the people within the city are key indicators of a happy environment and/or city that will thrive and therein also work to protect the quality of the environment and/or city surrounding the people. In a study of ten urban cities it was found that easy access to public transportation and therein to cultural and leisure activities, did indeed promote happiness, a feeling of well-being, and ultimately made living in those cities more attractive due to the social environment (Leyden, Goldberg, & Michelbach, 2011).
Common Ground
Table 1 (Vinson, S., 2011a) demonstrates the common ground and conflicts found between the various authors researched for each of the disciplines. The authors perspectives and insights were weighed in comparison to each of the other disciplinary authors to come to a better understanding of the problem of if many urban cities are missing out on a brighter future by not implementing a well planned public transportation system. By correlating the common themes between public health, economics, and environmental studies, the process of integration towards a comprehensive answer to the question has begun.
Final Integration
The destination of this paper was originally to create awareness of the impacts to public health, economic growth, and overall sustainability, or lack thereof, of a large urban society, like Arlington, Texas, that does not have a well-planned public transportation system. Touring each discipline’s insights to garner information about the impacts of not having a well-planned public transportation system has lead to a greater understanding of what it would take to address these impacts fully in the United States. Therefore, in evaluating the purpose of this paper, it is necessary to add that this paper’s purpose is also to heighten awareness of the need for an overarching federal plan for public transportation, much like was done in implementing the plan for a federally funded highway system in the United States in the 1950’s and yet specifically geared towards mass transit systems that include rail, bus lines, biking paths, and concurrently or eventually utilizing technology to evaluate the systems efficiency. Leveraging the perspectives and insights of these various disciplines will heighten awareness and better inform the public of the urgent need for a well-planned public transportation system that includes mass transit and is planned as an interconnected, overarching, and federally recognized and funded plan (Boix Mansilla, 2005). Using an interdisciplinary approach to enhance the insights made available to the public of the inter-relatedness of planning and implementing a public transportations system for better health, economic growth, and a sustainable environment in which they live and work for an informed public opinion on the need for planning and funding public transportation at the federal level that could be cascaded to the local level much again like the federal highway system was planned and implemented and eventually allowed cities to be more connected with local streets still planned and implemented by local governments that were connecting to the federal highway system.
Integrative techniques. There are at least five basic tools for integration that should be explained prior to explaining the techniques used in this paper. In no specific order and by no means a full list of all the potential tools for integration that may yet be used in any interdisciplinary work, the basic techniques are: redefinition, extension, expansion, organization, and transformation (Repko, 2008).
Redefinition is the work of creating a common language between the disciplines by taking the terminology used to describe a concept, insight, or theory from one or more disciplines and redefining what it means or how it is used to not exclude or discriminate against the approach of another discipline. For example, the concept of gravity can mean very different things between the disciplines of sociology, history, and physics, as in the gravity of a situation or period of history and the gravity of the earth, respectively, and yet there are words like heavy that would not be aligned with physics as they are aligned with and may be used in sociology or maybe even history and therefore another word could be used that does not cause misunderstanding or conflict between disciplines, like the word focus of history or focus of mass force, or the focal point of the social event. With the concept of focus, all three disciplines can now be discussed under a common language and perhaps even now the idea of focus can be extended across the disciplines to further integrate.
Extension is the technique of integration that is often used when two or more disciplines’ insights or concepts appear to be irreconcilable, as one theory or concept or insight of a discipline is extended to another discipline or concept, theory, or insight. It is often used in conjunction with redefinition and yet redefinition is not required for the extension technique to be used. For example, using the concept of focus in lieu of the word heavy or gravity is a concept that is more easily extended to relate across the disciplines of sociology, history, and even to physics, as focus can be used to discuss sociology in regards to perhaps the focal point of a populace in an urban city or the society’s focus on an idea, and history is similar and can be extended to physics as the focal point of a force of mass much like the focus of ideas into the culmination of a social force. As redefinition is like a play on words, extension is like a play on ideas as the ideas of one discipline can be used to encapsulate or extend into valuable ideas on another discipline if you broaden the concept.
