I live in northeast Philadelphia, which is comprised of a handful of neighborhoods. The population recorded in 2010 was 528,810 people all in just the northeast part of the city of Philadelphia. This area has similarities and differences to downtown, historic Philadelphia. Both areas have buses, cars, sidewalks, trains, and bikers. Since Northeast Philadelphia is a little more suburban than downtown, I would say it could be best described as a streetcar suburb. You can access many stores, schools, and houses in each neighborhood by walking, but if you want to go to another neighborhood, you would need to use a bus or car. We have a bus system set up just like the CATA bus system on campus, and we also have trains and subway systems. Because of the economic situations in these areas, you do not need a car to survive because of the sidewalks, buses, and abundances of stores and resources in each neighborhood. In high school, I would either take a bus or drive because it was in a different neighborhood.  The transportation situation just depends on where you’re trying to go.

What I found that would help my neighborhood be more sustainable was the urban farming in Detroit, Michigan. Since my area has a lot of close homes with small yards, we have limited space for gardens and local produce. Just like in Detroit, we have a large population with little space to grow our own vegetables and food. It would be a good idea citywide to have rooftop gardens, or gardens in parks. The city has so many open lots that with a little work could be transformed into something beautiful and beneficial to the whole community. The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative promotes community involvement, education, and sustainability while also growing and providing a local solution to the food supply. It is also used to close the gap between different socioeconomic groups in the area. This would be good for my neighborhood because of the different financial backgrounds everyone comes from. My neighborhood is also culturally diverse. By creating an urban farming project, we could help unify the community.

Another city that I found interesting was Curitiba, Brazil. I found it interesting that their transportation relies on buses. In Philadelphia as a whole, we have around 1.5 million people. A lot of these people rely on our bus system. But, unlike Curitiba, we have trains as well. While our buses are fast and reliable, our train system is more effective in our city. We have implemented certain 24/7 bus and train routes which help our citizens travel in a quick and reliable matter. We could be more sustainable by not wasting a lot of money and energy on trains and subways and have more buses just like Curitiba. One way we could make buses our main transportation would be if we had more buses, more routes, and more reliable schedules. But, while this is more sustainably effective, it is unlikely in this area. Our population is used to using the trains to travel farther distances with cheaper and shorter rides, so unless our bus system improves, the city will not be as sustainable as the example given for Curitiba, Brazil.