Los Gatos, Detroit, and Bogotá

I come from a smaller California town called Los Gatos. It’s situated in a sort of natural ‘bowl’ with hills on three sides. There is one highway that runs through the lowest part of the town, which makes the town a hybrid of a walking and automobile suburb. There are streets from downtown to the outlying residences, but most of the constituency lives close enough to the commercial district to walk. There is a nature reserve sanctioned by the town and recognized by the state in the surrounding hills, which contains biking and walking trails by which, if one so desires, one can reach the ocean. The town also facilitates a community event called Music in the Park, which brings in local and big-name entertainers to play in the closed-off main street plaza. And the local electricity provider offers incentives to switch to solar electricity. Solar electricity is big in Los Gatos because solar panels generate enough power that any household that utilizes solar energy sells that excess power back to the power company!

I really enjoyed the first look at Bogotá, Colombia with its Ciclovia. The Ciclovia in Bogota is similar to Music in the Park in Los Gatos in that street closures create a walking mall in part of the downtown area. Bogotá’s Ciclovia seemed more focused on physical activity, which I liked, but the difference that makes this difficult for Los Gatos to replicate is population size. Los Gatos is not so much focused on health through physical activity but togetherness and showcasing local (and on occasion big-name) talent for members of the community. Music in the Park also brings in vendors and local farmers to sell their goods in the walking mall, so people can walk, get lunch, listen to the music with each other, and get some exercise on top of it all. But maybe Los Gatos could make Music in the Park a bigger event by closing down more of the downtown area to vehicle traffic during the event. Maybe they could have two stages on separate sides of the plaza to encourage more physical activity.

I was surprised to learn of the urban agriculture movement in Detroit. The city of Detroit supporting itself by agriculturizing the abandoned parking lots that once supported its industry, I think there is a lot of beauty in that. Los Gatos has a farmer’s market every two weeks, but imports most of its food. The city has very little space available for its own farms, but some of the more environmentally conscious people in the town keep their own gardens and grow their own food. The high school in town has its own small garden too, but not enough food is grown there to make a big difference. Maybe Los Gatos could implement and Urban Farming Initiative like Detroit?

One thought on “Los Gatos, Detroit, and Bogotá

  1. Hey-
    My name is Maureen and I liked you blog for this week’s activity. Los Gatos sounds like such a beautiful town that already has a desirable sustainable development program. You must enjoy the fresh especially being not to far from the water. It’s nice how you related the Music in the Park to Bogota’s Ciclovia. I also talked about the Ciclovia on my blog. Like you, I too was quite surprised by the urban farming in Detroit. Importing food for the farmers market…I don’t think that it justifies being called a ‘farmers market’. Thoughts?

    Checkout my blog:
    http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/03/18/urban-planning-6/

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