Bethlehem By Foot

As a student of urban design and planning policies, I find myself constantly analyzing the streetscapes of the environments in which I spend my life. My eyes have been trained to notice some of the subtle details that the average person simply passes by and takes for granted. For example, rounded curb corners are prevalent in suburban areas, because those areas have chosen to make automotive travel as easy as possible (in this case, to minimize the need for an automobile to slow down while turning a corner). While this design may save a little bit of gas by utilizing momentum instead of requiring the vehicle to accelerate from a stand-still, rounded corners are a nightmare for pedestrians, because drivers have learned that they do not have to slow down much at all to make those turns, thus they are less likely to notice the pedestrian trying to cross the street. Indeed, these areas as they are designed are not meant for pedestrians, whether a crosswalk exists there or not.

My life has recently changed somewhat drastically. After graduating with a Master's degree from the University of Utah and searching endlessly for employment, I finally achieved what almost 12% of American college graduates right now have not: I got a job... in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania! Although the job doesn't pay what I know I'm worth, and I'm not doing what I really want to be doing, I am employed. And thank God for that! But I am also suddenly alone. My wife of three years will remain in Salt Lake City to finish her graduate program until December, when she will drive across country to her new home. For the purposes of this blog, the key concept in the previous sentence is this: she has our only car. Now, I'm sure that we could afford to buy a second car, even on the pitiful wages that I am making, but considering that we already spend almost $400 per month (including payment, insurance, gas, and up-keep) on the one car, it would be great if we could save $4,000 to $5,000 per year (and unknown amounts of carbon and soot pollutants) by not investing in another vehicle.

So, this leaves us with the current situation: I am in a brand new city by myself for 6 months, 2,000 miles away from the only vehicle I own. Luckily, Bethlehem is a very old city; therefore, it was built before automobiles dominated. In the downtown and the older neighborhoods, the streets are generally narrow (which serves to slow traffic), the buildings front the street (which gives pedestrians a comforting sense of partial enclosure), cars are perpetually parked on the sides of the streets (further protecting pedestrians from the already slowed traffic), and all of the areas have been zoned for mixed uses (which, above all else, makes pedestrian travel possible and worth while). I hasn't taken me long to realize that this Christmas City USA (as it is known) has a great deal to teach us about how cities are meant to function. On the other hand, there are also many areas in which Bethlehem can improve.

This blog is meant to call attention to these areas of excellence and those in need of improvement, with the hope that readers without any urban design training, and perhaps those that have never thought about these issues before, will begin to take notice of their own environments and seek for ways of improving them. We live in a society that values democratic participation, especially in local governmental issues. City design should be one of these issues, because, as I will discuss in posts to come, the design of our environments has strong impacts on our behaviors, our physical existence, and even our psyches. I hope that I can convince you of this so that you will try to influence your own local policies for the betterment of your communities. Even more than this, as I have just alluded to, this blog is meant to be a commentary on current design policies, their resulting impacts, and suggestions for new policies that are based on real-world examples and current research. I will do this through multimedia as much as possible, so look for some embedded YouTube videos in the near future.

I don't pretend to know everything, and I'm sure that some of my points will make some readers uncomfortable, and perhaps even anger a few. If I can create any kind of response from my blogging, either positive or negative, then I've done what I have set out to do. I will be sharing my journey of living in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for six months without a car, and I want you to share with me your own thoughts in return. Please leave comments, insights, questions, talking points, and your own examples of your living environments. This blog is not so much for me to document my unusual life over the next half year, but it is more about sharing my knowledge and experiences with you for your benefit and general enrichment of you and your communities. If you find that I am not doing this effectively, please let me know and suggest how I can do it better.

On that note, let's get on with it!