Expansion, or expansion of a theory, is a tool of integration that allows the interdisciplinarian to take a known theory and after defining it and providing proper credit, using it to expand it to other disciplines. For example, the Fractal Theory (Mandelbrot, 1983) of geometry in nature, which is a mathematical theory regarding the self similarity of the smaller parts of a whole and rough shape that when split are similar in shape to the whole, can and has been expanded to other disciplines like art, music, and astronomy as the theory helps to explain issues of those disciplines regarding similarity of pieces to the whole in structure (Mandelbrot & Freeman, 1983). Expansion can also be done by joining two or more theories together or into a new theory to then expand across disciplines.
Organization is a useful technique for integration as it allows the interdisciplinarian to take concepts and ideas from various disciplines and order them in a way that is logical and based on reason. For example, using a logic of order of disciplines helps integrate the disciplines in that there layout or plan and there is reason provided behind researching or disclosing insights about one discipline prior to the another so that the disciplines and valuable insights are not lost in disorder. Another example of organization as a tool of integration is the common ground table that assists in placing each discipline in conjunction with each of the other disciplines used to find conflict and common ground between the two to assist with leveraging the insights and conflicts of said disciplines. Models, figures, and other various organizational layouts or tables can also be used to organize the information to make the integration of the disciplines more efficient as well as more readily understood by the reader.
Transformation is an integration technique most often used when concepts or assumptions of disciplines are opposite of each other. Transformation does not necessarily simply mean change, so much as it means the addition of a new and neutral term or variable that allows for a continuous line between two opposites. For example, environmental science may assume that more roads mean more cars and therein more pollution, while economists may assume that more roads mean more accessibility and therein more prosperity and herein a new variable can be created that weighs pollution vs. prosperity like a weighted line or a dimmer switch from dark to light. Using this technique allows many different contributors to pollution and also prosperity to be weighed along this line vs. being lumped in with either side of the contiguous line. Transformation like the other integrative techniques discussed here allows for the discussion to focus on the use of both/and vs. either/or for a vibrant discussion that includes insights from more than one discipline effectively.
Integrative techniques used for this project. For the purposes of this paper, there are at least three integrative techniques that were used. To start, the research itself was redefined as an interdisciplinary ride and each discipline was redefined as a stop during the trip in which a tour, or review, was made of the insights into public health, economics, and environmental studies. In this redefinition of the interdisciplinary research process as a ride and redefining the disciplines as stops on the journey, there was an allowance of organization to make the work more efficient and more easily read and understood by the reader taking the ride or trip to a brighter future, with the brighter future being the proposal to be expanded upon momentarily for the benefit of the future healthy, wealthy, and environmentally happy public transportation riders of the United States. In addition to the overall organization of the paper as an interdisciplinary ride, there were other organizational techniques used. The strategy or logic of order of the disciplines was provided soon after the purpose, to assist in evaluating the reasoning behind why one discipline would come before the other as a way to thoughtfully and logically organize the research. After researching and summarizing the insights of the various disciplines, a common ground table was created as another means of organizing the information to assist with the integration as it allowed for the ideas of each discipline to be conjoined or juxtaposed as needed to find common ground and flush out any conflicts. Prior to the conclusion there will be further examples of redefinition and organization, as the proposal for a well-planned public transportation policy is provided including figures, as well as the expansion of the Fractal Theory (Mandelbrot, 1983) to the planning of a public transportation system in the United States.
