Post 7

Since my township was too small, we went to a combined high school of a small town about 3 towns over. (I hope it’s ok to combine these two towns for the sake of this lesson.) I grew up in a small automobile suburb of Branchburg, New Jersey. We had all different types of neighborhoods, from (suburban) mansions to well kept trailer parks. The town we shared high schools with had a small, walkable down town area with a slightly higher urban density as an older automobile-suburb town. The towns were both basically known as our ‘hometown’ considering how much time I spent in the town in high school. Branchburg was a larger township with about 14,566 (c. the 2000 census), Somerville’s denser population was at 12,171 in 2013. Both towns have a few populated high ways splitting them right in half-making having a car essential to get anywhere in Branchburg. (I was pretty bored until I got my drivers license..) Most areas in Somerville allowed people walk to downtown.

There was a small street in the downtown area of Somerville much like the one in Copenhagen where they closed down the street for more walking and activities. In warmer weather, they often have nightly music entertainment. People from surrounding towns, mostly Branchburg and Somerville, would come and sit at an outdoor restaurant or seating area while kids could run around or go get ice cream. It was a recent transition but it has really started to bring some more life to the small towns. The restaurants and shops get more business during the events, which means more for the local economy. It also gets people out and walking and interacting with others, when it’s so easy for ‘suburbians’ to just go home and watch TV all night. On a personal note, my dads classic rock band (yes, a kick-butt dad band) played and it was nice to be able to bring my friends to see him as well as interact with them and get some fresh air on a beautiful summer night!

While Somerville is similar to the picture shown of Jamaica Plain, Boston, Branchburg has a few neighborhoods similar to Rochester, NY. Luckily, my neighborhood had side walks so I could see moms walking their dog, or the local cross country star who lived the neighborhood over sprint by at least 3 times a day. Although, like I mentioned, there was a high way going straight through my town, making the car only suitable transportation, people still found ways to get out and exercise. There is a lot of farmland in and around Branchburg that is not being used for local farming. I think the town could really use a nice local farmers market. Families with large backyards could also take advantage of their lands to make a small garden.

2 thoughts on “Post 7

  1. HI! I’m Shanda. Here’s a link to my blog ! https://wp.me/p3RCAy-c6c
    I really thought your post was interesting because your city is unlike mine and does not resemble anything that I am used to. In my city, the wealthier neighborhoods are separate from the poorer neighborhoods, but i think that it is awesome that you live in a place that has various of different kinds of people living in one neighborhood. I wish my city was more mixed like that! Also, I think it’s pretty awesome that your dad is in a rock band!!!!!! 🙂

  2. Hi,

    I think that the last paragraph of your blog really interested me because it sort of reminded me about other towns surrounding mine. When there is a large highway running through the middle of the town it makes it hard to have a sustainable environment. But, a lot of the time people are optimistic and find out ways to exercise, and not use cars to be more environmentally friendly. Great post, and here is the link to my blog if you are interested: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/15/making-my-city-sustainable/

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