1. I live in a small town called Doylestown, Pennsylvania. It is located about 30 miles northeast of Philadelphia. The population of Doylestown is about 8,400 in the borough and 17,500 in the township. In the borough (downtown) of Doylestown, it would be considered a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood.  The houses are very close to together, there are shops and sidewalks for people to get to place to place.  There is a train station within walking distance, and city bus route. I live in the suburban (township) part of Doylestown that would be considered an automobile suburb. The houses are not close together, and generally people have an acre or two of land. There are no sidewalks for pedestrians, and to be honest walking along the main roads can be dangerous. We have to use an automobile to go shopping or to a place of work. When it comes to resident healthy, in the borough, where urban density is higher, you see people walking all the time. However in the township, you don’t see many people walking, however we do have about 5 gyms within a few mile radius and generally the gyms are packed. I love my community and I have lived here my entire life, so there is no surprise I have a very strong emotional connection to the area. I have grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins that live within 20 minutes of me. In addition, we are so close to so many great places to visit because we are 1 hour from Philadelphia, 2 hours from New York City and Baltimore, and only about 1 hour and 30 minutes from the beach.

2.The first city I selected to discuss is Copenhagen, which is the capital of Denmark. Cycling as a way of transportation has become the social norm in Copenhagen. Like my area, it can have snowy times of the year, but despite the weather, bikes have become a popular mode of transportation. They have transitioned areas to encourage biking and walking. They have lowered the speed of neighborhoods. Although, Doylestown is in no way as congested as Copenhagen, we still have some high traffic areas, and we have no bike routes.  We do have one main road that was recently built where the state did put a bike route and pedestrian path along side of it, so we are starting to think differently. Although it would take resources and modifications, we could become a more sustainable community if we encouraged biking as a way of transportation.  It would help not only help with pollution, but also encourage exercise and improve the health of our residents.

3.The second town I selected is Curitiba Brazil, which has one of the world’s best bus systems. As I mentioned above, Doylestown does have a bus system, but nothing compared to Curitiba. Doylestown does have a much smaller population and urban density is much lower, but I have to say we could use a better bus system, and encouragement to use them. Our buses run every 45 minutes, so you have to have a lot of patience, and if you miss the bus, you have to wait another 45 minutes for the next one to come. But honestly, I have never known anyone to even use the buses. In addition, we have very limited bus stops on each route.  I think if we had a bus system that ran more frequently, had more convent stops and the community encouraged it, it would develop a collection action, as more people would use the bus system. Less cars on the road would of course help reduce pollution, but also people walking to bus stops encourages exercise.