I am from a small town called Sunbury, located in central Pennsylvania. Sunbury is about an hour and a half away from State College, and about an hour away from Harrisburg. The downtown area of Sunbury is essentially one street, appropriately called Market Street. Sunbury is a relatively small community of about 10,000 people all within about 2.5 square miles. Since it is so small, a lot of people choose to walk instead of drive, especially during spring and summer months. I have lived there my entire pre-college life, and have a lot of fond memories. I waited a year to get my driver’s license because I didn’t feel the need for it. I was easily able to walk to and from school, or to any of my friends houses. Most people felt the same way and you could easily run in to people you knew while just walking around.

One of the cities discussed in the module that relates to my city is Copenhagen. Both Copenhagen and Sunbury have made significant modifications to the city in order to promote walking and biking. Like Copenhagen, Sunbury has created new and beautiful walkways along the Susquehanna River that extends the entire length of the city, as well as reducing and eliminating lanes of traffic in order to build bike paths. These additions have definitely calmed the traffic in those areas, but not to the extent that Copenhagen has.

Another city that resembles Sunbury is the Jamaica Plain in Boston. The Jamaica Plain is a streetcar suburb, which can also describe most areas of Sunbury. While some people have their own driveways or garages, most people park along the street. The streets in Sunbury are large enough to accomodate this, as well as bike paths, and sidewalks. Even though Sunbury is not very big, it makes good use of its land by having houses close to one and another along very large streets. There is no bus like in the Jamaica Plain though, since most people walk, drive, or bike to where they need to go. It does have trains that travel through the main parts of town however, as well as two train stations.

I live in northeast Philadelphia, which is comprised of a handful of neighborhoods. The population recorded in 2010 was 528,810 people all in just the northeast part of the city of Philadelphia. This area has similarities and differences to downtown, historic Philadelphia. Both areas have buses, cars, sidewalks, trains, and bikers. Since Northeast Philadelphia is a little more suburban than downtown, I would say it could be best described as a streetcar suburb. You can access many stores, schools, and houses in each neighborhood by walking, but if you want to go to another neighborhood, you would need to use a bus or car. We have a bus system set up just like the CATA bus system on campus, and we also have trains and subway systems. Because of the economic situations in these areas, you do not need a car to survive because of the sidewalks, buses, and abundances of stores and resources in each neighborhood. In high school, I would either take a bus or drive because it was in a different neighborhood.  The transportation situation just depends on where you’re trying to go.

What I found that would help my neighborhood be more sustainable was the urban farming in Detroit, Michigan. Since my area has a lot of close homes with small yards, we have limited space for gardens and local produce. Just like in Detroit, we have a large population with little space to grow our own vegetables and food. It would be a good idea citywide to have rooftop gardens, or gardens in parks. The city has so many open lots that with a little work could be transformed into something beautiful and beneficial to the whole community. The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative promotes community involvement, education, and sustainability while also growing and providing a local solution to the food supply. It is also used to close the gap between different socioeconomic groups in the area. This would be good for my neighborhood because of the different financial backgrounds everyone comes from. My neighborhood is also culturally diverse. By creating an urban farming project, we could help unify the community.

Another city that I found interesting was Curitiba, Brazil. I found it interesting that their transportation relies on buses. In Philadelphia as a whole, we have around 1.5 million people. A lot of these people rely on our bus system. But, unlike Curitiba, we have trains as well. While our buses are fast and reliable, our train system is more effective in our city. We have implemented certain 24/7 bus and train routes which help our citizens travel in a quick and reliable matter. We could be more sustainable by not wasting a lot of money and energy on trains and subways and have more buses just like Curitiba. One way we could make buses our main transportation would be if we had more buses, more routes, and more reliable schedules. But, while this is more sustainably effective, it is unlikely in this area. Our population is used to using the trains to travel farther distances with cheaper and shorter rides, so unless our bus system improves, the city will not be as sustainable as the example given for Curitiba, Brazil.

I live in Bucks County, PA, more specially, in Newtown Township. Newtown is an automobile suburb with a population of 19,299 and a population density of 1,522.6 / sq m according to the 2010 census. There is no public transportation in my town so unless you live right in the center of town, which is quite small, you have to have a car to get around. I do like the location of where I live because it is driving distance to many places. The beach is about an hour drive, New York City is about two hours and Philadelphia is a little less than an hour. I have lived in Newtown since I was five and although sometimes I do wish I lived in an area with more options for entertainment, I do like the small town feel that I have there. I like having access to other major cities that are so close but still be able to have the benefits of living in a small town.

The first city from the module that I want to discuss is Boston, MA. I have been to Boston many times and love how pedestrian oriented it is. I would so much rather walk than bike or drive to where I need to go if it is not a ridiculous distance away because I enjoy taking in the scenery and enjoying where I am. Boston is one of those places that allows me to do this. Comparing Beacon Hill to my hometown, Newtown, there are many strategies that could be taken from Boston and implemented in Newtown. I think that it would be incredibly helpful if the streets into town were pedestrian accessible, unlike now where there are no sidewalks and the roads can be quite dangerous to walk on. Also implementing something like Jamaican Plain, with the rail system would be incredibly beneficial for my town.

The second city from the module that I want to discuss is Copenhagen, Denmark. I have had the pleasure of visiting Copenhagen for a day and was surprised at the lack of cars on the road and the large amount of bikers everywhere. I arrived in Copenhagen by car from Hamburg, Germany and felt out of place with the obvious lack of cars. After walking around for only a short time, I realized why barely anyone was using cars, they did not need to. Copenhagen made it incredibly easy to walk or bike around the city that it is disadvantage to explore by car. There are places that cars cannot drive as well as reduced speed areas. By making driving an inconvenience for people, car usage is reduced. Although it may be difficult to implement no driving areas in Newtown, the idea of reduced speed throughout the main town is a great idea that I think will deter people from driving through town because it will be faster to drive around it, which reduce the amount of traffic through town. 

I’m from Syracuse, New York. Depending on what kind of “New Yorker” you ask, Syracuse is considered Upstate. It’s about 4 hours from Manhattan, close to Buffalo and Rochester, NY. Syracuse is definitely an automobile suburb, as majority of people use cars or the bus services to get from place to place. According to the U.S. census, in 2014, the population of Syracuse, NY is estimated to be about 144,263 people. Syracuse isn’t huge but it has a lot of businesses and companies within it, which opens doors for a lot of job opportunities to its residents, along with residents in surrounding areas. If you live in the heart of downtown in Syracuse, walking to get to places is pretty convient, as there’s restaurants, convient stores and apartments almost on every block. If you love in the section of the city where I do though, everything is still within about a 5-10 mile radius but you drive to get to said places.

A city I choose from the module, is New York City. I choose this city because even though it’s part of New York, which is the state I live in, our cities differ in many ways. In NYC, many people live in very tall apartment buildings or tightly packed town homes. As mentioned in the module, higher density can be achieved via taller buildings and narrower streets, therefore pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods, which NYC is, has high density and Syracuse, where I live, which is an automobile suburb, has a lower density. Also as mentioned, transportation is, very fundamental to the proper functioning of a city, therefor a city is more likely to succeed when people can get around town easily, quickly, inexpensively, and safely. New York has many public transportation options including buses and trains that operate frequently and conveniently. When homes and businesses are close together, it reduces the distances required for transportation and makes it easier to walk or bike from place to place. It can also help certain types of businesses.

The other city I found interesting from the module was Bogotá, Colombia. I found this city intriguing because they have Ciclovia, which is when they shut down 75 miles of streets to make them car-free. Thinking about an event like this happening in Syracuse or even NYC, seems nearly impossible. As mentioned in the module, the health of people living in cities is affected by many factors and one of those factors is the amount of exercise that the residents get. When we drive everywhere, like in an automobile suburb where I live, we don’t get any exercise unless we go out of our way for it, like driving to the gym. When residents walk and bike everywhere, like in a pedestrian-orientated neighborhood such as  Bogotá, they get a lot of exercise just by simply getting around town. So as the module suggested, there should be no surprise that people who live in pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods and streetcar suburbs are on average healthier than people who live in automobile suburbs, such as myself. I also found it interesting that promoting resident health is another reason people may favor high-density, mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented development. I think I could definitely live in a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood such as Bogotá.

1. My hometown is Leesburg, Virginia. It is about 33 miles west-northwest of Washington DC and is home to about 48,000 people. Leesburg is a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood founded in 1730. I have lived in Leesburg for the past 4 years and it is very family friendly. In Leesburg we have an old courthouse, some antique shops, bars with live entertainment and restaurants surrounded by cobble stone. Leesburg is located in, Loudoun County, the richest county in the United States and though many people drive places it is not considered an automobile suburb. On the weekends, especially during the summer you will see families and kids walking around all round town. This includes even walking and staying up after dark. I love Leesburg. It appeals to people of all ages and even though I have only been living there for four years it is a place I consider to be my home.

2. Where I live it can be compared to the town called Beacon hill in the module 7 reading. According to the reading Beacon hill is a hip lively town filled with very wealthy residents and many attractions. Leesburg is very similar as buildings resemble the those in the city, brick buildings, cobble stone ally ways and the buildings are squeezed together side by side. The atmosphere on the weekends is much like that of a City as well. There are live bands that play not only at the bars but on the “Green” for families and kids. Walking is common in Leesburg, however there’s still a use of automobiles as a source of transportation. Though both towns are alike, there are some things that Beacon Hill offers that could make my town more sustainable. If Leesburg made walking more accessible to its residents, we could cut down on pollution. This making Leesburg more sustainable for the future and a better way for pedestrians to interact with each other.

3. The second city I chose from this module was Copenhagen. This module mentions the importance and consideration that many people in Copenhagen have for cyclists. Leesburg is also home to many cyclists. To get to my house downtown we have to go through the back roads, as in roads that have twists and turns and have many hills. Its about a mile long and during the summer you will see hundreds of cyclists riding on them. The only problem with this is that we do not have bike lanes and many Leesburg residents are not considerate of these cyclists. The back roads are so narrow and hilly that those who drive are not able to pass them as it is very dangerous. Therefore, creating a major traffic jam and potential accidents. As stated in the module I think Leesburg could benefit from Copenhagen’s traffic calming program. My town does consider cyclists as pedestrians, if were were to immerse this idea into the residents of the town I think there would be a lot less traffic and pollution.

I’m from Robinson, which is about 10 miles from the city of Pittsburgh. This area is an automobile suburb. The area consists of mainly family homes and some small businesses. People use their cars the get to school, work, and stores. The only place within walking distance is your neighbor’s house. A census done in 2013, reported that 13,354 people were living in the area. The population density is around 890/ sq. mile. The community may be relatively small, but being close to a big city gives it assets associated with living in the city. We have a local bus system, but it’s very inefficient and people only use it if they have to. I enjoy living in Robinson it’s a quiet, safe neighborhood, where parents can enjoy raising a family. I wouldn’t consider my neighborhood sustainable, but it has other advantages.

The first city I will be talking about is Rochester, New York. I chose this city because it’s your stereotypical family neighborhood. Everything such as grocery stores, work, shopping malls, and schools require you to drive to and from. This neighborhood has a low population density like the one I live in. Also, like my neighborhood there aren’t many sidewalks because we rely on cars to transport us. This causes problems for public transportation because everyone is so spaced out. More routes and stops are needed to take people to their destination, which in term is almost impracticable. As we learned in the module population density has a significant effect on the pollution from that city. Insights from this city could help my town become more sustainable by building more apartments and taller buildings, increasing the population density. This will then reduce our environmental impact. Robinson contains a lot of abandoned buildings which could be remolded into green buildings. This change could improve environmental standards making up for the overuse of automobiles.

The next city I chose was Bogota, Columbia which is an automobile based town like mine. In Bogota they shut down 75 miles of streets for people to do activities such as biking, dance, and aerobics. Shutting down the streets is a great idea for my community. Car-free streets would allow people to exercise and have events like Ciclovia. This also would promote other modes of transportation such as walking, or biking. In the module we talked about how pedestrian neighborhoods are overall healthier because of the exercise they receive from going places. Shutting down the streets in my town would allow people to feel safe to walk, while maybe participating in neighborhood activities such as kickball. Stopping traffic would also lead to less pollution from cars decreasing our town’s environmental impact. This would be a great way for people to come together and get fresh air.

