My hometown is New Columbia, which is located in Union County in Pennsylvania. I live in a rural farming area, so for this post, I will focus on Lewisburg, PA, also in Union County and is where I go shopping and visit restaurants. Lewisburg is a small “college” city like State College, but smaller and with relatively little urban density. The area is mixed with automobile suburbs and a downtown urban area that offers town housing and a shopping/food places along the main street. Lewisburg is located along the Susquehanna River and used to be a central location for transportation by canal and train. The streets downtown are built for pedestrians by providing crosswalks and pedestrian crossing lights for locals and visitors. In 2013, the total population was 5,733 within the approximately one-and-a-half square miles (1). I am connected to this town because I grew up 10 minutes from its downtown area and have visited it often since I was young. When I go back home, I still visit the bookstore and ice cream shop.

Copenhagen is a great example of how social norms are transformed through urban infrastructure. Lewisburg increasingly encourages recreational bike use, but not as a means of commute transportation like Copenhagen. Lewisburg’s residential housing is located in accessible automobile suburbs, and bike lanes/trails are not connected to these areas. Lewisburg is making sustainable improvements through their Susquehanna GreenWay projects. The GreenWays “protect natural, cultural, and scenic resources and provide recreational benefits” (2). One “green” improvement is The Buffalo Valley Rail Trail, which is a 9-mile trail that joins Lewisburg to its neighboring town Mifflinburg. People can access this trail that is paved over an old railway for non-motor use. I ride my bike on this trail, and it is scenic as it goes straight through agricultural farming areas in the valley. Non-motorized transportation is popular in Lewisburg recreationally, but more accessibility to trails is needed so citizens can commute. Hopefully, GreenWay projects continue making sustainable improvements to the urban physical infrastructure to shape the social norms to a transit bike community.

Detroit’s urban agriculture captured my interest because I believe growing/buying food locally is one of the greatest improvements to make in sustainable living. Community farming can reduce transportation costs and improve the quality of the food people eat. I noticed that while farmland surrounds Lewisburg, people in small suburbs shop at large retailers and do not get produce from local farmers, even the local farmers market imports various items. As in Detroit, the connection to the farmer is lost. In the module, community gardens are highlighted as recreational activities and not the main source of food for a community. Lewisburg has one community garden that I am aware of, but I do know many people have urban gardens, which provide food for their family. Lewisburg can become more sustainable by setting up a system with local farmers to serve locally grown produce to the community; this is challenging because Walmart, Weis, and Giant are situated between housing and farmland. Increased farmer’s markets that are open multiple days during the week can improve the sustainability of locals food-print.