Implementation. During the research or ride through these disciplines, a few cognitive advancements or epiphanies lead to the formation of a solution to the issues surrounding a city not having a well-planned public transportation policy. It became apparent during the research that each person, each city, each state, and each piece of society as a whole has a potential of being healthier, wealthier, and its populace happier or in a better environment, the more it is able to connect with the larger world around itself as there are more
opportunities available to be such and that there is little if any potential to reach a brighter future that includes health, wealth, or happiness within an environment when any or each piece of society is closed off from the larger world around itself. It also became readily understood through the research that unlike other countries that are leading the world in public transportation and public transportation technology, the United States does not have an overarching or federal plan for mass or public transportation in the same way that those leading countries do and has not had a federally funded plan to interconnect people or places, much less states or exponentially growing cities, since the federally created plan in the 1950’s for its interstate system. The implementation requires a proposal for a federally planned and funded mass transit plan across the United States that utilizes rail across the states and then regional and local governments can connect metro rail and bus stops as well as local bike routes at the urban city level. The plan is simple and yet may not be realized due to current economic conditions in the United States. Therefore in lieu of making this proposal at a the local or even federal policy hearing or forum, it is best to start a grass roots discussion through blogs. The proposal will be placed in its entirety at the following blog to start: philosophyandtechnology.wordpress.com. The proposal consists of expanding Fractal Theory (Mandelbrot, 1983), as defined earlier to the Interstate system of the United States, so that it can be seen that the United States Interstate system on a large scale, looks much like the smaller scale version of North Texas Interstate and local highway map, which also looks much like the even smaller scale map of Arlington, Texas showing the local highways and local streets. Figure 1 shows an example of Fractural Theory with a computer image of the Mandelbrot Set on a large scale down to a small scale in four images (see Figure 1, Mandelbrot Set, 2011). Figure 2 depicts the interstate layout of the United States (see Figure 2, 2006). Figure 3 depicts the current Interstate and local highways of North Texas (see Figure 3, 2011). Figure 4 shows the local highways and the local street layout of a section of the City of Arlington in North Central Texas (see Figure 4, 2011). The pattern in each figure is similar in showing pathways mainly like a grid of interstates, highways, and/or local streets. Applying Fractal Theory, it can be seen that just like the interstate system can be broken down or fractured into smaller parts that are similar if not identical in pattern to the larger system, this construct or structured planning should allow for a federal interstate rail system to be planned alongside or in similar pattern to the current interstate system, perhaps even utilizing some railways already in place along the north to south and east to west rail line pathways with smaller and smaller branches that include metro rail lines and bus lines at the next level down, and metro, bus, and bike lanes at the most local or urban city level.
Conclusion
Touring each discipline’s stop for insights into the impacts of not having a well-planned public transportation system concludes at the destination of a brighter future for people in the United States urban cities by creating a plan based on expanding on Fractal Theory for what it could look like and what it would take to address the public health, economic, and environmental impacts fully in the United States. Furthermore, it is concluded that there is a plan to heighten awareness of the need for an overarching federal plan for public transportation, using a grass roots blog approach by posting the paper and the plan at philosophyandtechnology.wordpress.com (Vinson, 2011b). The plan could be acted upon much like was done in implementing the plan for a federally funded highway system in the United States and yet now 60 years or more later, it should be specifically geared towards mass transit systems that include rail across the state lines, with regional and local governments contributing to metro rail and bus lines, biking paths, and concurrently or eventually utilizing technology to evaluate the systems efficiency at the federal and perhaps local level. Additional economic and political studies should be conducted to identify how soon a federal plan could be implemented, identify federal and local funding. Additional work including engineering, socio-economic, ITS technology, construction, geological, and environmental studies would be needed to fully plan and implement a sustainable federal rail system. In summary, a well-planned and implemented federal rail system is an old idea of connecting the states via travel ways, and yet refashioned to use rail and mass transit versus individual vehicular transportation to meet the public’s desire for a trip that concludes in an urban society that is healthy, wealthy, and environmentally happy.