1. I live in East Stroudsburg, PA, located in northeastern PA. The East Stroudsburg metropolitan area has 54316 people according to the 2010 US Census. Many locals work in New York City. East Stroudsburg is an automobile suburb. Even to go to the local grocery store we use car. Going to a neighbor’s house is just about the only thing we use walking for. On my street, urban density is low. In a 1000-foot portion of street there are only 7 houses. However we do have buses. There are bus lines that go to New York City. It is a popular recreational destination. Air quality is good.
2. Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA: East Stroudsburg might consider adding sidewalks for walking and biking. It might also consider building houses close to bus lines to New York City.
3. Detroit, MI: Crops could be grown on local farms and sold at a farmer’s market. This farmer’s market could be combined with other buildings to reduce environmental impact of buildings.

I’m from Pine Township, which is a suburb about twenty minutes outside of Pittsburgh.  The neighborhoods are spread out and consist mainly of single family homes.  A car is required as there is no downtown and shopping must be done at strip malls.  There is also little public transportation.  After reading the module I would classify it as an automobile suburb.  The township has a total population of 11,497 people according to the 2010 census and is located in Allegheny County.  The community might be small, but being part of Allegheny County gives Pine residents access to most things associated with larger cities.  Many parents work in Pittsburgh, as does my dad.  I lived in the same house in Pine Township my entire life and enjoyed growing up there.  I was lucky to have safe neighborhoods with wide open spaces to play in.  I realize that the automobile suburb is not very sustainable, but I do recognize the advantages it has for raising a family.

The first city I chose to examine was Rochester, NY.  This is the most similar neighborhood to Pine Township.  Rochester and Pine are both automobile suburbs located on the outer edges major metropolitan areas.  I think that both of these neighborhoods have sustainability problems that are complicated and hard to address.  The distances to shopping areas makes it nearly impossible to live in the area without a car.  Another problem is the lack of population density.  The fact that the population is not concentrated makes public transportation unviable.  Despite these problems, there are ways to improve the sustainability of Pine Township.  One of the main ways is by changing the mixture of old and new developments.  I’ve already witnessed this as Pine now has two mixed use developments consisting of townhomes and shops intermingled.  This decreases the need for a car and encourages walking.  Another way to improve the sustainability is for the township to enact policies that encourage new and old construction to meet higher environmental standards that offset the heavy reliance on automobiles.

The Jamaica Plain neighborhood is Boston has a few similarities to Pine Township.  This leads me to believe that Pine could borrow some of Jamaica Plain’s features to become more sustainable.  Jamaica Plain and Pine are both suburbs, albeit different types.  Pine Township is growing and has had population growth of 47.4% since 2000.  This means that the population density is increasing, leading me to believe that public transportation could become viable.  Jamaica Plains has a higher population density, but if Pine continues to grow, it could borrow aspects from their streetcar model.  As I previously mentioned, Pine is increasing the amount of mixed use developments and these would be great places to locate bus stops.  It will never be possible for everyone to walk to these stops, but a large portion of the population would be able to.  Also, many people work in Pittsburgh and commute daily.  Currently there is no train line servicing the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh.  In the future bus lines could transport commuters to the train, which would increase the townships sustainability.

I’m from an automobile suburb type town in York, PA. with a population of 45,000. It has some pedestrian qualities, as students in the York City School District must walk or ride a bike to school because there aren’t any school buses. The vast majority of transportation occurs via car though. The city lacks density, and you’d struggle to find a building taller than 7-8 stories in the whole city. It’s not an overly large city, so it would be possible to walk from one side of town to the other, but it would certainly not be convenient to do so, and people usually revert to driving to their destination. There are few bikes on the streets because parked cars lined up on either side of the road constrict the roadways, making it hard to navigate via bicycle.

The second city that I’m going to focus on is Copenhagen. I love how Copenhagen’s shift from automobiles to pedestrian and bicycle traffic has revolutionized the city. It has improved the safety of transportation by eliminating fast moving cars and trucks from its roads, and has boosted businesses. I think that this type of development would be beneficial to York City because it would make the city more accessible, reduce traffic, and lessen it’s environmental impact. It wouldn’t be overly difficult to make this change. First we could start by building parking garages to minimize the numbers of cars parked along the side of the road. We could then replace the parking spots alongside the road with bike lanes similar to that of Copenhagen as we saw in module 4. Overall this would likely improve the speed of transportation in the city and greatly improve its well being.

The third city that I’m going to focus on is Detroit. I like how Detroit is working to utilize free space by installing community gardens and other urban agriculture. This is a great way to get fresh food into the hands of the city’s people at a reasonable price, and little negative impact on the environment. Not only does it improve the people’s diet, but it also helps on the emotional and social side by allowing them to be in touch with their food, and spend time with members of their community. York county is mostly rural with York City in the middle, so space to grow crops isn’t necessarily the cities biggest concern from an agricultural standpoint. However, the sense of community bonding and social interaction associated with these types of gardens could still be improved by a community garden. It wouldn’t be out of necessity, but it could certainly be a very beneficial addition to York’s community.

One of the things I am least fond of in my hometown, Hagerstown, Maryland, is its level of sustainable development. Hagerstown is largely a city that was thrown together without any planning going into it. It has grown into a pseudo-pedestrian-oriented city, where many people walk and bike, but most people still have cars. This is not a good system because the city could have been guided through its growth to be a purely pedestrian-oriented city. Recent developments have caused the city to grow in this respect, however: Sidewalks have been repaved with red brink in an appealing pattern, bike lanes have been added (though some people in cars like to run the cyclists off of the road), and shops are often within close proximity to each other. Despite the growth, cars still dominate the streets because of the late implementation of these developments.

I think the best example for my hometown is the Cuban Revolution. This kind of development would be very positively impactful on my hometown. Cuba had issues with a lack of money and a lack of production causing an inability to feed its people. Manpower was not difficult to find, however, so people could work on local agricultural systems to help increase the cities total food output. This idea started a revolution causing Cuba to be a highly self sufficient country. Hagerstown is not so different from this previous state of Cuba discussed in this module. Hagerstown has many unemployed citizens (downtown Hagerstown has as much as 12% unemployment in regions); naturally with all of this unemployment, the poverty level is high. Locally growing produce would fix both of these issues simultaneously (among many other issues such as the high crime rate which could be reduced by giving people jobs).

Though much of downtown Hagerstown has adequate ability for pedestrians to do anything they need to do by foot, I would like to see Hagerstown model itself more after Beacon Hill, Boston. Beacon hill was intelligently designed in a way that inspires people to not own cars. As the module says, people in Beacon Hill are wealthy enough to own cars, but do not because walking is the more attractive method of transportation. I would like to see Hagerstown structure itself such that walking is attractive. Hagerstown could largely achieve this with a few produce markets downtown. This would allow the citizens to walk to get food and the city to eliminate roads and parking spaces, leaving more room for things like vegetation (you can see the plants lining the walkways of Beacon Hill, increasing the attractiveness of the city).

My hometown is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh is the 2^nd largest city in Pennsylvania, with a population of about 305,000. I live in the South Side of the city, which can be reached through a number of bridges that are used to gain access all around despite the three rivers that run through the entire city. I didn’t realize this before, but I would categorize Pittsburgh as an extremely metropolitan area, with both a mix of pedestrian-oriented and automobile suburbs. My particular neighborhood has a streetcar which runs through it. I’ve lived in Pittsburgh my entire life, and I am able to identify the various types of neighborhoods which exist within my city. Although we tend to have a lot of construction and traffic, I would still consider most parts of the city and the outskirts of the city to be relatively accessible.

The first city that I am going to talk about is Copenhagen, Denmark. Transportation was a collective action problem, just as it is with my city as well. In order to increase safety between bike riders and cars, this city created car-free streets and zones. My city has been building something similar, however not many streets are car-free. Instead, some bridges and trails have been created which are specifically for bikes and sometimes walking. Additionally, my city has started to provide more space for bikes by building bike lanes. I personally find the bike lanes to be quite safe, but I think Pittsburgh should find a way to have more “bike only zones” to help with traffic especially. I think Copenhagen has done a great job solving a problem within the community, and improvements can be made in Pittsburgh to increase sustainability in certain neighborhoods by utilizing the same outline as Copenhagen.

The second city from the module which is relevant to Pittsburgh is Chicago. When it comes to urban farming, I did not expect Chicago to be as advanced as it was. I recall Pittsburgh having a few urban farms, but it has really sky rocketed over the years. Our biggest non-profit organization is called, “Grow: Pittsburgh”. Grow Pittsburgh has a few farms throughout the city, and then we have about three or four other farms which are located in predominantly automobile suburbs. I think a way to sustain our current farms would be to offer more jobs within that field to expand it. Grow Pittsburgh is not talked about a lot, and I think if we had more of an opportunity to get people involved, we would have a lot more farm to maintain.

1. I live in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, which is located in southeastern PA. I would describe Wyomissing as an automobile suburb, where most people drive their cars to work, the store, school, etc. In 2013, the population of Wyomissing, PA was 10,481 people, and the population density was about 2,336/ sq mile. Also, the borough holds a good mix of population by age. Wyomissing holds many large shopping centers and corporations, and in turn, a good amount of job growth. I have lived in Wyomissing for about 5 years, and I really enjoy living there. It is a very clean, friendly town, made up of many families. I have noticed that not many people use transportation other than cars in my town. There are hardly any busses that run efficiently to where you need them to, and roads are not really suited for biking or walking.
2. My favorite video from this week’s module was about the cycling day in Bogota, Colombia. Every Sunday and holiday from 7am-2pm, streets are closed for cars and open for all pedestrians to just go out and enjoy the streets how they’d like to. Pedestrians feel safer this way, and it is much more convenient for them to go out and exercise. They even offer aerobics classes right in the middle of the street. I think this would be an awesome thing to implement in my own town because most people in my town drive everywhere every day of the week. It would be harder to do this in my town because most streets are only one lane, where in Bogota there were three or four lanes and one was left open to normal traffic. To stop all normal traffic in my town may not work for some people, but it would definitely be great to get people moving and walking or biking to most of their nearby errands. Having less traffic would also lead to less pollution from cars, making my town an even cleaner place to live.
3. The other video that I really enjoyed watching was the urban agriculture video from Haiti. I thought it was amazing how the changes being made to Haiti are making them much more of a “greener” place to live. The woman in the video said that she used to be able to provide bread and soup for her children, but she’d have to go to the market to buy vegetables for them. Now that she’s growing her own vegetables, it saves her the time and money to buy them from someone else. This would be great to implement in my town because now most people buy fruits and vegetables from grocery stores, where they may have no idea where they are even coming from. By growing fruits and vegetables in our backyard and selling them inside the town, we are keeping the money in the town, and even making it more convenient to buy these goods. While my town does not have a lot of farmland, it may even be an interesting idea for only people that have enough land to grow certain fruits and vegetables and sell them throughout the town.

