Why Cities Should Invest In Parks

Some of the most beautiful cities that I have been to have seemed full of public parks. Some of these parks have been rural and located in outer parts of the city, while others are more centrally located downtown. I believe that cities that invest in park building can greatly increase the quality of the surrounding area.

Parks are Free: When enjoying a busy day of shopping, many people feel at some point that they need a break from spending money. When trapped in a mall, shoppers are constantly bombarded with advertisements and loud noises. If shoppers in a downtown area can walk into a peaceful park for a rest, they may appreciate feeling this free form of relaxation. Rejuvenated, shoppers may then continue shopping more happily and actually spend more.

Parks Drive Traffic: When choosing an area to spend time, most people will choose an area with some aesthetic appeal over an area otherwise full of similar buildings. Parks can use this appeal to attract pedestrians, artists looking for inspiration and passerbys. An increase in foot traffic can even draw pedestrians by itself; people are drawn to crowds. Increasing foot traffic can bring people into stores, increasing sales revenues and thus tax revenues for the municipality.

Parks Keep People Happy: The needs of many different types of people can be served through parks. When citizens of cities can find ways to pursue their interests such as playing sports on a field in a public park, they are more likely to feel happy. Happy people are less likely to commit crimes or otherwise detract from the utility of a city. When people are happy, everything moves more smoothly.

This is a picture I took in a park from my hometown!

How Worcester is Keeping College Graduates

I have lived in and around Worcester for most of my life and I used to think that when given a choice, most people would choose to relocate. However, Worcester has been undergoing a lot of changes over the past several years and I have begun to notice a new trend. As many of my friends who go to college in Worcester are graduating, I have noticed that many of them are choosing to stay put. I am about to enter my senior year and I am starting to think that I may want to as well because I have begun to see a lot of things that are actually attractive about living in Worcester.

Worcester is Cheap: Despite the fact that Worcester is the second largest city in both Massachusetts and New England, it has an overall cost of living about 15% below the state average. In particular, the cost of owning or renting a home is significantly less than in other areas. In contrast, Boston has a cost of living about 20% above the state average. Realistically, this means that the price of a three bedroom apartment in Worcester can equate to the price of a studio apartment in Boston.

Worcester Pays Well: I have always thought that many Massachusetts graduates move to Boston after college to find good paying jobs. I was wrong. I did some research and to my surprise, I found that starting salaries for college graduates in Boston are only about 2% higher than salaries for equivalent jobs in Worcester. When considering salary and cost-of-living, college graduates living and working in Worcester end up with between $5,000 - $10,000 more in disposable income on average per year. This is enough to feel significant for many college graduates.

Worcester Residents Work Everywhere: Even when graduates decide that they want to live in Worcester but would rather work elsewhere, they can. Worcester is approximately located between Boston, Providence and Springfield. This places four medium to large cities within commuting distance from Worcester, which greatly increases job opportunities. Worcester itself has begun to develop a base of biotech companies that tend to hire many graduates.

Worcester is a City in Transition: Worcester's importance as an industrial city peaked in the 1950's and then underwent a long period of decay. However, Worcester is starting to show new signs of life. Downtown is being completely redesigned through a long-term project called City Square. The project is a public-private partnership that is seeking to bring residential and commercial activity downtown by creating a new shopping district, better highway access and improved services. For a long time the project seemed to be going nowhere, but recently the speed has picked up and downtown is beginning to come to life. New businesses and restaurants are moving downtown and I have begun to feel an urban pulse for the first time while walking through the city. It seems now that Worcester is moving in a great direction and will continue to develop into a first-class city over the next several years.

As I begin my job search for after graduation, I think that I will strongly consider remaining put in Worcester.

Why I Love New York's Bike-Share

New York City unveiled it's new bike-share program officially on Monday. It follows earlier adoption of bike-share programs in other cities such as Boston. The bike-share places 6,000 bikes in racks throughout Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn and the city promises to continue to expand by adding more racks. People can opt to purchase yearly, weekly or daily memberships for a bike. You simply take a bike from a rack and return it to any other rack with an empty slot 30 to 45 minutes later.

This bike-share program can help commuters and tourists travel the city without the frustration of driving or hailing a taxi.  Based on the volume and spread of bike racks, commuters can cut down on walking time when compared to riding the subway. The racks lock bikes automatically so participants need not worry about purchasing locks or having their own bikes stolen. Encouraging bike use will also help New Yorkers to get some extra exercise!

Why Live in the Cold: Climate v. Productivity

I have always hated the long, cold and snowy New England winters and it seems that most of the people who live here do as well. I spent a lot of time wondering why then do people actually stay here generation after generation. It seems that people complain all year about the climate but they refuse to move. Why stay in the North when you could instead enjoy the beautiful climate of the sunbelt?