References
Planning The Trip
Demon, S. (2008). Compilation of issues and recommended solutions derived by participants of: Arlington Coming Together, Arlington, Texas, Site Problem Identification and Resolution of Issues Together[s1] (SPIRIT). U.S Department of Justice, Community Relations Service. August, 16, 2008, 1-23. Retrieved from http://www.arlingtontx.gov/articles/pdf/articles_cmo_ACT2008report.pdf
Rosenthal, E. (2011). Across Europe, irking drivers is urban policy. Retrieved from The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/science/earth/27traffic.html?pagewanted=all
Northridge, M. E., & Sclar, E. (2003). A joint urban planning and public health framework: contributions to health impact assessment. American Journal of Public Health, 93(1), 118-121. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Economics
Cetina, K., & Preda, A. (2001). The epistemization of economic transactions. Current Sociology, 49(4), 27. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Esbőrn-Hargens, S. (2005). Integral ecology: The what, who, and how of environmental phenomena. World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution, 61(3), 5-49. doi:10.1080/02604020590902344
Wight, I. (2005). Placemaking as applied integral ecology: Evolving an ecologically wise planning ethic. World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution, 61(3), 127-137. doi:10.1080/02604020590902407
Boix Mansilla, V. (2005). Assessing student work at interdisciplinary crossroads. Change, 37(1),
14-21.
Disciplinary Perspectives and Insights into Public Transportation
Public Health
WHO (2009). Global status report on road safety: time for action. Geneva. Retrieved from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241563840_eng.pdf
Dora, C. (2007). Health burden of urban transport: The technical challenge. Sadhana, 32(4), 285-292. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Morabia, A., Mirer, F. E., Amstislavski, T. M., Eisl, H. M., Werbe-Fuentes, J., Gorczynski, J., & Markowitz, S. B. (2010). Potential health impact of switching from car to public transportation when commuting to work. American Journal Of Public Health, 100(12), 2388-2391. doi:10.2105/AJPH. 2009.190132. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Knight, K. (2011). Federally qualified health centers minimize the impact of loss of frequency and independence of movement in older adult patients through access to transportation services. Journal of Aging Research[s2] , 1-6. doi:10.4061/2011/898672. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
City of Arlington (2011). Handitran. Retrieved from http://www.arlingtontx.gov/handitran/index.html
Click to access handitran_app.pdf
Economics
Garasky, S., Fletcher, C., & Jensen, H. H. (2006). Transiting to work: The role of private transportation for low-income households. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 40(1), 64-89. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6606.2006.00046.x. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Chien, S. Y., & Tsai, C. M. (2007). Optimization of fare structure and service frequency for maximum profitability of transit systems. Transportation Planning & Technology, 30(5), 477-500. doi:10.1080/03081060701599961. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Ezell, S. (2010). Bringing U.S. roads into the 21st century. Issues in Science & Technology, 26(4), 77-86. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Environmental Studies
Schwartz, B. S., Parker, C. L., Hess, J., & Frumkin, H. (2011). Public health and medicine in an age of energy scarcity: The case of petroleum. American Journal of Public Health, 101(9), 1560-1567. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2010.205187
Dewan, K., & Ahmad, I. (2007). Carpooling: A step to reduce congestion (A case study of Delhi). Engineering Letters, 14(1), 61-66.
Leyden, K. M., Goldberg, A., & Michelbach, P. (2011). Understanding the pursuit of happiness in ten major cities. Urban Affairs Review, 47(6), 861-888. doi:10.1177/1078087411403120
Additional Sources
Repko, A. (2008). Interdisciplinary research: Process and theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Common Ground
Vinson, S. (2011a). Common ground insights concerning the need for well planned public transportation system in urban cities [Table 1].
