My hometown is Lancaster, PA, which is located in central Pennsylvania. Specifically I live in Manheim Township, which is just north of the city of Lancaster. It’s mainly an automobile suburban area until you get into the city. The traffic is mostly all cars, with a few parks in the area to walk around. Bike paths are also common in the parks and extend into suburban developments. Lancaster and the surrounding areas like Manheim Township house over 100,000 people. With all these people there is a lot of traffic in the city both as pedestrians and cars. Being able to call this my hometown is what brings me closer to the place. It’s a city and suburban area that are closely tied together. It does not have the large tall building feel to it but has just as much to see and do. Every first Friday the surrounding areas venture into the city to see live music and have a nice dinner. In that sense the city is very connected to the suburbs.
Copenhagen is not a terribly large city like New York or Tokyo, but it has a decent size. What is amazing about Copenhagen is its transportation like the module talks about. It’s a very clean and sustainable city that Lancaster could look up to as an example for their future in infrastructure. Lancaster has been looking for ways to change its mode of infrastructure more and I think bicycles are the way to do that. A thing as simple as a bike path can go a long way to improve the sustainability of a city. It’s not getting over the hump, but it’s a step closer.
Another way to become more sustainable is to eliminate import pollution and transportation costs. In Chicago, they have started this plan by improving their urban agriculture. Urban agriculture lessens pollution by selling fresh food that most people actually prefer to imported food. There are many more gardens than the one shown in the module in Chicago, and these are a start to improving the cities food. Lancaster, can take a similar approach by turning unused space into a garden or citizens growing products in their small backyards. Roof gardens are even becoming more popular and making places more environmentally sustainable. This would be a large step forward to sustainability.
Hello! My name is Karolina and the post to my blog:
http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/03/18/urban-planning-4/
Josh, I have to admit my understanding of the Lancaster area is a bit limited. I have heard that there is a large agricultural community near Lancaster. If true do you feel that pushing urban farming is practical or should the available space be used to develop more parks and recreational areas for the public. I love the idea of home grown gardens and homesteading but I am torn over how far it should be developed in areas with strong agricultural ties or Amish communities.
Hey Josh, I have read some of your posts in the past and this one has not failed to interest me like the others. Mannheim PA is similar to my Hometown accept geographically not near as main points of interest. This makes it interesting to see how the areas around your town directly affect it! I also feel your third paragraph poses a very strong possibility to become more sustainable as I feel their are great opportunities land wise to grow your own crops on a personal and even community level. Keep up the good work! you can check my post out at http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/03/18/urban-planning-i…ast-brunswick-nj/
Nicholas Fudali
Hi Joshua, my name is Brian Peck. It looks like while our hometowns are very different and in different states we share the same baseline idea for how they can change and become more sustainable!
It is interesting to take the information from this course and apply it to our hometowns to see how they are similar and different from the models used in the course. Bike paths and pedestrian only areas are such a great idea to keep not only the people safe but also to reduce pollution.
Like Chicago, Detroit is also utilizing urban agriculture to enhance their food supply. I think it is great how they can improve their situation and at the same time reduce their carbon footprint. Rooftop gardens and urban farming is something that should be pushed more for people to learn about.