My town is Huntingdon Valley, located in Pennsylvania, about a twenty minute car ride into the city of Philadelphia. It is mainly an automobile suburb, however there tends to be a good amount of pedestrians in both the residential zones and commercial area where the stores are located. About 21,400 people, as of 2014, live in Huntingdon Valley. The metropolitan area of my town would be considered to be Philadelphia, because it is the closest city. Its population is about 1.6 million, as of 2013. I grew up in Huntingdon Valley, so I have been accustomed my entire life to an automobile suburb, and the logistics of having to drive places. However, my grandma lives right in Philadelphia, so by spending time with her there, I have experienced how life in the city differs in that it is more convenient to walk or bike everywhere.

The first city I will discuss from this module is Rochester, New York. There are a variety of types of neighborhoods in Rochester, however I have chosen to focus on an automobile suburb as shown on the module, because it relates to my neighborhood. As I discussed in the question before, people in a neighborhood like mine rely heavily on cars to transport to places like work, school, and stores. As discussed in the section concerning Urban Design and Transport, one problem with this type of community is resident health, because those driving cars do not walk or bike as much as those in cities because they need to depend on their cars to get places. An important aspect of sustainability would be to promote resident health by the incorporation of more trails and parks in suburbs, which is definitely happening and already reaping benefits in my hometown.

The next city I have chosen to focus on is Bogota, Colombia, one that I can compare to Philadelphia, PA. A huge project in sustainable development that Bogota, Colombia has taken up is weekly car-free events, which they call Ciclovias. During these events, cars are restricted, and even forbidden, to drive on the streets. This encourages walking, biking, and other forms of exercise for transportation. The benefits of this are substantial: people get exercise, it lifts the spirits of many people, and most significantly, it is wonderful for the environment because of the reduction in harmful car emissions. Apparently, this type of event is spreading across the world, but Bogota holds the largest one. Because this city is so similar to Philadelphia regarding the amount of people and traffic, I would be curious to see how an event like this would go over in Philadelphia. It would definitely benefit both the people and especially the environment, but logistically it might hinder a lot of people in their travels.