Table 1
Common Ground Insights Concerning the Need for a Well Planned[s3] Public Transportation System in Urban Cities (Vinson, 2011a).
|
Public Health
|
Economics
|
Environmental Studies
|
| Common Ground |
|
Public Health
and
Economics
|
Notably in the data provided by the WHO, is the statistic that the United States is listed as having the 3rd highest mortality rate in the world for traffic deaths just below India and China which does give an indication of where intervention could reduce traffic deaths at a global level. Economic authors also relate that these traffic accidents resulting in death increase the economic burden on the people affected by loss of a family member, funeral costs, vehicle repair, as well as the possible loss of the breadwinner of the family. Additional common ground between the disciplines is the increased cost incurred for health and auto expenses when a city lacks a public transportation option. |
Economics
and
Environmental Studies
While large industries thrive with greater access to roadway transportation, the environment suffers in regards to air quality. Businesses located near public transportation have a greater chance of attracting business as well as employee prospects. Cities that have local street vendors due to limitations of personal vehicles have lower crime and with access to local retailers there is a positive impact to the social environment.
Public Health
and
Environmental Studies
In cities that have not planned for substantial population growth, the environment deteriorates in regards to air quality and overall quality of life as well as the public health is impacted negatively. In cities that have a well planned public transportation system, the ecological as well as the social and health environment are positively influenced in creating a sustainable city.
Combined
Insights
The public health, economy, and overall environmental concerns for the future tend to overlap in such a way that if one is negatively impacted, so are the others, which could lead to a city that is not sustainable. Alternatively, if there are positive influences in the public health, economy, and/or the environment, there are positive impacts to the other areas of concern for any urban city. Planning for future population growth tends to create a positive impact and quite the opposite for cities that have not planned accordingly to include an efficient public transportation system.
Final Integration
Boix Mansilla, V. (2005). Assessing student work at interdisciplinary crossroads. Change, 37(1),
14-21.
Repko, A. (2008). Interdisciplinary research: Process and theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Additional Sources
Mandelbrot, Benoît B.; Freeman, W. H. (1983). The Fractal Geometry of Nature. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-1186-9.
Figure 1 (2011). Mandelbrot Set. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set
Figure 2 (2006). Map of Current Interstates. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_current_Interstates.svg
Figure 3 (2011). Map of North Central Texas. Retrieved from http://maps.yahoo.com/print?business=&location=Arlington%2C%20TX%20%2076010&lat=31.896214463351427&lon=-97.00927734375&width=&height=477px&zoom=6&radius=582274&start=1&count=&pm=location&highways=&tolls=&unit=&mvt=m&trf=0&tl=36.2354121683998%2C-112.412109375&br=27.342494467201017%2C-89.912109375&ml=32.73563%2C-97.107712&q1=Arlington%2C%20TX%20%2076010&q2=&startLat=32.73563&startLon=-97.107712
Figure 4 (2011). Map of Arlington, Texas. Retrieved from http://maps.yahoo.com/print?business=&location=Arlington%2C%20TX%20%2076010&lat=31.896214463351427&lon=-97.00927734375&width=&height=477px&zoom=6&radius=582274&start=1&count=&pm=location&highways=&tolls=&unit=&mvt=m&trf=0&tl=36.2354121683998%2C-112.412109375&br=27.342494467201017%2C-89.912109375&ml=32.73563%2C-97.107712&q1=Arlington%2C%20TX%20%2076010&q2=&startLat=32.73563&startLon=-97.107712
Figure 1 (2011). Mandelbrot Set.
Start. Mandelbrot set with continuously coloured environment.
Gap between the “head” and the “body”, also called the “seahorse valley”
On the left double-spirals; on the right “seahorses”
“Seahorse” upside down
Figure 2 (2006). Map of Current Interstates.
Figure 3 (2011). Partial Map of North Texas.
Figure 4 (2011). Map of Arlington, Texas.
Conclusion
Vinson, S. (2011b). An Interdisciplinary Ride Navigating Human History around the Globe
to Find the Junctions between Better Public Health, Economic Growth and
a Sustainable Environment to a Well-Planned Public Transportation System
That Will Help Answer the Question:
Are Many U.S. Cities, Like Arlington, Texas Missing the Trip to a Brighter Future?
Philosophy and Technology. To be posted after final edits to https://philosophyandtechnology.wordpress.com/
Posted in Thoughts
Paige Vinson
Philosophy & Technology Blog 