1. The first city I will introduce is the city of Pittsburgh,PA. Pittsburgh is located on the western end of Pennsylvania. There are approximately 305,850 people living in Pittsburgh. Though overall Pittsburgh is a pretty car friendly area,it  is composed of a combination of different types of neighborhoods. The urban downtown area is designed for individuals to commute via public transit. There are shops, restaurants and places of work. However, not many people live downtown. Areas located right outside of downtown such as the South Side area or Oakland would be considered pedestrian oriented neighborhoods. These areas have many shops and restaurants. In addition, it has a high urban density. Many people in this area live in apartments or row houses. Pittsburgh also has many automobile suburbs .This is where I live. A car is required to travel most places.I feel very connected to Pittsburgh. It has greatly influenced my preference to drive most places as opposed to taking public transportation.
2. The second city I will introduce is New York city. I chose New york city because it is very different from Pittsburgh. The population of New York city is about 8 million people. New York’s large population creates many opportunities for sustainability that I believe Pittsburgh could emulate. The population in New York is very dense. Many people live in very tall apartment buildings or tightly packed row houses. This provides the opportunity to have a lower environmental impact. The large population also increases the use of public transportation or walking which has a great impact on the environment. New York has many public transportation options including buses and trains that operate frequently and conveniently . Pittsburgh has an alright bus system however, the train system could be greatly improved. The train only operates on one side of the city which is not helpful to many people. This forces people to drive cars.
3. The next city I will introduce is Venice , Italy. Venice has a population of around 260,000 people. This population is small,unlike that of New York, and resembles the size of the population in Pittsburgh. Unlike Pittsburgh, Venice is considered to be a car free city. I would consider Pittsburgh to be very car friendly. Much of the transportation in Venice is done by boat because of the large amount of water in the area. Though not as much as Venice, Pittsburgh is a city surrounded by water which is not used for public transportation. I think Pittsburgh could emulate some of the boating practices used in Venice to become more sustainable. If boats became a popular mode of transportation Pittsburgh could greatly improve its environmental impact

I grew up in Honesdale Pennsylvania. This is a small town in the northeast corner of the state with a population of 4,312 during the last census in 2013. The town officially covers 4.023 square miles but I consider myself a resident regardless of being a half mile outside of the boarder. Within the area that is officially Honesdale there are two types of neighborhoods. The center and areas surrounding between the center and the local high school a mile away are all Pedestrian-Oriented Neighborhoods with a few more automobile friendly roads cutting through the middle. The rest of the town is primarily Automobile Suburbs. There is no public transportation in the town with the exception of a bus stop for a coach bus taking passengers to a larger town across the border in New York. This only comes to town three times a week. Most of the shopping in the area is over a mile away from where the sidewalks end leaving Honesdale. I believe that the current lack of public transportation is hindering possible growth in the area.

The first city from the module I would like to discuss is Detroit and its Urban Farming. I was very impressed by the productive use of land and how the community came together to support one another and thrive. My town is surrounded by farm land and farmers and although many have independent stores normally located on the property they farm from it is very far from the mass of the population. If my town were to hold farmers market open to the public more often then those in the town would have alternatives to buying food from other regions with less inconvenience and sales would increase in these areas. Furthermore farmers could also participate in farmers markets outside of our small town to bring healthier food options to the cities surrounding us including Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Monticello. These towns are within an hour drive have significantly greater population. I know of multiple buildings in the town that are large enough and stand empty at this time. These would be perfect areas for such events to happen regularly.

The second city I would like to discuss is Curitiba and its bus system. I was impressed by the ease created for use of the busses which decreased wasted time. The planning of routes was highly effective in creating such a beneficial system. For my town transportation should start being made available from the main residential area to the main shopping areas. If designing for expansion and increased use were to happen now then it could become highly efficient and decrease the traffic in the town currently. The problems faced for Curitiba against a subway would increase once the consideration of geography was added for the problems my town would face. Due to the water ways, terrain, developed areas, and elevation differences this would be all but impossible making busses the smarter option.

My hometown is Waterford, Pennsylvania. This town is located about 15 miles south of Erie, Pennsylvania, which is in the northwest corner of the state. Waterford is a small, country town with only a single streetlight in the center of town. It would be considered a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood for the most part, because of the extensive sidewalks that cover the town. Everyone walks everywhere, and it is normal to do so just for fun. There is no metropolitan area in Waterford, but residents can make a 15 minute commute to Erie, Pennsylvania for a more urban experience with a mall, chain restaurants and stores, and nightlife. Waterford is approximately only 1.2 square miles with a population of just over 1500 people. This is the town I was raised in, where I went to middle and high school, and where I made all of my first memories. I really enjoyed living there, and I believe it gave me a humble attitude towards the world.

The first city from the module that I will discuss is Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This city is a brilliant example of a group of people coming into an area and completely growing with the landscape. The city is built directly into the sweeping landscape and adjusted right by the long beach front. My hometown could take a page out of their book, with the expansion of my town would be into deep, thick forested areas. By extension, I could also talk about the neighboring city of Erie. Like Rio de Janeiro, Erie is situated on the coast of a body of water, in this case Lake Erie. Erie could continue to expand its boundaries down the coast line to add more hotels or homes to the city. To become more sustainable, Erie could follow their example and work on making transportation easier, and more accessible. Also, just make walking a more appealing option.

The second city which I will discuss from the module will be Shanghai, China. Again, like Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this port city has expanded and thrived by building over the landscape and terrain that once was forested and heavily undeveloped. The expansive city allows for many shipments to be brought into the country, and for a large population, around 23.9 million people, to live within close proximity of the city boundaries. Speaking about Erie again, since Waterford is an extremely hard example to compare Shanghai too, if the city were to want to expand it would best do so in a similar fashion. By building up instead of out, buildings can be closer together, thus eliminating the need for cars and it  makes walking more appealing. This eliminates some pollution and makes the city more sustainable.

I’m from New York City, an extremely large city in the state of New York in the United States. The neighborhoods in New York differ immensely, you can find an urban-downtown mostly in Manhattan but you can also find the suburbs, which are mostly located in Queens, Long Island. Where I live in New York (Roosevelt Island) is sort of a mixture of the urban and suburban environments. It’s 5 minutes away from Manhattan, there are buildings but there isn’t the chaos of the city, it’s very quiet and completely surrounded by the East River so it’s quite relaxing and beautiful there. The population of New York is of 19.8 million residents making this city the most populous metropolitan area. I absolutely love the city of New York and the fact that I have the chance to live right in the middle of it. I moved to New York when I was 8 years old, from Marseille France, due to my mother’s job as a diplomat and I have not left since (besides coming to Penn State). I’ve gotten very used to the skyscrapers, the fast-paced environment, the cranky pedestrians that are always on a mission no matter what time of the day it is to the point that I sometimes forget that most of the United States is nothing like New   York City. One thing I dislike very much about the city on the other hand, is the fact that it is so polluted; you can walk down the streets of Manhattan and literally just be inhaling toxic air.

The next city that I’m going to talk about is Boston Massachusetts and I chose this city because of the similarities that it shares with New York as well as some small differences. Boston is also a city that incorporates urban, pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods (e.g Beacon Hill, Boston, MA) as well as suburban neighborhoods (e.g Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA). One way that it differs to New York City however, is the fact that New York City does not have any Streetcar suburbs. People that live in the suburbs have to walk long distances to the nearest metro station or take a bus to the metro station which also isn’t always too close to people’s homes. This is very beneficial for the city’s environment because less energy is consumed by means of transportation as well as the health of the population. Individuals are forced to not be lazy and exercise when it comes to reaching some of their destinations, even if it’s to the nearest bus stop. New York City should take Boston’s lead and develop more attractive Pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods to motivate people to walk more.

The next city that I’m choosing to focus on is Copenhagen, a small city and the capital of Denmark. I’ve actually been here myself twice and I absolutely adore the way that this city is laid out, driver-friendly but also very much pedestrian and eco-friendly with its car-free streets and slow speed zones. Copenhagen is one of those gorgeous cities in which you actually want to walk in, take the time to observe the land/city scape. Biking is also a very big part of the culture in this city and cyclist don’t have to fear for their lives worrying that a driver might knock them over. This is something that the ultra-busy, packed and fast-paced New York City should definitely copy. It would be amazing if there were more areas in New York where residents could walk around slowly, sit, engage in fun activities or just enjoy the amazing view of the city without all the traffic and chaos. All the changes that Copenhagen has made in order to accommodate its citizens has also led to a more connected and friendly community and simply a better quality of life.

1. My hometown of Vienna, Virginia is just 15 minutes south of Washington D.C. For being this close to D.C., my town is very pedestrian-oriented and not overly crowded with a population of roughly 16,500 people. The neighborhoods are very family oriented with a mix of traditional colonial styled homes as well as new developments creating an environment for families young and old. Downtown Vienna provides multiple churches and strip malls. In my opinion it is a moderately sized town. It is more of a wealthier area, with the new arrival of a Metro train stop in the town that connects to D.C., and a developing mall brings more and more people every year. I have lived there since I was seven years old and grew up playing little league football. I made a lot of friends and had great childhood memories.

2. In the reading, I came across Jamaica Plain located in in Boston, Massachusetts. This streetcar suburb’s transportation has always been a problem for gas cost efficiency. This is an area that uses a railcar system, similar to that of my town’s Metro train system. These train rail cars reduce the need for people to stand in traffic and waste fossil fuels, but are somewhat outdated and thus been replaced by new more gas efficient cars as well as public transit busses. Unlike the old rail car, the new Metro Train is a faster way to get from point A to Point B. The Metro in Vienna has increased the availability of people to travel to D.C. and areas around Washington for a lower price and with less stress. The more use of public transit, especially rail cars/ Metro trains will sustain the ozone layer from being breached due to green house gasses released form car emission.

3. Another area, Beacon Hill located near downtown Boston, is alike my town of Vienna. Beacon Hill is a very a pedestrian-oriented making it easily accessible and of close convenience to shops and workplaces to that of the locals. Beacon Hill is a also alike Vienna in that it is a very wealthy neighborhood. These people live a lifestyle with the choice of transportation. The attractiveness of the neighborhood has people choose to walk rather than drive. Vienna could learn from Beacon Hill in regards to sustainability. Vienna has some sidewalks but people still are prone to driving more than walking, if the town were to add more sidewalks and or paths, the town might walk more and drive less. Driving less would help decrease the amount of green gasses produced.

So I come from Grove City Pennsylvania.  We have a small town of about 8,500 people.  We have one small one way street called broad street that is pretty pedestrian friendly so people can go to the small shops along it.  For the most part  we are an automobile suburb but getting towards the outer part of town we have no sidewalks even though we still have a lot of residential properties.  I would say that Grove City is intentionally a slowed down town.  for many of our neighborhoods especially the wealthier ones they are either dead end streets, circular designed area called the Boulevards, and side streets with a 15mph speed limit.  Grove City is slow and quiet and I believe intentionally so.  I personally really enjoy the slow pace.  As a kid I could ride my bike anywhere in town and being that it is such a slow pace you never feel in danger from traffic.

The first city I want to talk about is Copenhagen.  I think Copenhagen has a similar mission as Grove City to reduce it’s environmental footprint.  We just simply go about it based on our different issues. Copenhagen looked to reduce its energy use and pollution output the the reduction of car use by making it’s city extremely biker friendly.  Grove City isn’t quite as heavy traffic being such a small town.  So to reduce our environmental footprint Grove City funds a lot of reclamation projects.  Such as the Wolf Creek project which we removed a 150 year old mill dam to return Wolf Creek to its original state and make it a better stream for trout fishing.  Also the reclaiming of many areas damaged by the immense strip mining that took place in the early 1900’s.  So both my town and Copenhagen are doing their part to reduce their environmental footprint.

Finally the city I’d like to talk about is New York.  As mentioned in this unit, the reason New York became the largest city is because of its geographic location to ship materials both by sea and the Erie Canal to the central part of the US.  Grove City is located only an hour from both Erie and Pittsburgh.  Grove City thus thrived in the early 1900’s as a huge supplier of coal for energy consumption by major cities, as well as supplying food from its rural farms through the efficient use of the railroad system.  It is also why both Cooper Bessemer and GE had major factories in Grove City producing locomotive engines.  Grove City’s environmental advantage more specifically its geographic location is why it continues to survive economically much like New York City.

I live in Los Angeles, CA which consists mainly of automobile suburbs with very few pedestrian-oriented and streetcar suburbs. The metropolitan area of Los Angeles is home to 18.2 million people and covers over five counties, including Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura etc. Even in the neighborhoods where buses are available or stores are at a walkable distance, people still use their car. Los Angeles is definitely known to have crazy traffic to the point where you think you are sitting in a parking lot, especially during rush hour. It is also known for having a lot of smog since we have cold air from the ocean. In order to decrease smog, pollution, and traffic we need to change our transportation system.

