I currently live in Scranton Pennsylvania which is roughly located in northeastern PA. The particular area I live in wold be considered an automobile suburb. There are many houses around however, nothing too close as far as shops go. Although cars are not necessary, considering there are places around that sell small groceries or bus stops to take you further, they still beat walking or biking a few miles every time you need to go somewhere. That is the beauty of this area though, if you’re in the mood for a nice stroll down the street, there are still sidewalks and friendly neighbors to walk around with. Originally, I grew up in a much more rural area  more north with a population of around 700. I then moved to Scranton to be close to school moving to a population upwards of 75,000.

The first city I would like to discuss is Copenhagen. I focused a lot on how bicycling took over transportation in the city. Two years ago I took a trip to Copenhagen and witnessed the crazy amount of bicyclists for myself. Of course that was not the reason for going there. Cars were actually seen very seldom and the streets were packed with bikes in all direction on nearly every street. In addition, the week I was there, every person I came across was generally slim and in descent shape, which is no surprise considering everyone rides bicycles everywhere rain or shine. Bringing bicycles to Scranton, or even any city for that matter, would greatly decrease Co2 emissions produced from gasoline vehicles. In addition, it may begin to fight this countries obesity epidemic.

The second city I focused on was Detroit. It was quite amazing seeing the Youtube clip of how much the city has changed over the past 70 years. The video mentioned, it is reverting back to a rural standing opening more and more green zones from abandoned structures. People in Detroit starting using urban farming to utilize the green areas that have been opening up. Around Scranton I have noticed in certain areas there are many abandoned buildings and structures that are dilapidated and lots that are overgrown and unable to be used. If this city were to fund such projects to remove that debris then citizens here could begin to adopt urban farming bring both some farming and money into the city. Not only would hazardous material be removed but, healthy planting would be taking place resulting in healthier diets and cheaper organics.