Although I was born in Pakistan, I consider Easton, Pennsylvania to be my hometown, having lived there for a majority of my life. It is located in southeast Pennsylvania, adjacent to Phillipsburg, New Jersey. It has a lot of variety in terms of neighborhoods. I live in an automobile suburb area, where most people own and utilize their vehicles. Nearby though, downtown Easton consists of more pedestrians, but cars are no less popular there especially since people commute from Pennsylvania to New Jersey often. The population overall is 27,073. My favorite part about this city is its diversity of people, neighborhoods, and opportunities. This Lehigh Valley area (where Easton is located) is known for having the most colleges in the area. Easton is also easily accessible for any good or service, whether it is food, stores, jobs, and even a route to New Jersey and New York if someone is looking to explore.

First, I want to talk about Copenhagen where traffic calming is a norm. Their attempt to ensure that cars don’t interfere with people relates to Easton. It is rare in this city, but it could be a good way to attain more sustainability. Often, in Downtown, streets are closed down to cars for the sake of historical or social events. People choose to leave their cars and actually walk around instead, which lowers cars emissions but increases social interaction. It would probably be difficult to make the area completely pedestrian-oriented due to the passage of heavy traffic from and to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This does not mean that other areas in Easton cannot follow this idea, like near schools. For example, Easton Area High School is next to a sledding hill and many restaurants for students to visit during lunch breaks; this should be an incentive to reduce traffic.

The other city I choose is Rochester, New York. I found it very interesting that it was an example of automobile suburbs, and one of the signs of that was that there aren’t many sidewalks because people choose to use automobiles for transport. This made me realize that although Easton would be considered an automobile suburb, it has sidewalks, and other forms of transportation. In other words, it is not simply promoting a single type of commute. This is a good reminder for Easton though that it should indulge more in sidewalks, bike paths, and other transportation modes to access stores, schools, and jobs more easily. Still, I’m proud to say that Easton already has plenty of sidewalks and bike paths, but of course, it can always improve. It would actually be pretty easy too since many areas (like where I live) already have stores and such close by. As another way of lowering emissions, it can improve air quality and as a result, peoples’ health.