The first case study that I chose was based out of Singapore. I found this case study through the Colby-Sustainable Development link provided. This study focuses on trying to reduce traffic congestion which was causes reduced speeds and environmental problems. The government implemented a few tactics in attempts to alleviate this issue. They first increased taxes on buying cars along with anything that needed to be purchased to use the car. They then improved public transportation to try and encourage people to utilize it more. The roads in Singapore were also improved to be able to better accommodate the traffic. The final method that was implemented was to control the amount of people on the roads during certain times. People could not drive on certain roads during the times of 7:30-9:30 unless they paid a monthly or yearly fee to obtain a certain license to do so. This case study shows how too much development is negatively impacting Singapore and new development needs to be implemented to fix what has been done.

Here’s a link to the first case study: http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/air-sing.html 

The second case study that I chose was based out of Mexico City, Mexico. I found this case study on IDRC, the International Development Research Centre. This case study focuses on the ever increasing air pollution problem that is facing the city. The rapid increase in population and individual transportation is causing a surge in an already extremely polluted area. The pollutants in the air are causing the people of Mexico many different health problems that are causing respiratory issues and shorter lifespans. Air quality improvement projects are being implemented all over Mexico City. They are heavily relying on community involvement, they want to have the people of the communities be better informed on what they can do to positively impact the environment instead of blindly continuing to destroy it. This connects to the module because it is showing that development in Mexico is reducing health and quality of life.

Here’s a link to the second case study: http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Resources/Publications/Pages/ArticleDetails.aspx?PublicationID=567

I live in State College, we have free public transportation for students around campus and cheap public transportation for around state college. Having transportation readily available, decreases the needs for students to have a car at school. Although many people have their own cars here, they are not used as much if they are going to places around campus. Another system that is used for controlling traffic congestion that could be implemented in Singapore is the dot system that is on the roads as markers to show drivers how far apart they should be behind the car in front of them while they drive. I think that by implementing a system like this in Singapore, they would have less accidents and traffic would flow more smoothly. A major difference between where I live and the places that I read the case studies on was that pollution is not a major problem here like it is in Singapore and Mexico City.   Time matters because depending on when development is happening, population can make an enormous impact.