My major is Urban and Regional Planning. I typically think about evolution in the sense that humans have evolved so much that they turned from cavemen to men, creating massive urban civilizations. I believe in terms of urban systems there is not much variability with how people operate – on a microsociological level, most people generally interact with their environments in similar ways. For example, studies have been done to show that one of the best methods for “traffic calming” is to create narrower streets with more streetscaping and building fronts nearer to the road. Vice versa, people drive faster along wide, open roads with many lanes, like the highway.
Throughout my studies in Urban Planning I rarely have thought about DNA or biological factors, but I have thought a lot about evolution and how it possibly has an effect on our instincts, our habits and reactions to the world around us. For example, I believe that human behavior is highly influenced by incentive, and I do not see a connection to biology, but I may be wrong. In my field we are constantly researching ways to incentivize people to do different things. Without bottle refunds, I doubt as many people would recycle their cans and bottles as they do. I believe people would live more sustainably if there were more monetary incentives attached to their actions. In Europe and other countries there are “environmental taxes” on things like gas to encourage people to use public transportation or active transportation like walking and biking. However here there are few incentives in place to encourage people to live healthier, more sustainably and conserve resources.
Truthfully, this week’s videos didn’t really help me think of my field in a new light, but I am hoping as I continue to mull over the material I will. I was reminded of myself with the genetic linkage though, because I am a red head with brown eyes.
One thing I am curious about is the claim, “diversity gives populations a wider range of options with which to adapt to new environments.” What are some examples of this outside of food, sensitivity to the sun and health? Does this mean some people are better suited for certain climates or levels of density (urban, rural, suburban, etc)? How much can we truly attribute to genetic diversity and how much is just individual attitude and preference. For example, I often think I am more sensitive to temperature because I am a red head and I have heard people say we have more sensitive pain receptors, so maybe this is somehow connected to temperature. Or it may just be that I am more picky/sensitive to it.
I also believe that in a much broader sense, evolution unites the sciences because science is a progressive field – we believe and accept that things change. Whether it be social norms, the environment, technology or genetics we have learned to adapt to ever changing landscapes.
Hello Carriane! Thank you for sharing some insight into your major field of study. It sounds like you have many interesting concepts in your field related to human social norms and the ways people interact with their environment. We often think of evolution as the way we as a species adapt to our environment to become more successful. From what I can tell about your major, it sounds like the goal is to evolve our environment to adapt to our lives instead of having it the other way around. Making things like public transport more available is definitely one way we as humans have altered our environment, at least in more urban centers. Instead of having to walk everywhere and utilize the bipedalism we developed through evolution, we can just hop on a bus or a train to take us there. I feel like now more than ever we see humanity changing its own environment more than the environment has been changing us.
One thing I find really fascinating as I’m reading this week’s blog posts is that almost everyone is studying change, and they can all relate it back to evolution. I read about someone who was studying political science and how systems of government have changed and influenced human interaction. I myself am studying history, and while history doesn’t change, the way we interpret it and talk about it does. Now, with urban planning, there’s the way in which humans change based on their environments. It’s not so much that now we can’t foresee how humans will interact with their surroundings around the world (humans are all fundamentally the same biologically, obviously), it’s how everything comes together and forms unique habitats. I like this connecting thread through the humanities and the sciences.