- I live in Oyster Bay, New York, a small town on Long Island. I would categorize my town as a mix between a Streetcar Suburb and Automobile Suburb. Many people from my town commute to the city, in this case New York City, which is the metropolitan area, via car making it an automobile suburb. There are many people in residential and commercial areas roughly 300,000 people. However, there are many sidewalks in the neighborhood and houses are often walking distance from each other making it a streetcar suburb. I do not live in a neighborhood, I live on a block therefore I am located farther from my town’s services and have no sidewalks unlike those who do live in a neighborhood in my town. Many large facilities such as supermarkets, shopping centers, and offices are located in a distance from the town that a car is much needed. However, smaller shops such as nail salons and little boutiques are in walking distance. I moved to Oyster Bay when I was in 2nd grade so I made most of my childhood memories here and learned to love this place.
- The first place I am going to discuss is Bogota. Prohibiting cars to be used every Sunday and holiday can benefit my town’s safety and simply make my town more interesting. Especially in the summer or spring when the weather is nice many people go for runs, bike rides and other activities along the streets. Having no cars on certain days or even reducing speed limits will increase safety and decrease chaos. Having Ciclovis will also benefit my town by bringing the people together to have some fun by doing activities such as dances and aerobics. The problem however is getting people to agree with this event. Cars are used all day everyday to be efficient and manage time. For most people, if they found out cars were banned for a day they would not be happy.
- Detroit and the state of Michigan use urban farming to help sustain their living. This can benefit my town because Oyster Bay is a suburban town as well. In the video, the man is growing his own crops in his backyard. Although obtaining unlimited amounts of food in my town is an option unlike Detroit, the idea of urban farming, which is pesticide free and has lower costs, results in a healthier living. Using unused or affected land and turning it into a healthy farm to grow fresh produce not only helps the people of our community, but it also helps the environment. There are several places in my town that are suitable to transform into an urban farm in order to improve sustainability.
2 thoughts on “Module 7: Sustainable Living”
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Hi Samantha! My name is Sabrina and my link is http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/15/module-7-urban-planning-2/. I also wrote about Ciclovis in my blog post and did find it to be a very good idea for my town as well. I however, did not see the problems in this event, but you pointed out in a very clear way that it would cause a bit of a ruckus among the people of wherever this event is implemented. Although better for the environment I can see a lot of people finding it very frustrating not being able to get through the town in a car especially in an automobile suburb. It goes to show that reducing your ecological imprint and keeping sustainable living takes a whole lot more transition than most people expect.
Hello Samantha my name is Rachael and I thought your ideas were great for helping to protect the environment and make life a little more enjoyable for individuals. I never really thought of the idea of prohibiting driving on certain days such as Sundays and holidays, and I think it’s a great idea. It would definitely be more safe for people in the town and could give them the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. I also wrote about the benefits of starting a garden. I think it would be a great idea for you to bring up the idea of starting gardens in your town where there is open land to do so. I really enjoyed reading your post and hope that both you and your community finds new ways to improve the environment. If you want to check out my blog the link is http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/03/14/urban-planning-rachael-donnelly/