In Curitiba, Brazil they were able to build a bus system with rapid dedicated routes into the city center with each bus just a minute apart. This system decreases pollution and traffic which is exactly what Los Angeles needs. However, since the greater Los Angeles area covers many different counties, there would have to be many different bus systems and routes which would take a lot of time and money to create. There has been a metro system put into place in Los Angeles county, but not many people use it because there are infrequent stops and the buses nearby are very slow. If we put the time and money into making a bus rail system that covers more of Los Angeles and has less waiting time between buses I believe more people would be willing to use it. This way people do not have to worry about parking, the hours of delay waiting in traffic, drinking and driving, or car accidents. At the same time we will also create less pollution, the only problem is getting people to break out of habits.

In Bogotá, Colombia they have Ciclovia where they shut down 75 miles of streets to make them car-free. This way, people feel safe to walk, bicycle, and skate while being able to participate in dance, aerobics, and other activities. Events like Ciclovia promote using other modes of transportation while making it a fun experience. Although shutting down 75 miles of streets in Los Angeles would definitely cause an uproar, I believe that holding events on a smaller scale would still make a difference. Certain suburbs that are more pedestrian-oriented could hold events like Ciclovia and make it fun by hosting different outdoor activities. This would attract people from outside the neighborhood and possibly influence the way they think about transportation. I also know people that would gladly ride their bike or skateboard to get around town, but many of our sidewalks are not safe to ride on and there are not many bike lanes on the street. So another solution could be to improve sidewalks and add bike lanes.

I lived in Hangzhou, China, which can be classified as an urban-downtown neighborhood. It has been estimated that there were about 6,670,200 people in the metropolitan area of Hangzhou in 2015, which means the urban density is very high. Hangzhou is the capital city of State Zhejiang, and it is adjacent to Shanghai. If Shanghai like New York City in China, Hangzhou will also be a highly developed city like Philadelphia. However, unlike Shanghai with so many skyscrapers, Hangzhou is famous for its beautiful landscapes and abundant culture. In addition, because of significant improvements of technology, Hangzhou now marches into the Information Age. Now when we go out, we even don’t need to bring money or credit cards. All what we need is cell phone and ID because we can do any thing using app. We all have an online bank app to store money, and we now can use app to pay check at any store by scanning QR code, and it is much safer than using credit cards. In short, people have very convenient lives in Hangzhou than other places, and I love this city so much.

I would like to discuss Shanghai, China because I am familiar with this place. Shanghai is a harbor city, and because of its environmental advantages and some historical problems, it becomes the economic center in China. Shanghai also has high urban density. It has a larger population than Hangzhou, which is about 23,019,196 people live in the metropolitan area. People could choose walking, taxi, and bicycle as their way, especial the subway system. The subway system is well designed for efficient transportation. It contains 13 transport lines crossing the whole city, so that people can arrive any place quickly and conveniently by subway. Although lots of people drive in Shanghai, more and more people choose to take subway. Comparing to drive, subway is more efficiency and sustainable, so my city is exploiting the second line of subway now.

The second city I will be discussing is Venice, Italy. Even though Venice is also a harbor city, it is very different from other places in the world including my city. Hangzhou also contains many rivers, but unlike Hangzhou, Venice is surrounded by water; so that the transportation is mainly rely on gondolas. People in Venice use gondolas as their daily vehicle to go from one place to another. It can be defined as sustainable development in Venice since people make good use of environment advantages and produce less pollution than other vehicles. This is the factor that I am looking at when I am discussing this city. However, due to the Greenhouse gases and Global warming problems, the sea level raised, and maybe in one day Venice will disappear.

I hail from Lititz, a town in Lancaster County in Southeastern Pennsylvania. In the center of town, it is extremely pedestrian-oriented. It is similar to the example of Beacon Hill in Boston, where many different shops, places of work, and sources of entertainment are within walking distance. In the areas surrounding the center, there are many automobile suburbs, where most of the residents live, including myself. Due to this, the automobile suburbs enjoy low urban density, with plenty of room for children to play and dogs to run around in yards. This is also a mixed-use area, where people do not necessarily need to go far to find residential areas, shops, or places of work. According to the 2013 census, Lititz has 9,388 residents. I love living in Lititz. It is a great place to start a family or retire. Besides all of the friendly people, there are great places to eat, get a drink, or just walk around the town. We have a great park and great places to enjoy on sunny days.

Copenhagen, Denmark is a shining example of a city that attempts to be extremely sustainable. Copenhagen instituted a policy they refer to as traffic calming. In an effort to deter cars from interfering with people, they have car-free streets and slow speed zones. This leads to many more people choosing to walk or ride bikes, which is a much more environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable method of transportation than driving cars. In my town of Lititz, these methods could easily be applied. It would be relatively simple because Main Street is always packed with people, and it is hard to drive on it anyway, so it could easily become a car-free street or slow speed zone. The town would just need more bike racks, which would cut down on the need for parking, allowing more room for trees and grass that residents could enjoy. It could also cut down on gas usage, especially if gas-friendly foods are provided more in our town.

Bogota, Columbia is another great example of attempting to be sustainable by cutting down on driving in their city. Every Sunday and holiday is a Ciclovia, in which cars are forbidden or significantly restricted. Lititz could definitely benefit from having Ciclovias on specific days throughout the years. In the center of Lititz, everything is within walking or biking distance, so a few days a year without cars on the road, while not incredibly significant environmentally, is still more environmentally sustainable than allowing cars to drive downtown every day and a viable option to stimulate the downtown economy and celebrate everyone coming together to do something for the environment as a community. Again, this would require more bike racks and road blocks, but this cost could easily be covered by the stimulated economy of our town. Also, if gas-friendly foods are provided on these days, the gas being saved by walking, biking, or skating could be maximized.

I have two home towns; the one I was born in and the one I grew up in. I was born in Madison, Wisconsin and lived there 5yrs before moving to Pennsylvania. Madison was a city filled with automobiles and subway systems, but tons of people walked around too. I don’t remember too much about Madison. After we moved we got a house and I spent the rest of my pre-college years in Souderton, Pennsylvania. Souderton is pretty small, it’s an automobile town, but has plenty of sidewalks and little parks and schools to go for a run at or spend a few minutes strolling around on a Sunday. Based on the 2013 census it has a population of 6,644 people. I enjoyed growing up there, there were lots of opportunities to get involved in the community and play sports. We had a Boys and Girls club right up the street from my house that I worked at during my high school years. The schools were great and lead me to many great memories like being Editor-in-cheif of our award winning student run newspaper and starting an annual Zumba fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald Camp Adopt-a-Camper Program that raises money to send kids 7-18yrs old battling cancer to camp in the Poconos for a week in the summer where they get to play and have fun and not have to worry about there struggles. They also are able to form lasting friendships with children who understand what they are going through.

The first city I’d like to talk about is Boston, Massachusetts. I believe Boston is similar to Souderton because it was designed for encourage people to walk. It has place for people to work, eat, shop, be entertained. Souderton also has a lot of these aspects, however over the years it has become run down. The movie theater has been under construction for so many years I’ve lost count, but they’ve started a petition to help get the job finished. during summer there are concerts in the park on Sunday nights encouraging people to come out and enjoy the weather and community. There are sidewalks everywhere so people are able to walk. The downtown has been a slow process with trying to renovate it and make it look better, more appealing and inviting for people to stroll around. I believe that if Souderton could finish it’s make over/upgrade then it will be a more walking oriented town.

The second city I’m going to talk about is Copenhagen. Bikes are a common mode of transportation in Copenhagen. This reduces the fossil fuel usage and pollution. I think it would be beneficial for Souderton to have it’s members become more biker friendly eliminating the need to use cars so often. Most of the grocery stores and shopping centers do require a person to travel quite a bit of distance, unless you want to stop at a convince store or eat out, so walking isn’t a reasonable alternative to automobiles. However biking allows someone to get to the place they need to go quicker and requires less exertion, while still promoting a healthier lifestyle. I think it would be an improvement if Souderton started advocating for biking over driving.

I live in Manheim Pennsylvania, which is a small town of about five to six thousand people. The town is a part of Lancaster County. The town consists of mostly urban neighborhoods and some automobile suburbs. The very center of town is however, a streetcar suburb. Everyone drives everywhere, there is no public transportation and the only buses are school buses. The community has various events throughout the year where most of the town comes to and enjoys whatever is going on. Some people do ride their bikes around, but for the most part bikes are not used as transportation but more of as a hobby. There are a lot of farms in the area and most of the neighborhoods are surrounded or bordered by farms and their fields. It’s the best of both worlds because it’s the country, but still close enough to do everything in Lancaster and Harrisburg.

In the module, we look at the city Chicago and how big it is and all the people that live there. It is very different from my hometown of Manheim. Manheim is a farming community in a sense, compared to Chicago being a big city. Both areas farm, but do it in different ways. My hometown, all the food is farmed in fields or in gardens behind homes. Chicago is different in the way that is uses urban farming. Growing food is done on the rooftops of people’s homes instead of behind them and that is one thing that Manheim can take away about being more sustainable. Manheim should start to urban farming in the middle of town, and more people can have their own person garden’s right on their rooftops then.

In the module, we talked about Penn State and how the university is trying to become more efficient and one way they are doing that is through “green buildings”. Penn State has implemented the LEED program into some of its buildings like the Stuckeman Family Building on campus. This building is made out of recycled cooper and durable brick. It has different rainwater irrigation systems, intelligent lighting system, and energy efficient windows. The homes in Manheim are average, and I think a lot of peopIe don’t see the opportunity to make homes energy efficient and how that can positively impact the environment. I know that my home and the buildings in Manheim are not energy efficient like this one at Penn State and creating more buildings like the Stuckeman Family Building will only make Manheim more efficient.

I am from Wayne, New Jersey which is located in Passaic County. It is located in Northern New Jersey less than 20 miles from Midtown Manhattan. It is primarily an automobile subarb but with that said there are many NJ bus transit stops that people rely on for commuting to and from work in New York City. There are roughly 55,000 residents currently. Within Wayne there are many unincorporated communities and neighborhoods that are located around lakes. Primarily a residential community, Wayne is location of both Toys R Us and Valley National Bank headquarters. I have lived in Wayne all my life, and much of my extended family is from the New York City area. I like that my town is near New York City, as the lifestyle and development from the city has slowly shifted towards my area over the last 20 years. When my parents first moved here, many of the residential houses were farms or farmland. The one thing I don’t like is that th roads have become very crowded over the last few years.

My first choice on a city would be Jamaican Plan Boston. Though it differs from Wayne in regards that it is a street car suburb it shares the common practice with Wayne in the respect that it is a commuter town. It is a neighborhood called a streetcar suburb becuase it was designed for residents to take the streetcar into center city Boston. Relatively speaking, a lot of the transportation development in Wayne is designed to bring people to and from center New York City (Manhattan). When I was younger, there were about half the amount of NJ Transit bus stops as there are now, each designed first and foremost to aid in transporting people to and from New York City.As I have grown over the years, the town has added many additional stations including both bus and train to aid in this. Additionally, like Jamaican Plan, there are sidewalks everywhere for community members to walk.

My second choice is on a city is New York City. New York City is a the largest city in the United States and the primary transportation is in fact vehicles, though many people walk, ride bikes, and take public transportation. Though different in many ways than Wayne. Wayne has quietly developed into a small city, and has the largest population of all 11 surrounding municipalities. As stated above, many in Wayne rely on public transportation to get to and from work, very similar to New York City. Both have large bus systems, and though Wayne is a town, it is not uncommon for people to be seem taking cabs and taxis to and from places such as the Willowbrook Mall. What is somewhat similar is the fact that both places support small businesses. In NYC, it is not uncommon to see many small supermarkets and businesses among well known companies. The same can be seen in many of the neighborhoods in Wayne. Known as a shopping hub for people in surrounding countries, Wayne is the home to many local farms and stores.

My hometown is Abbottstown, it is located in Adams County in Pennsylvania. I live in a small town with 1,013 residents that and it is a suburb area. Since it is a rather small town there are not as many jobs in this area. I have to say that it is enjoyable area to live in, but if you do not have a vehicle for transportation then you won’t be able to get anywhere. The reason why is it is small and it is located in a peaceful community the only downfall is there is not much to do. Although I like the fact that the small area I live in is in the middle of closer towns nearby which makes it easier for getting to places such as York, East Berlin, Hanover, New Oxford, and Gettysburg.

