I live in Wyckoff, New Jersey. Wyckoff is located in the northern part of New Jersey, and it is only about a 30-minute drive from New York City. There are about 17,000 people who live in my town, and most of them are families. Since most of my town’s population is made up of families, the most prominent type of houses are single-family homes. There are only a few sidewalks in my town, so it is definitely an automobile suburb. You need to drive in order to get almost anywhere, including New York City. There is a main road that runs through the town called Wyckoff Ave, and any kind of store or restaurant you will need is on that road, which is very nice luxury to have. I think my town is in a perfect location. It is a suburb so it is not as crowded or as a busy as a big city, but we are close enough to New York City so we can still get a taste of the city when we want to.
The first city I want to talk about is Beacon Hill and Boston. This area is designed to promote walking, even though it is an urban area. I wish my town was made more like this, so more people could walk to get to their destinations. Right now there are not many sidewalks in my town, and it is very dangerous to walk on the side of busy roads. If more sidewalks were built in my town, then people would be able to walk more, and that would reduce the amount of cars on the road. With less people driving, my town would become more sustainable. My neighborhood too is a pretty wealthy area, where most people can afford cars, so currently everyone drives to get everywhere in my town. The addition of only a few new sidewalks would help dramatically.
The second city I want to talk about is Curitiba Brazil. Curitiba has an excellent bus system, and that is the main form of transport in that city. There are not as many people living in my town as Curitiba, however a better bus system in my town would still help make us more sustainable. Right now there are a few busses that go into my town, but they are very few and far between and usually only bring people to New York City. If there were more busses in my town, and they brought people to more locations, my town would be more sustainable because less people would be driving. I believe my town has enough roads, and they could fit busses on them, so the only thing needed is the busses themselves. This seems like a pretty simple thing to accomplish, and would make sense for everybody. I am going to look into seeing who I need to talk to in order to get more bus lines running through my town.
Hello Christopher! My name is Julie, and I am a Sophomore at Penn State Worthington Scranton. My hometown, Dunmore, PA, is an automobile suburb just like your hometown because people mainly drive cars to get to places. In my blog, I compared Dunmore to Boston, MA (just like you did) and Rochester, NY in the sense that I felt that my area should be more like Beacon Hill, and that non-motorized transportation should be encouraged due to its many benefits. My town does not have a very good bus system either, so I agree that a bus system like Curitiba’s would make our towns more sustainable, since there would be less cars on the road. Here is a link to my post! http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/17/urban-planning-julie-cardillo/
Hi Christopher, my name is Shelby Epstein and I am from Doylestown, PA! Here is a link to my blog if you want to look at it! https://wp.me/p3RCAy-cha Both your hometown and mine are automobile neighborhoods! We both connected our hometowns to Beacon Hill since that is a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood and creates less impacts on the environment since there are barely any car emissions. Unlike your hometown, my hometown has busses that drive from town to town like Curitiba Brazil! Busses definitely lessens the amount of cars on the road but also takes longer to get from place to place. Some people may just fall back on driving cars since the time it takes for busses to transport around is more than driving themselves! Overall, you did a great job!!