1.I live in a small town called Athens, Pennsylvania. My family and I live about fifteen to twenty minutes outside of town on a small twenty-six acre farm. The population of my town is about 2300 people. My town is full of neighborhoods that have houses very close together and most places such as stores, churches, movie theaters, gas stations, and schools are walking distance away from each other. The urban density is pretty low, with buildings being three stories high at most. I on the other-hand have neighbors who live almost a half a mile away from me on each side. I am surrounded by fields and other family run farms. I have a great connection to the small town I grew up in. It’s a place where everyone knows everyone and good manners is practiced regularly. I love having a lot of land to do various activities on and there is beautiful scenery all around. Once you hop in a car you can go from seeing hay bails in a field one minute and the next thing you know you’re driving through one town to another all filled with neighborhoods.

2. The first city I chose was Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts which I could see being relevant to my town. The houses in Athens are not as close together as illustrated in the picture, but as mentioned in the article Beacon Hill’s main way of transportation is walking. The transportation mode in my town is mostly walking, especially when there’s warm weather. Since everything is so close together and gas prices aren’t cheap, townspeople definitely take advantage of the warm weather and walking. Athens includes many sidewalks to walk and bike on which makes it easy and desirable just like in Beacon Hill. My family on the other hand doesn’t have the option to walk unless we want to walk two hours in order to make it to town. In order to be more sustainable and be less of a threat to the environment my family and others around me could come up with a carpool system so not as many families need to make the twenty minute drive into town. Although town is far away I do enjoy taking runs and leisure walks during the summer because the scenic views are phenomenal.

3. The second city I chose was Chicago, Illinois relating to the concept on urban agriculture. Although my town would not be considered urban we still take part in a lot of gardening and recreational activities. A lot of families including my own in Athens have gardens in which various vegetables and fruits are grown. Also, a lot of farms in the area provide meat, milk, and other dairy products to local stores and markets which is sold to the local community. As mentioned in the article, gardening can help improve air quality and rainwater management in the town. The foods grown that have lower environmental impacts are often also healthier and tastier. Encouraging others to start their own gardens could make our town even more sustainable. This would also limit the number of times a family needs to drive to a local market to buy food, because it is growing in their back yard instead.