My hometown is the urban town of Shepherdstown, WV. Although the main part of my town has many shops and restaurants, there is one street that goes through the middle of these shops making it an automobile suburb. Everyone also uses cars on every other street around the town. The population of my town only consists of about 2000 people, but this can cause a small town to feel like a bustling city when everyone’s trying to get around and dodge the all the cars. I hope to live there when I’m older as everyone knows everyone else in the town and it’s like having a large, extended family. The elementary and middle school are close to the main part of town, and it was always fun to walk to the local bakery after school and hangout with my friends. I want my kids to have the same experiences I did where they can live in a town that’s close and safe.
The city of Bogota, Columbia reminds me of my hometown because on certain weekends my town will close the main street if there is a festival or farmers market. This would occur only one day of a month, and it reminded me how Bogota closes some of their streets every Sunday to allow the people to freely go through the streets without cars. On the few days where my town closes their street the town is working towards more sustainable development. If my town could consider closing the street to make it more pedestrian oriented at least a few more times during a month it would benefit the environment. My town could also designate certain days that would always be closed so everyone would know in advance and it wouldn’t be a problem.
One big part of my town is the farmers market it has every Sunday once it’s warm out. In order to provide food for the customers that go to the market some people in my town participate in urban agriculture, just like in Haiti. My friend’s mom made her own garden by making rectangular planters from recycled wood panels that weren’t being used anymore. Everything she does is very sustainable as she even has her own chickens that produce eggs, and rain barrels for rain water. That is the only water she will use to water the fruits and vegetables she grows. If more people in town increased their urban density and adopted this method we could completely live without going to the grocery store. There are already many suppliers at the farmers market, and with more and more people adding to the mix there would be plenty of food.
Hey I live in a small town as well, Blue Bell, Pa. My town has two main roads in it that are always busy and it looks like my town is more populated than it really is. I agree with you about Bogota and I wish my town could become more pedestrian oriented. My town also has farmers markets like you talk about from Haiti which is nice but generally the food is coming from places that aren’t in Blue Bell. It would definitely help it become more sustainable.
Here’s a link to my post: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/18/sustainable-cities-michael-celoni/
My name is Cody, here is a link to my post [http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/18/los-gatos-detroit-and-bogota/]
I really enjoy your personal connection to your hometown I felt from your post. Also, I too was fascinated by the Ciclovia in Bogotá and think that more towns and cities can take steps toward a similar event. I too come from a small sort of automobile suburb that experiences traffic jams occasionally. I think your idea about street closures is like the city of Copenhagen’s program to ‘take the city back.’