My first chose on a city would have to be Rochester, New York. It is an automobile suburb that has neighborhoods. Even though it is designed so that residents commute to cities via automobile it is a little similar to the town I live in. The reason why is because there are not many places to work in this area you need a car in order to get around. The difference is that there are many sidewalks in my neighborhood. I personally think that I could live here if I had to live somewhere else because it’s similar to where I live now. Something that can be learned from this city is that instead of taking cars everywhere people should use bikes or walk to places because it would improve the loss of fossil fuels.

The second city would be Jamaica Plain located in Boston Massachusetts. The reason why is it is a streetcar suburb. This is a little bit different from where I live. Although the concept of this place is it is set up similar to automobile suburb, but they have street car parking. The interesting thing is that they have nearby stores. This makes it a little easier for those who do not have a car to still have some kind of access to nearby places. I think that one of the insights that could be learned from this city is that my town should add more stores. I think that this would offer more jobs to people in my town and it would make it more convenient.

I come from Bairdford a small rural town that is 30 min north of the city of Pittsburgh.  During the industrial steel boom that occurred in Pittsburgh in the earlier 20^th century, my town along with many others that surround Pittsburgh were responsible to mine coal that was used to run the large steel furnaces.  Bairdford includes many windy rural back-roads, as well as long straight roads beside farmland.  According to the census taken in 2010, there are just under seven hundred residents, but if you were to include the outlying homes it would be a fair estimate of just under a thousand.  I’ve fallen in love with the small town feel that I have grew up with, as well as the connection to nature and the environment I’ve gained from the rural atmosphere.

In the reading, we came across a region in Boston, Massachusetts called Beacon Hill.  This area is well known for its “walker friendly” atmosphere.  The area was developed in the 1800s to allow residents to be within walking distances to much of the necessities and commodities that they need.  This is because traveling far distances for things was a challenge and time consuming.  Beacon Hill still has goods and services within walking distances.  I believe that communities like this will be very common in the near future. Although Bairdford wouldn’t be considered an automobile suburbs, but most if not all attractions, stores, and functions are only accessible by cars.  Using Beacon Hill’s close knit community in Bairdford would greatly help make the town more sustainable with less cars driving to get to and fro.

In the reading, we get a second prospective from Boston, Massachusetts. A region called Jamaica Plain.  In this area the community employs a streetcar to get to the city from the suburbs.  From talking with my grandparents, streetcars were quite common in their days as a mean of transportation from the suburbs where most people lived, to the city, where most people worked.  The idea of streetcars, and other clean transits to get into the city should be re-introduced in modern communities today.  Many people today can relate to how congested and aggravating the “rush hour” traffic is to get to and from the city in their personal cars.  With the technology today, an efficient monorail system can be employed to move the working commuters from their suburban/rural home in Bairdford to the city.  This would cut down on the number of cars that pollute their way to work, as well as reduce the traffic coming in and out of the city.

I am from a mid-size automobile suburb called Hatfield Township, 45 minutes north of Philadelphia. Hatfield has roughly 23,000 residents. There are sidewalks that line the entire down for people who exercise or walk their dog, as well as many bikers that ride around. Although many people use this as a source of exercise, to get from place to place it takes a lot of time to walk. The closest grocery store from my house is roughly four miles away. The high school that I attended covered 5 townships and boroughs and took me nearly 15 minutes to get there each morning. I graduated with 1,000 kids in my class so it takes a lot of time to travel throughout the school district. I have been living in Hatfield Township my entire life and I love it there and the sense of community the town has. Sometimes I do wish I lived in a smaller town my friends and I could ride our bikes to each other’s house or go out in the backyard and play football; instead, I have to drive nearly 20 minutes to meet in the middle of all of us.

The first city that I would like to compare my town to is Copenhagen. I think it is very interesting how they have changed the city from automobiles crowding the streets to become biker friendly. It is a great example how a social norm can be transformed with the help of city leaders. With new laws and biker lanes that are put in place allow the city to have a different perspective on the energy that they are saving and the healthy habits that come out of it. In my town, for the most part the only time I see someone riding their bike is to go out for a stroll to get exercise. Since my high school is so crowded, there would be a lot of traffic in the morning to get to school. Instead, if the school would have a lot of bike racks and encouraged kids to ride their bikes in the morning, there would be less traffic for those who live far away as well as a way to exercise early in the morning. This would also lead to a more sustainable practice by not burning fossil fuels into the environment, increasing the air quality of the atmosphere.

The second city that I would like to compare my town to is Venice, Italy. Although it is hard to make many comparisons because the city is surrounded by water whereas Hatfield Township is landlocked, I think their modes of transportation are very interesting. I went to Venice when I was younger to visit family members and I was amazed by the way they traveled to get to and from places. There were barely any cars on the street as many streets were filled with people walking right down the center of them. They also use boats to travel further distances, which is a good exercise as well as a sustainable method for the atmosphere. Hatfield cannot transform to being boater friendly but it can take note on how many people walk from place to place. The way the town is designed makes it impossible to walk everywhere, but having a state of mind to know that walking instead of using a car helps the environment allows us to take that opportunity any chance we have.

My hometown of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania is the biggest town in rural Tioga County.  In the boro itself there are sidewalks that stretch from the center of town to the outskirts of housing developments.  In the town limits these neighborhoods are very pedestrian orientated.  You can very easily walk to and from anywhere downtown following the sidewalks.  However as you get further from town the sidewalks can become just on one side of the road, and eventually stop all together.  There is another neighborhood just two miles from town that is very automobile suburb orientated because there are no sidewalks, and you cannot walk to or from town easily, cars are highly encouraged.  The entire town is car friendly without any narrow streets or many one-way streets, most citizens drive rather than walk. However the town has very pedestrian friendly capabilities.  In the town of Wellsboro, there are 3,351 citizens with a median resident age of 43.9 years. 

The city from the model that is closest in resemblance of Wellsboro would be Rochester NY.  With its automobile suburb neighborhoods it is very similar to Wellsboro in that regard.  The neighborhoods on the outskirts of town do not have sidewalks leading to them, or in them themselves.  It really limits your options in terms of transportation.  Also there are no busses that run in Wellsboro, no public transportation system besides the trolley, which is mainly for tourists. 

The second city would be Boston, with neighborhoods immediately adjacent to downtown Boston citizens are encouraged to walk.  Downtown they can find places to work, shop, and seek entertainment, which is extremely similar to Wellsboro, just on a much larger scale.  Downtown Wellsboro we have many local shops and places to eat, we also have a local fountain portraying Wynken, Blyken, and Nod.  This place is in the center of town, and people come to sit and read or enjoy lunch, or music during the day.  However the transit system in Boston with the streetcar suburbs is a great idea, but I don’t think it could work in Wellsboro. For one we have a large median that runs the entire length of Main Street Wellsboro.  We would have to tear that out, which has gas burning lamps, also a tourist attraction, and widen the roads to accommodate the extra traffic. 

1. I am from a small, automobile suburb called Montoursville, Pa. Montoursville has about 4,611 residents and borders a higher density streetcar suburb called Williamsport with a population of 29,381 residents. Montoursville has a broad landscape and a mixed-use area in the center of town. In the urban downtown of Montoursville, houses are thinly dispersed and some can walk, or use bikes for transportation. The majority of the population lives in the suburban area using vehicles as their primary transportation mode. In order to get fresh produce we would rely on homegrown fruits and vegetables, a long drive to a local farmer’s house, or a reasonable drive to the grocery store. There was very little public transportation because the majority of the population is located in the automobile suburbs. Although the area is high in agricultural production it would require an unsustainable mode of transportation to acquire fresh produce. 
2. The approach to sustainability in Detroit relates to my hometown because last June, Montoursville opened Local Fare, a business created to help promote local agriculture and spread awareness about sustainable farming. Detroit is a prime example of how urban agriculture can be applied practically anywhere. With some cognitive transition and some back-to-basic methods of farming, green space can be utilized to not only provide for the family and community but also make a living from. Since foods with low environmental impact are healthier and tastier, this sustainable, grassroots form of farming could reshape diets, forming an overall healthier community. The Local Fare is quickly expanding, bringing the community together and I’m hoping it encourages more people to participate in sustainable gardening.
3. In Haiti, the community is using old tires to help structure their farming practices. This method is also providing families with income. The bordering city to my hometown, Williamsport, has a higher population density and less land available than Montoursville. Williamsport could start using this tire method of gardening on top of buildings and rooftops to eliminate land usage. There are scrap tires in stockpiles throughout the world, often taking up room and not disposed of because of health concerns. Recycling used tires is an innovative, environmentally good method of farming. After families break-even this could even be very profitable for them in the long run. This transition to sustainability could not only improve the community’s wealth and income, but it can also have positive effects on the environment.

I am Will Graf and I am from Pompano Beach, Florida. The area that I am from is very close to the beach, with only one main road through the area. It is easy to get around the area on a bicycle. However I would still consider the area to be an automobile suburb. The population in Pompano Beach is about 100,000 people. The area of Pompano Beach is about 26 square miles. The population is fairly dense because a lot of this area is covered with water. I have lived in Pompano Beach my entire life. There are plenty of neighborhoods in the area, and not a lot of businesses. This allowed me to bike around to several different neighborhoods when I was younger. I still consider the area to be an automobile suburb because the weather in South Florida is usually hot and humid. Many people use automobiles to avoid sweating or walking distances in the heat.

The first city I will compare from the module is the city of Copenhagen. The reason I am choosing to compare these two cities is because the module talks so much about how the city of Copenhagen is very friendly towards bicyclists. The reason I think that these two aspects can be compared is because my neighborhood is very close to the water. On one side there is the beach, and the other side is the intracoastal. This means that only one major road comes into and out of our neighborhood and there is usually heavy traffic on this road. However there is plenty of room on the road for bikes to be operated and it would help both the environment and the flow of traffic if more bikes were used in this area.

The last city I will compare from the module is New York City. The reason that I chose this city to compare is because New York is so close to the water as well. This can be compared to Fort Lauderdale, the adjacent city to Pompano Beach. The reason I will compare this city is because Fort Lauderdale is a little larger and has more access to shipping ports on the ocean. I think this makes it similar to New York, but as stated in the module New York has a much easier route to the center of the United States. This makes New York a much larger city and has a much higher population density. This explains the reason that Fort Lauderdale still utilizes mostly automobiles and New York is able to use walking and a subway system. I think if Fort Lauderdale had easier ways to reach and trade with the center of the United States it would have a much higher population and density.

I live in Schuylkill Haven, PA. Schuylkill Haven is located about four miles south of Pottsville and about 89 miles north-west of Philadelphia. Schuylkill Haven has a pedestrian-oriented type of town. People here could walk to local groceries stores and medical centers. They could even walk to nearby schools and university. Schuylkill Haven have about 5,341 people living in the area. I have lived here all my life and went to school here. I even go to the doctors that are close by since they are within walking distance from my house. I also am going to Penn State Schuylkill since it is close to where I live. I feel this is a good place to live since you don’t necessary have to learn to drive. The only bad part about living here is that there are not many places for people to go to get entertainment, such going to a movie.

The first city I decided on talking about is Boston, Massachusetts. The reason why I chose this city is because it is similar to my own town in which I live. In this city there are place in which one can work, shop and seek entertainment. This city was designed to make walking very easy to do. When it was first developed walking was the main source of transportation, now that most of the people that live here could afford cars they chose to still walk. The people in this neighborhood chose to walk to most of the place since it is more attractive chose. I could see myself living in this kind of town since I do not drive and do not have a car to do so.

The second city in which I will be talking about is Venice, Italy. The reason why I chose this town is because it is surrounded by water which makes driving a car impossible. They use gondolas to get from one place to another. In this town a lot of people use the gondolas to get to work or to shop downtown. This is different from where I live and from Boston by that you could not walk to where you have to go. The factor that I am looking at when I am discussing this city is that it is an urban form of living. This is dominated by mostly human activity. In this city you will hardly see a place where they can grow their own food.

