My hometown is Pittsburgh, Pa. Pittsburgh is located in the south-west part of Pennsylvania. In my opinion Pittsburgh fits into the urban downtown category. In the city there is sidewalks to be able to walk from place to place, mostly from parking garages to buildings for work. There is a mixture of different transportation into and out of the city offer, The T (subway), buses, and automobile. Pittsburgh is concerned the 2nd largest city in Pennsylvania, with an estimated population of 306,500 people. The metro area has an estimated population of 2.36 million. There are approximately 5,540 people per square mile (2,140/square kilometer). I am proud to say my hometown is Pittsburgh. The city is known world-wide for sports and steel making. Also, the city is known as the City of Bridges for a world-record 446 bridges. Furthermore, the city is known for its pride. The people of Pittsburgh will fill the streets for any parade (Christmas, sports or St. Patrick’s Day) without a care for the weather outside.
The first city from the module I think Pittsburgh could learn from is Copenhagen. Copenhagen is Denmark’s capital and cycling is a norm in the city. In Copenhagen, cycling started as a way to calm traffic and has been very successful. Pittsburgh has many bridges and tunnels in and out of the city that cause traffic at peak times. Pittsburgh has many highways that are not pedestrian friendly, or bike friendly. Currently, Pittsburgh has many places to rent bikes downtown and many different paved trails to ride on. However, many of the trails do not leave the greater downtown area. In Copenhagen there are car-free streets and slow-speed zones into order to make biking or walking safer and a friendly option to get from place to place. I believe making Pittsburgh more bike friendly would help the city become more sustainable.
The second city from the module I think Pittsburgh is similar to is Detroit. Detroit is located in the state of Michigan. The module briefly touched on the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative, and gave a link for more information. The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative wants to use urban farming to promote education, sustainability, and to empower urban communities. The organization is focused on making a large Community center, with an urban garden, retention pond, and many other resources to help the community. Pittsburgh has a similar non-profit organized called Grow Pittsburgh. Grow Pittsburgh has a similar mission to Michigan Urban Farming Initiative. Both organizations want to educated people about growing their own food. Grow Pittsburgh is focused on family gardens, and less about the community. I believe Pittsburgh could benefit from having a large community center with a garden and other resources in the heart of the city.
http://www.worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/pittsburgh-population/
http://www.growpittsburgh.org/
http://www.miufi.org/#!projects/c10d6
Hi, Katy! My name is Amanda and here is a link to my blog: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/14/module-7-amanda-giedroc/
In my blog, I talk about how the bus system in Curitiba and the urban farming in Detriot can be related to my hometown of State College, PA. I loved your blog post. Pittsburgh is one of my favorite cities to visit, and I did not know you could rent bikes downtown. My family always assumed we would travel downtown by car. I think it might be hard to make the bridges bike friendly. Maybe one lane of traffic could be dedicated to bike riders? Do you think dedicating one bridge to bike riders would be possible?
Currently, Bikes can use the walk ways on most bridges. However, taking away a lane for bikes only would cause more traffic and likely chaos. Here is the link to rent bikes in Pittsburgh http://www.bikepittsburgh.com/
Hi Katy! My name is Amanda and here is a link to my blog: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/14/module-7-amanda-giedroc/
In my blog, I talk about how the bus system in Curitiba and the urban farming in Detriot can be related to my hometown of State College, PA. I loved your blog post. Pittsburgh is one of my favorite cities to visit, and I did not know you could rent bikes downtown. My family always assumed we would travel downtown by car. I think it might be hard to make the bridges bike friendly though. Maybe one lane of traffic could be dedicated to bike riders? Do you think dedicating one bridge to bike riders would be possible?