I am from a mid-size automobile suburb called Hatfield Township, 45 minutes north of Philadelphia. Hatfield has roughly 23,000 residents. There are sidewalks that line the entire down for people who exercise or walk their dog, as well as many bikers that ride around. Although many people use this as a source of exercise, to get from place to place it takes a lot of time to walk. The closest grocery store from my house is roughly four miles away. The high school that I attended covered 5 townships and boroughs and took me nearly 15 minutes to get there each morning. I graduated with 1,000 kids in my class so it takes a lot of time to travel throughout the school district. I have been living in Hatfield Township my entire life and I love it there and the sense of community the town has. Sometimes I do wish I lived in a smaller town my friends and I could ride our bikes to each other’s house or go out in the backyard and play football; instead, I have to drive nearly 20 minutes to meet in the middle of all of us.

The first city that I would like to compare my town to is Copenhagen. I think it is very interesting how they have changed the city from automobiles crowding the streets to become biker friendly. It is a great example how a social norm can be transformed with the help of city leaders. With new laws and biker lanes that are put in place allow the city to have a different perspective on the energy that they are saving and the healthy habits that come out of it. In my town, for the most part the only time I see someone riding their bike is to go out for a stroll to get exercise. Since my high school is so crowded, there would be a lot of traffic in the morning to get to school. Instead, if the school would have a lot of bike racks and encouraged kids to ride their bikes in the morning, there would be less traffic for those who live far away as well as a way to exercise early in the morning. This would also lead to a more sustainable practice by not burning fossil fuels into the environment, increasing the air quality of the atmosphere.

The second city that I would like to compare my town to is Venice, Italy. Although it is hard to make many comparisons because the city is surrounded by water whereas Hatfield Township is landlocked, I think their modes of transportation are very interesting. I went to Venice when I was younger to visit family members and I was amazed by the way they traveled to get to and from places. There were barely any cars on the street as many streets were filled with people walking right down the center of them. They also use boats to travel further distances, which is a good exercise as well as a sustainable method for the atmosphere. Hatfield cannot transform to being boater friendly but it can take note on how many people walk from place to place. The way the town is designed makes it impossible to walk everywhere, but having a state of mind to know that walking instead of using a car helps the environment allows us to take that opportunity any chance we have.