My hometown is New Columbia, which is located in Union County in Pennsylvania. I live in a rural farming area, so for this post, I will focus on Lewisburg, PA, also in Union County and is where I go shopping and visit restaurants. Lewisburg is a small “college” city like State College, but smaller and with relatively little urban density. The area is mixed with automobile suburbs and a downtown urban area that offers town housing and a shopping/food places along the main street. Lewisburg is located along the Susquehanna River and used to be a central location for transportation by canal and train. The streets downtown are built for pedestrians by providing crosswalks and pedestrian crossing lights for locals and visitors. In 2013, the total population was 5,733 within the approximately one-and-a-half square miles (1). I am connected to this town because I grew up 10 minutes from its downtown area and have visited it often since I was young. When I go back home, I still visit the bookstore and ice cream shop.

Copenhagen is a great example of how social norms are transformed through urban infrastructure. Lewisburg increasingly encourages recreational bike use, but not as a means of commute transportation like Copenhagen. Lewisburg’s residential housing is located in accessible automobile suburbs, and bike lanes/trails are not connected to these areas. Lewisburg is making sustainable improvements through their Susquehanna GreenWay projects. The GreenWays “protect natural, cultural, and scenic resources and provide recreational benefits” (2). One “green” improvement is The Buffalo Valley Rail Trail, which is a 9-mile trail that joins Lewisburg to its neighboring town Mifflinburg. People can access this trail that is paved over an old railway for non-motor use. I ride my bike on this trail, and it is scenic as it goes straight through agricultural farming areas in the valley. Non-motorized transportation is popular in Lewisburg recreationally, but more accessibility to trails is needed so citizens can commute. Hopefully, GreenWay projects continue making sustainable improvements to the urban physical infrastructure to shape the social norms to a transit bike community.

Detroit’s urban agriculture captured my interest because I believe growing/buying food locally is one of the greatest improvements to make in sustainable living. Community farming can reduce transportation costs and improve the quality of the food people eat. I noticed that while farmland surrounds Lewisburg, people in small suburbs shop at large retailers and do not get produce from local farmers, even the local farmers market imports various items. As in Detroit, the connection to the farmer is lost. In the module, community gardens are highlighted as recreational activities and not the main source of food for a community. Lewisburg has one community garden that I am aware of, but I do know many people have urban gardens, which provide food for their family. Lewisburg can become more sustainable by setting up a system with local farmers to serve locally grown produce to the community; this is challenging because Walmart, Weis, and Giant are situated between housing and farmland. Increased farmer’s markets that are open multiple days during the week can improve the sustainability of locals food-print.

1. My hometown is Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Doylestown is a rather small town with only about 8,000 residents in the 2.2 square miles that the town takes up. It is a suburb of Philadelphia which is only 27 miles away making it a popular automobile suburb. There are also many jobs in the urban parts of the town which make it somewhat pedestrian- oriented. I personally enjoy living in Doylestown, but there isn’t much to do. One good thing about it is that it is a drivable distance to Philadelphia, New York City, and the New Jersey beaches from there. There are many farms in the rural parts of the town where food is locally grown. It is also close to some big bodies of water such as the Delaware River.
2. The first city that I chose to discuss was Copenhagen. In this city they implemented car free streets that serve as public spaces for the residents. This caused people to start walking or cycling around town instead of driving cars and causing air pollution. This has led to many people walking around the beautiful city and it now has big public spaces for the people to enjoy. I think something similar could easily have the same effect in Doylestown. It is smaller than Copenhagen but still a very nice little town that has many roads going through it and there are small sidewalks that cyclists and pedestrians must share. I think making the two main roads that go through the center of town into public spaces would lead to fewer cars and encourage more bikes and walkers. This will be promoting environmentally healthy methods of urban transportation. I also think doing this will make the town more enjoyable for the residents.
3. The other city I would like to discuss is Bogota, Columbia. What this city does is have car free events. Every Sunday and holiday cars are banned for most of the streets in this city. This forces many people to bike or walk to places on these days which promotes good physical fitness and causes less air pollution due to the absence of car emissions. I really like this idea and I am surprised that it hasn’t gained more popularity in the United States. Implementing something like this in my town is very possible and would be good for everybody. I would love to see Doylestown filled with bikers and walkers instead of cars. It may be hard to do this because people have very different work schedules, but even if this is done once a month it will help with sustainability and may become more popular that way. This is truly a great idea that I think could definitely be successful in my hometown.

1. My city is Westfield, New Jersey. It is only thirty minutes outside New York City, and is an automobile suburb. The metropolitan area around my town consists of many of the suburbs of New York City, Jersey City, and Newark, which would be more than 10 million people.  My town contributes close to 31,000 to that total.  My town has a public high school, roads with sidewalks, and a train station to New York City.  Overall, I believe I have really benefited from living close to various important cities, while having a small, town-like feel in my personal backyard.  Westfield gave me a good public school setting, with small shops and restaurants, while having plenty ways to access larger cities.  Many people in my town commute to nearby cities either by car or train, rarely ever by bus.  My town does not have any open areas to grow crops, as most open spaces are built upon.
2. Copenhagen offers many insights into how Westfield, NJ could be more sustainable. The transportation mode of using bikes is one of the largest ideas. In my town, many people commute to New York City by train, but end up driving to the train in cars.  This creates a large amount of traffic, which wastes fuel as people sit still burning gasoline, as they drive to work and back.  Instead, if there were more bicycles that rode to the train, air quality would improve as a result of less fossil fuels being burned by cars.  It would also make the areas around schools less busy and dangerous for children.  Students could also even start riding bikes to school, as almost half of high school juniors and seniors, 600 total, drive to school. 700 miles per gallon could be utilized if everyone cycled rather than driving.  Once it begins, hopefully social norms will change and bikes will become part of daily, around town life.
3. Curitiba in Brazil is another city that my town could learn from to become more sustainable. Besides the train station in my town, the rest of our public transportation is insignificant. The one bus line that I know of is very unreliable and there are always groups of people waiting for it to arrive, late as usual. Many of these people are trying to commute to New York City and for some reason do not take the train, possibly because of cost.  If the bus system was redone, more people would ride the bus, instead of driving cars to the city. 330 miles per gallon per person is much more efficient than everyone driving their own cars.  People would be saving money by riding the bus, and the air quality in my town would improve.  Also, the bus company itself would be able to generate more revenue.  While changing the social norm of riding the bus will be difficult, I think when people see the cheaper cost and ease they will change.

-The town I live is Belmar, Central New Jersey; a few blocks from the beach. Although my neighborhood is generally packed with tourists all summer, I would consider my neighborhood to be both pedestrian-oriented, as well as automobile suburb and non-motorized suburb. The population is roughly 10,000 people in the metropolitan area. All the houses are close together, as well as schools, shops, so walking distance for pedestrians is never an issue. However, the downtown beach area consists of many motor vehicles such as motorcycles, cars, and water vehicles for transportation, so during the summertime the transportation varies. Of course we do have a high amount of pedestrians on the boardwalk and walking around by the downtown beach area, so I do consider this part of my town a non-motorized suburb. Depending on the season at the shore, my type of town changes. I have a close relationship with my town; people consider the beach their vacation, while I consider it home. I have grown up here my whole life in this beautiful environment.

-Just like Beacon Hill, Massachusetts, downtown Belmar is an urban area designed to make walking distances are attainable. The buildings are very close to each other for a specific reason; to make walking, work, social interactions, and entertainment distances accessible. In regards to urban density, Beacon Hill and downtown Belmar are both compact with taller buildings for more families to settle, and have lower use of automobiles because of shorter distance. These are considered mixed-use areas because shopping areas, grocery stores, and residence life are all very compact to each other, reducing the distance. Insights from Beacon Hill would help Belmar’s sustainability in such significant ways. Beacon Hill makes the environment more sustainable because it decreases pollution from car emission, as well as greater health because of high amounts of walking. Though Belmar is comparable to this, we have an issue with a high amount of motor scooters and water vehicles for entertainment, which we can learn from Beacon Hills ideas and methods to reduce this impact in order to stay more sustainable.
-Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, is a comparable area to the township of Belmar mainly because this is what my neighborhood looks like. In my neighborhood, most families commute to the city for banks and businesses, so we consider ourselves a streetcar suburb neighborhood just like Jamaica Plain. Although there is a larger amount of spacing between houses compared to Beacon Hill and downtown Belmar, we are still somewhat close and consist of local shops a few blocks away that are convenient and accessible. On a similar note, Jamaica Plain and the township of Belmar are both related to the idea of physical infrastructure, which makes the idea of sustainability a little more difficult for us. We have adapted and grown to the idea that roads and automobiles are our main way of transportation and operating in our daily lives. Transitioning to a less automobile concept would be difficult because this is the way our areas were created! Unless we cognitively consider carpooling, this sustainability idea for both these areas is far too complicated.

I live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which can be characterized as an urban-downtown setting. Philadelphia is the largest city within Pennsylvania as well as the fifth most populated city in the United States. It has been estimated that there were 1,560,297 people living in the city of Philadelphia in 2014. I may be bias, but I have done much traveling in my lifetime and I believe it is one of the most fascinating urban landscapes. The city is filled with people of different race, ethnicity, careers, ages, cultures, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Philadelphia is also influenced by a variety of environmental factors. Philadelphia experiences a vast array of seasons. Philadelphia sees snow and ice in January, the most beautiful cherry blossoms in April, dense humidity in July, and falling leaves in November. The Delaware River, as well as the Schuylkill River surround the city, both originally served as boundaries between the city’s early urban street plans. Philadelphia is divided into a number of large neighborhoods – North, Northeast, Northwest, West, South, and Southwest – each surrounds the Center City neighborhood.

Curitiba, Brazil, has one of the best bus systems in the world. The bus system in Philadelphia, commonly SEPTA, is known for a wide range of reasons. The city of Curitiba has a larger population than Philadelphia, but the population sizes are comparable and Philadelphia could make use of a similar bus system in an attempt to accomplish sustainability. Although Curitiba was compared to the city of Phoenix, Philadelphia is structured more similarly to Curitiba than to Phoenix. Philadelphia is not designed for efficient automobile transportation. Although people are always driving in Philadelphia, traffic is inevitable, which is not environmentally efficient. Traffic makes for inefficient transportation, but the bus system, along with the subway system, are alternative options that provide transportation in an inexpensive, timely manner. Philadelphia has hundreds of rapid transit routes into and out of the city. With bus stations placed all over the city, this mode of transportation is even more efficient. If more people in Philadelphia made use of the bus system, the city could reach a level of sustainability similar to that of Curitiba.

The final city I will be discussing is Boston, Massachusetts. Beacon Hill is a Boston neighborhood slightly north of Boston’s central public park and directly next to the downtown region of Boston. Beacon Hill is one of many neighborhoods in Boston, just as the city of Philadelphia is made up of dozens of neighborhoods. The downtown setting of the Beacon Hill neighborhood offers many options for dining, entertainment, socializing, shopping, and working. Certain areas around Beacon Hill and other neighborhoods in the city offer the opportunity for quiet, calm walking outside of the normal hustle-and-bustle of the busy, crowded city. Philadelphia is set up in a similar sense as both cities have neighborhoods that were developed over two hundred years ago. With the change in age, transportation changed, but the streets were originally designed to be walked on. In order to create a more sustainable environment, people living in cities like Boston or Philadelphia should make use of these quiet streets to walk to their destination, while taking a peaceful “break” from the city.

• My hometown is Ramsey, NJ. It is located in the northeastern tip of New Jersey. Being so far north, NYC is only 30 minutes away. I would consider Ramsey a medium sized town, compared to surrounding towns. The population has hovered around 15,000 people for the last 25 years. The urban density is low, the main dwelling are single family homes. I consider Ramsey to be an automobile suburb with few sidewalks. While there is two train stations and numerous bike paths, cars are needed to get most places, since a highway divides the town. The trains are manly used for citizens commuting into the city. Main Street is the town hub, there are many restaurants, businesses, and our high school. The streets of Copenhagen are somewhat similar. Even this street with so much packed on a 1 mile road, cars are still the popular mode for transportation, and when the train stops in town Main Street becomes a parking lot. Besides a few local gardeners the idea of urban agriculture is non-existent.

