I am from the very small rural town of Montgomery, PA located about 15 minutes outside of Williamsport. It has approximately 1,500 people residing and located in north eastern PA.Because of how small the town is, there is a very close-knit downtown. This can be classified as pedestrian-orientation. There are plenty of sidewalks that lead from some of the most essential places in the town such as the grocery store to the library to the school, ect. Everything in our town is within walking distance of each other. Although Montgomery is pedestrian friendly, the majority of people still use automobiles even for very short distances. Walking is just not considered a norm in my town. I feel if more people realized that health, and environmental benefits of using walking as a means of transportation it would become much more common. We can look at other cities who do have walking as the primary means of getting around and observe the many benefits.

My first city I would like to discuss is Beacon Hill in MA which is adjacent to Boston. It is an extremely pedestrian-oriented. The module mentions that the people of this neighborhood are very wealthy and even though they own automobiles they often choose walking as a popular choice. This can relate to my town because unlike in Montgomery, it is a social norm in Beacon Hill to walk. Even though we have a small downtown in Montgomery with easily accessible sidewalks, many people still choose to drive their automobiles because walking just isn’t something many people do here. I think we can look at the town of Beacon Hill and see how overtime walking has become more of a social norm than driving. The people of my town too, can create this new healthier norm.

The second city I would like to discuss is Bogota, Columbia. This South American city practices walking as a social norm every Sunday and every holiday. Cars are not allowed on the streets. The streets are then used safely for people to walk, bike, and skate at their own free will. There are street performers, and all kinds of celebratory events held in the streets. I think this is a wonderful way to embrace the benefits of walking and to almost celebrate it in a way. Its a benefit to the people of Bogota’s health to be forced to walk everywhere at least once a week, and prevents the usage of automobiles which cause pollution. I feel this kind of festivity promotes walking as a social norm and the use of automobiles as a kind of second resort. I feel a lot of communities including mine can take note of this and physically see the benefits of creating walking as a social norm.