• Comparing Copenhagen and Ramsey is like comparing apples and oranges. Ramsey’s main street gives off a similar feel to many of Copenhagen’s pedestrian streets, but that is really the only similarity. The social norm is to still use cars even in these denser parts of Ramsey. I think it’s fair to assume that Ramsey’s car use compared to Copenhagen’s has caused a difference in air pollution. Ramsey does have some smoggy days every once and a while. Unfortunately, I don’t believe Ramsey will ever be able to eliminate cars as well as Copenhagen. Ramsey is very suburban so everything is very spaced out, which causes a very low urban density compared to Copenhagen. It would just not be effective for Ramsey citizens to walk everywhere. If Ramsey could renovate the bike paths and make a biking bridge over the highway, Ramsey could try and change the social norm from cars to bikes. Without a big change in transportation social norms, the sustainability in Ramsey will never compare to that of Copenhagen.

• I was pleasantly surprised with the video describing Detroit’s urban farming. Detroit’s dwindling population is beginning to drop the urban density to that of a large suburb similar to Ramsey. Ramsey has very little to no urban agriculture besides for a few local gardeners and a monthly farmers market. I feel that Ramsey has the land and a decent climate for a long growing season, in fact Ramsey became populated because of its strawberry farms during the early 1900s. If Ramsey could change their social norms back to local farming, it would not only give Ramsey’s citizens a trustworthy source of fresh food, but the town sustainability will increase. If Ramsey residents staring growing their own food in their suburban backyards, car use would also decrease since people would not need to drive to the supermarket as much. It seems plausible that urban farming could increase Ramsey’s sustainability in more than one way. I believe reforming Ramsey’s social norm to those of Detroit would be possible and the benefits will be well worth it.

My hometown is Ronkonkoma, New York. It is in the center of Long Island and is about 1 hour and 30 minutes East of New York City. In addition, the population is around 20,000 people. Living here, I am close to the beaches and that is my favorite part. With the closest beach being 15 minutes away, it is easy to spend most of my summer there. I would describe my hometown as an automobile suburb. Automobiles are a major form of transportation and every household has at least one automobile. Sidewalks are not always available to walk on and stores, gas stations, schools, restaurants are most easily accessed by automobile. Although there are a few public busses to use, they are not used often by the people in my town as people typically drive. I would consider my hometown to have a lower urban density since houses are surrounded by yards and are not densely packed together. There are also wide streets within the neighborhoods and this decreases the urban density of the area.

Comparing my hometown to Copenhagen, Denmark, there are clear differences in the levels of sustainability. In Copenhagen, many citizens travel on foot or by bicycle, while in my hometown people drive to where they need to go. It is easy to see how the low use of automobiles has increased the sustainability of Copenhagen as there is less air pollution compared to places with more automobile use. Since the use of bicycles is also a social norm in Copenhagen, it is widely accepted for people to use this. Their use of alternate transportation is a great alternative compared to my hometown, but since buildings in my hometown are relatively far from each other, it would be difficult to instill using bicycles as transportation. Also since this is not currently part of any social norms, it would be difficult to transition most people from cars to bicycles.

Comparing my hometown to Haiti, there are also clear differences in the levels of sustainability. In Haiti, there are more areas of urban farming and with this, the people are able to provide food for themselves and their families without having to travel far to get it. With urban farming the food is grown locally and, as it is stated in the module, requires less transportation and thus reduces the ecological footprint. In my hometown, there aren’t many people who have food gardens in their yards. My mom used to take care of one but because she became busier, she hasn’t had the time to tend to it. I think that this is a trend where I live because urban farming isn’t a necessity where I live as people can go to the store and buy their food. I think that urban farming would definitely increase the sustainability and decrease the ecological footprint, but I think the people are too busy to farm.

1. The town that I live in is Marlton, New Jersey.  It is located about 15 minutes from Philadelphia, and lot of lifestyle in my community is based off of our location.  There were an estimated number of 6,051,170 in the metropolitan area of Philadelphia, and its surrounding towns.  My town in particular has a population of 45,538 as of 2010. I believe that my town is a combination of the different types of neighborhoods such as pedestrian-oriented in some parts, urban downtown in other parts, and automobile suburb as well.  I think that it is a combination of all of the above because in some parts it has a main street type place with small close houses nearby where everyone can walk everywhere.  There is also parts of my town that are located close to public transportation to philly, and other parts of my town where cars are necessary.  I am very connected to my town, and all of the different neighborhoods, and people make the town the amazing, quaint place it is!
2. One of the cities I chose to relate to my town is Beacon Hill in Boston.  This is classified as a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood.  It is classified as this because it is located close to a major city, it offers many places to work, shop, and do other activities, and one can walk to all of these attractions.  This area makes the environment more sustainable because it decreases pollution from car emissions.  It also improves health by allowing people to walk to all of the different places.  Even though this town would have a lower unit density than a city with tall buildings, it contributes a lot to the sustainability.  This is similar to my town because there is an area of my town where people can walk to stores for shopping, walk to their work, walk to the grocery store, or a neighbors house or more. My city could become more sustainable by creating more main streets similar to this to reduce car use.
3. Another city that I chose to relate to my town of Marlton is Jamaica Plain in Massachusetts.  This is a streetcar suburb and is also located outside the major city of Boston (similar to how my town is located near Philadelphia).  This area had a rail line going through parts of it so that people can easily travel to the city.  This contributes to sustainability and in particular collective action.  This allows for more people to come together to ride this public transportation system, and decrease pollution, or traffic jams.  My town has something similar that travels to Philadelphia, and other major cities, known as the PATCO.  We could increase the sustainability of our town by having more convenient stops throughout our town rather than one or two stops close by.  Having more stops would make it more accessible, and desirable for people to use.

Huntingdon, Pennsylvania

Living in the rural area of Petersburg, about 20 minutes outside of State College, I decided to select the next nearest urban area: Huntingdon, PA. Huntingdon is an older urban area situated about 45 minutes south-west of State College with a population of about 7,000. The development is an automobile oriented development where the main form of transportation out of and towards the city center is vehicle based. Driving a car through Huntingdon is still difficult if you do not know the area even as the preferred method of transportation: the roads are a puzzle of one to two lane one way streets that make it difficult to drive directly to your designated location. The city is fairly clean, although sidewalks are small and poorly lit at night which makes walking unfavorable even during the day. The city boasts a large skate and green walking parks along the Juniata River which flows along the edge of the city separating the urban development from Route 22. Other than serving as the county’s seat, the city is mostly residential with a few small family retail shops and restaurants.

Copenhagen, Denmark

As we studied in both Module 4 and 7, Copenhagen is known for their pedestrian and bicycle friendly streets. Although in both Huntingdon and in Copenhagen the speed limits for vehicles are low, Copenhagen is pedestrian oriented making citizens more physically active, socially engaged, and the practice lowers the environmental impacts vehicles have on the city. The density of Huntingdon would allow at least most of the city to travel by foot or bike for daily transit. Making the commercial/retail area roads pedestrian only would increase physical activity as well as promote the local economy as the commercial establishments that take money from the area are located farther away from the city’s core. Transitioning to a more sustainable transit would initially cost a lot to transform the roads, but due to local farms and parks the cognitive transition would be fairly smooth with a little promotion.

Bogotá, Columbia

Along with making roads more pedestrian friendly, Bogotá’s Ciclovia car-free event lets the sustainable practice of bicycling and walking to and from destinations, it also engages the community to take part and get active. The event reminds me of the holiday road close-offs for memorial day and People’s choice which both occasions really get people out walking, socializing, and shopping where they would normally be driving. Noting similar events are implemented here, creating a local weekly ciclovia in Huntingdon could be integrated with local flea and farmer’s markets to, yet again, promote the local economy. Less car emissions from traveling and transportation of goods, healthy practice by eating fresh locally grown foods and walking to engage in activities, as well as making Huntingdon a place to come and take part in the event would bring more revenue to the city.

Since my township was too small, we went to a combined high school of a small town about 3 towns over. (I hope it’s ok to combine these two towns for the sake of this lesson.) I grew up in a small automobile suburb of Branchburg, New Jersey. We had all different types of neighborhoods, from (suburban) mansions to well kept trailer parks. The town we shared high schools with had a small, walkable down town area with a slightly higher urban density as an older automobile-suburb town. The towns were both basically known as our ‘hometown’ considering how much time I spent in the town in high school. Branchburg was a larger township with about 14,566 (c. the 2000 census), Somerville’s denser population was at 12,171 in 2013. Both towns have a few populated high ways splitting them right in half-making having a car essential to get anywhere in Branchburg. (I was pretty bored until I got my drivers license..) Most areas in Somerville allowed people walk to downtown.

There was a small street in the downtown area of Somerville much like the one in Copenhagen where they closed down the street for more walking and activities. In warmer weather, they often have nightly music entertainment. People from surrounding towns, mostly Branchburg and Somerville, would come and sit at an outdoor restaurant or seating area while kids could run around or go get ice cream. It was a recent transition but it has really started to bring some more life to the small towns. The restaurants and shops get more business during the events, which means more for the local economy. It also gets people out and walking and interacting with others, when it’s so easy for ‘suburbians’ to just go home and watch TV all night. On a personal note, my dads classic rock band (yes, a kick-butt dad band) played and it was nice to be able to bring my friends to see him as well as interact with them and get some fresh air on a beautiful summer night!

While Somerville is similar to the picture shown of Jamaica Plain, Boston, Branchburg has a few neighborhoods similar to Rochester, NY. Luckily, my neighborhood had side walks so I could see moms walking their dog, or the local cross country star who lived the neighborhood over sprint by at least 3 times a day. Although, like I mentioned, there was a high way going straight through my town, making the car only suitable transportation, people still found ways to get out and exercise. There is a lot of farmland in and around Branchburg that is not being used for local farming. I think the town could really use a nice local farmers market. Families with large backyards could also take advantage of their lands to make a small garden.

1. I live in a small town called Doylestown, Pennsylvania. It is located about 30 miles northeast of Philadelphia. The population of Doylestown is about 8,400 in the borough and 17,500 in the township. In the borough (downtown) of Doylestown, it would be considered a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood.  The houses are very close to together, there are shops and sidewalks for people to get to place to place.  There is a train station within walking distance, and city bus route. I live in the suburban (township) part of Doylestown that would be considered an automobile suburb. The houses are not close together, and generally people have an acre or two of land. There are no sidewalks for pedestrians, and to be honest walking along the main roads can be dangerous. We have to use an automobile to go shopping or to a place of work. When it comes to resident healthy, in the borough, where urban density is higher, you see people walking all the time. However in the township, you don’t see many people walking, however we do have about 5 gyms within a few mile radius and generally the gyms are packed. I love my community and I have lived here my entire life, so there is no surprise I have a very strong emotional connection to the area. I have grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins that live within 20 minutes of me. In addition, we are so close to so many great places to visit because we are 1 hour from Philadelphia, 2 hours from New York City and Baltimore, and only about 1 hour and 30 minutes from the beach.

2.The first city I selected to discuss is Copenhagen, which is the capital of Denmark. Cycling as a way of transportation has become the social norm in Copenhagen. Like my area, it can have snowy times of the year, but despite the weather, bikes have become a popular mode of transportation. They have transitioned areas to encourage biking and walking. They have lowered the speed of neighborhoods. Although, Doylestown is in no way as congested as Copenhagen, we still have some high traffic areas, and we have no bike routes.  We do have one main road that was recently built where the state did put a bike route and pedestrian path along side of it, so we are starting to think differently. Although it would take resources and modifications, we could become a more sustainable community if we encouraged biking as a way of transportation.  It would help not only help with pollution, but also encourage exercise and improve the health of our residents.

3.The second town I selected is Curitiba Brazil, which has one of the world’s best bus systems. As I mentioned above, Doylestown does have a bus system, but nothing compared to Curitiba. Doylestown does have a much smaller population and urban density is much lower, but I have to say we could use a better bus system, and encouragement to use them. Our buses run every 45 minutes, so you have to have a lot of patience, and if you miss the bus, you have to wait another 45 minutes for the next one to come. But honestly, I have never known anyone to even use the buses. In addition, we have very limited bus stops on each route.  I think if we had a bus system that ran more frequently, had more convent stops and the community encouraged it, it would develop a collection action, as more people would use the bus system. Less cars on the road would of course help reduce pollution, but also people walking to bus stops encourages exercise.

I live in a central New Jersey suburban town called South Brunswick.  South Brunswick is a decent sized town and would most likely be considered an automobile suburb.  Although some neighborhoods have sidewalks, mine specifically does not and I know of others that only have the automobile road as well. I’m not sure that there is one specific place to be considered the metropolitan area however the town has around 37,734 people living in it.  That being said my transportation mode for most of my childhood was by car, being driven to friends houses across town or to the mall which would usually be somewhere about fifteen minutes away.  There was always an occasion where I would ride my bike to a friend that lived close by to me, however that was rare, as my parents did not find the roads safe enough to ride my bike on especially with the lack of sidewalks.  The same goes fro many other kids in my town however you do see a decent amount of bikers during the warmer seasons which I would guess keeps our resident health up.

The first city I chose is Rochester, New York.  Rochester is an automobile suburb with a variety of neighborhoods just like Boston and like my hometown South Brunswick, New Jersey.  Specifically in Rochester the urban density does not seem to be very high along with my hometown South Brunswick and especially in my own neighborhood.  My neighborhoods urban density recently slightly went up however, as they turned one of my neighbors houses into a place for two families. Overall much like Rochester, there are few sidewalks and to get anywhere you use a car, very rarely does anyone walk to get anywhere unless they are down the street.  Reading about Rochester makes me realize that perhaps if they had more sidewalks the traffic would be much calmer and the same goes for South Brunswick.  As it says in the module transitioning into sustainability takes a lot of work and a lot of rebuilding, who knows, in Rochester sidewalks could be the first step.

The second city I chose is Detroit, Michigan.  Detroit, as said in the module “makes a good case study for “urban agriculture”.  Downtown Detroit did not previously have grocery stores offering fresh produce prior to them having urban agriculture and it has reshaped diets in Detroit and across the country.  This has allowed Detroit more affordable and healthier produce for the people in its environment.  It allows more people to make a living off of selling their produce.  On top of that it reduces their ecological footprint.  To connect that to my hometown there are a couple of houses that have their own garden near me but enough that there would be a time for them to sell at a market.  If more people went out of their way to be involved in urban farming it would improve resident health, because of the physical aspect of being outside and physically farming as well as reducing our ecological footprint.

I am from a town in the south hills of Pittsburgh called Peters Township. I spent my whole life in Peters Township until I moved to State College for school. Peters Township is approximately forty-five minutes outside of Pittsburgh and is in a different county than Pittsburgh. Peters Township is a typical suburb with neighborhoods and shopping centers as well as public parks and local farms. The township population is approximately forty-six thousand people. Peters Township is located far enough away from the city so that there is no public transportation in the town; everyone travels by car. The public and private schools utilize buses but that is the only other means of transportation with in the town. Many professionals that live in Peters Township commute into Pittsburgh every day.

As was mentioned in the module, Bogota, Colombia has implemented Ciclovia every Sunday and holiday during which the streets are closed for cars and opened to pedestrians. The citizens come to walk, dance, workout, cycle, skate, and more. This event promotes regular physical activity within the community and decreases pollution from cars.   In Peters Township, one day each summer, we celebrate community day. On this day the Peters Township residents have a mini Ciclovia. I think Peters Township should learn from Bogota and have more regular park events that promote exercise and health as well as decrease pollution from cars.   Throughout Peters Township there is a public trail on which people ride bikes, skate, and walk. While the trail is a nice feature, I believe a public event would be more successful at increasing physical activity and improving public health.

In the module we also learned about Curitiba’s bus system and its success as a public transit system. Curitiba implemented a bus system because it would have proven difficult to build an affordable subway system. I think Curitibia is a perfect example of a community determining the most sustainable improvement for public transportation and then acting upon it. As I mentioned previously, many residents of Peters Township commute into Pittsburgh on a daily basis via automobiles. I believe Peters Township could learn from Curitiba’s success and begin moving towards a more sustainable mode of transportation for the daily commute into Pittsburgh. In the bordering townships there are public transit trolleys that travel from the south hills into Pittsburgh. Peters Township could investigate extending the trolley tracks into a location within the township and provide incentives for residents to use the public transit rather than using their automobiles.

I live in a rather rural area, but the closest city of significant size is Scranton.  Dubbed “The Electric City,” Scranton is located in Lackawanna county in northeast Pennsylvania along interstate 81.  It consists of a city center like an urban downtown, with houses surrounding it on the outside in a somewhat suburban fashion.  Including its metropolitan area, the total population is about 560,000.  My connection with Scranton is that my campus is located within its metropolitan area, and if I ever want to do something, such as go to the movies, or go out to dinner, I have to make my way to Scranton to do so.  Many of you may know Scranton as the city that the television show “The Office” is based in.

One of the cities from the module that I found unique was Curitiba.  The specific aspect I found interesting was their transportation mode – the bus system.  Curitiba has about 2 million people that live in the city.  They were unable to build a subway system due to cost, so they built the city around the bus by making dedicated roads for buses and creating a pay ahead system for speeding the process up.  Scranton does have a bus system, but the buses share the same roads as the car.  Scranton is still mostly a city where everyone owns their own car.  If Scranton could implement a bus system like the one in Curitiba, less people would need their own vehicle, which will in turn improve the overall sustainability of the city.  However, it may be very costly in the beginning since Scranton was not built around the bus from the beginning.

The other city that I found interesting in how they help create sustainable development is Bogota in Colombia.  Bogota is said to be the world leader in weekly car-free events that they call Ciclovias.  This again could be considered as a part of their transportation mode.  During these times, cars are not allowed on more than 75 miles of the city’s streets.  With the streets clear, people can freely bicycle, skate, or walk on the streets.  Not only does this sound fun, but it’s a great way to get people active.  With less cars on the road, the city’s air quality would also improve.  Scranton could probably adopt a similar method like Bogota’s to help create sustainable development.  People already bike and walk in the city, but not on such a grand scale.  I think it would be really interesting to see how it would affect Scranton.

Currently I’m living in Casablanca, Morocco. It’s Morocco’s biggest city located on the western coastline. It’s a major port city and home to almost 3.5 million people. The types of neighborhoods that you can find here cover the entire range, though it’s dangerous to use any of the popular modes of transportation. From my perspective, enforcement of traffic laws is almost completely nonexistent, making it very dangerous to be a pedestrian, cyclist, or fellow motorist on any of the streets here. Morocco has vast amounts of farmland outside of the cities that provide their cities with year around produce that is cheap and affordable. Many people that do have jobs within the Metropolitan area work in trade/shipping, banking, and government. This place is full of different culture, it can be very dirty and sometimes dangerous, but it can also be beautiful.

Copenhagen is a much smaller city but Casablanca could learn so much from them. Casablanca could emplace and enforce strict traffic laws that facilitate travel by pedestrians and cyclists and much of the day to day traffic would go away. Changing Casablanca to a ‘bicycle-oriented’ system would be the easiest sustainable change to make because of how little the existing infrastructure would have to change. Morocco also already has great weather that would ease this type of travel. This is a difficult comparison to make though, because the differences in socio economics between the two countries are vast; average household size in Denmark is much smaller than in Morocco, Denmark has a much more favorable GDP, and education standards here aren’t nearly as high as they are in Europe; most of these people aren’t remotely aware of the carbon footprint they leave by living the way that they do.

Curitiba’s population and size is very comparable to Casablanca’s. A mass transit system based on principles established by Curitiba would be perfect for this place. It would cut down on traffic which would in turn cut down on air pollution, providing a healthier environment for the residents. It could save people money in a place where money is already very tight. A reliable mass transit system could even help provide opportunities for people to seek employment in places within the city that they wouldn’t have been able to travel to before. Getting children to education centers would also be streamlined, which would also be good for Morocco’s future. Transitioning from the automobile oriented to a mass transit or streetcar oriented system would be very challenging because of the associated expenses, as well as the major changes and modifications that the existing infrastructure would require.

1. I live in Oyster Bay, New York, a small town on Long Island. I would categorize my town as a mix between a Streetcar Suburb and Automobile Suburb. Many people from my town commute to the city, in this case New York City, which is the metropolitan area, via car making it an automobile suburb. There are many people in residential and commercial areas roughly 300,000 people. However, there are many sidewalks in the neighborhood and houses are often walking distance from each other making it a streetcar suburb. I do not live in a neighborhood, I live on a block therefore I am located farther from my town’s services and have no sidewalks unlike those who do live in a neighborhood in my town. Many large facilities such as supermarkets, shopping centers, and offices are located in a distance from the town that a car is much needed. However, smaller shops such as nail salons and little boutiques are in walking distance. I moved to Oyster Bay when I was in 2^nd grade so I made most of my childhood memories here and learned to love this place.
2. The first place I am going to discuss is Bogota. Prohibiting cars to be used every Sunday and holiday can benefit my town’s safety and simply make my town more interesting. Especially in the summer or spring when the weather is nice many people go for runs, bike rides and other activities along the streets. Having no cars on certain days or even reducing speed limits will increase safety and decrease chaos. Having Ciclovis will also benefit my town by bringing the people together to have some fun by doing activities such as dances and aerobics. The problem however is getting people to agree with this event. Cars are used all day everyday to be efficient and manage time. For most people, if they found out cars were banned for a day they would not be happy.
3. Detroit and the state of Michigan use urban farming to help sustain their living. This can benefit my town because Oyster Bay is a suburban town as well. In the video, the man is growing his own crops in his backyard. Although obtaining unlimited amounts of food in my town is an option unlike Detroit, the idea of urban farming, which is pesticide free and has lower costs, results in a healthier living. Using unused or affected land and turning it into a healthy farm to grow fresh produce not only helps the people of our community, but it also helps the environment. There are several places in my town that are suitable to transform into an urban farm in order to improve sustainability.

My town is Huntingdon Valley, located in Pennsylvania, about a twenty minute car ride into the city of Philadelphia. It is mainly an automobile suburb, however there tends to be a good amount of pedestrians in both the residential zones and commercial area where the stores are located. About 21,400 people, as of 2014, live in Huntingdon Valley. The metropolitan area of my town would be considered to be Philadelphia, because it is the closest city. Its population is about 1.6 million, as of 2013. I grew up in Huntingdon Valley, so I have been accustomed my entire life to an automobile suburb, and the logistics of having to drive places. However, my grandma lives right in Philadelphia, so by spending time with her there, I have experienced how life in the city differs in that it is more convenient to walk or bike everywhere.

The first city I will discuss from this module is Rochester, New York. There are a variety of types of neighborhoods in Rochester, however I have chosen to focus on an automobile suburb as shown on the module, because it relates to my neighborhood. As I discussed in the question before, people in a neighborhood like mine rely heavily on cars to transport to places like work, school, and stores. As discussed in the section concerning Urban Design and Transport, one problem with this type of community is resident health, because those driving cars do not walk or bike as much as those in cities because they need to depend on their cars to get places. An important aspect of sustainability would be to promote resident health by the incorporation of more trails and parks in suburbs, which is definitely happening and already reaping benefits in my hometown.

The next city I have chosen to focus on is Bogota, Colombia, one that I can compare to Philadelphia, PA. A huge project in sustainable development that Bogota, Colombia has taken up is weekly car-free events, which they call Ciclovias. During these events, cars are restricted, and even forbidden, to drive on the streets. This encourages walking, biking, and other forms of exercise for transportation. The benefits of this are substantial: people get exercise, it lifts the spirits of many people, and most significantly, it is wonderful for the environment because of the reduction in harmful car emissions. Apparently, this type of event is spreading across the world, but Bogota holds the largest one. Because this city is so similar to Philadelphia regarding the amount of people and traffic, I would be curious to see how an event like this would go over in Philadelphia. It would definitely benefit both the people and especially the environment, but logistically it might hinder a lot of people in their travels.