I have a theory. People who live in areas with better weather get less done. Would you rather work harder and hope the boss notices in time for your performance review or take a vacation day and go to the beach? If you said that you would pack up and head to the beach I will give you some more information. It is January and you live in Massachusetts. Sorry, it looks like you will be clocking some extra hours at work. For those of you who live in Florida, enjoy the sun!

Now in case you don't believe me, here are some interesting statistical maps that I found.

This one is a map of states ranked by per capita income. Dark green states are those with the highest income levels. Notice that with the exception of California, most of these states are concentrated in the North.

This is a map of plant hardiness zones, which are determined by temperature ranges. Warmer orange colors indicate warmer climates while cooler blue and purple colors indicate colder climates.

Now compare both of the maps and notice that there is a general relationship between dark green states from map number one and colder states from map two.

Decline of the Automobile

Cars have been an important if not essential element of America life for the past 100 years. Every decade, Americans owned more cars and drove more miles per person. That is, until around 2005. Over the past 5-10 years, Americans for the first time have begun to reduce their total distance per person and car ownership per capita. While some may attribute the decrease to a turbulent economic climate, I believe that it is actually the sign of the beginnings of a paradigm shift. I expect that over the next several decades, this trend will continue and eventually cars will become much less important than they are today. But why?

Suburbs are retreating back into cities. Rather than moving into new developments further and further out into the exurbs, Americans increasingly are relocating to urban centers. This can be attributed to many things such as job opportunities, commute times, etc. However this means that if this trend continues, over time fewer and fewer people will need to commute long distances from semi-rural locations into cities to work. Instead, cities themselves will grow much faster than the rate of population growth. This will encourage cities to build up methods of public transportation because demand will rise and many cities, such as New York or Boston, cannot handle more cars on the streets. 

Over the past ten years gas prices have become increasingly unpredictable. Tensions are hot in the Middle East and Americans felt the effects of several dramatic spikes in gas prices. For most people, income remains constant and many expenses do as well. It can be stressful, particularly for those who do not make a comfortable amount of money, not to be able to predict expenses for gas. Additionally, there seems to be an emerging trend of environmental conscientiousness which discourages excessive driving. 

My 5 Favorite American Cities

1. Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu is fantastic because it is such a self-contained city. Being on the island of Oahu in the Pacific Ocean, the city has to perform all of the functions of a larger city. The city itself has only about 400,000 people, but the skyline of Honolulu resembles that of a much larger city. Despite its geographic isolation from the rest of the United States, Honolulu remains an influential and powerful city. Hawaiians are known for their relaxed lifestyle and residents of Honolulu can enjoy warm weather, great beaches and abundant sunshine year-round.

2. San Diego, California

Much like Honolulu, San Diego is known for it's beautiful climate. The temperature year round stays between 60 and 80 Degrees Fahrenheit and San Diego is one of the sunniest cities in the country. The climate is probably one of the reasons that San Diego is known for fitness; the city is full of runners, bikers and other outdoor enthusiasts. In fact, San Diego was ranked by Forbes as one of the healthiest cities in the country for 2013. San Diego is a major west coast center for the insurance and banking industries and is growing rapidly. For those who love the climate of Southern California but fear moving to Los Angeles, San Diego is the place to be.

3. Boston, Massachusetts

I think that I am particularly partial to Boston because I have spent most of my life living near it and visited frequently. Boston is a city that prides itself on its history and as such is full of museums and historic buildings. Despite having hot humid summers and cold snowy winters, Boston like San Diego was ranked by Forbes as one of the healthiest American cities, coming in at number 3. Boston only has about 700,000 people, but its population grows everyday with a huge influx of commuters from the surrounding area. Many of these workers come to Boston for its prominence as a finance or biotechnology center; Boston is known for creating high-wealth jobs. Perhaps my favorite thing about Boston is the population itself. Bostonians tend to be progressive, fashion-conscious and caring about the environment. For those who like the feel of European cities, come to visit Boston. 

4. Portland, Oregon

Portland made my list for reasons that are not very similar to the other cities on the list. Unlike sunny San Diego and tropical Honolulu, Portland exists in a marine climate with many gloomy, rainy days. The people here are known for being very unique and tend to appreciate nature more than those in other areas in the country. For instance, there are currently at least 5 Whole Foods Markets within the city limits of Portland. The city is known for green-construction and is one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country. In an era where we seek to reduce our dependency on cars and foreign oil, Portland sets the bar high.

5. Washington D.C.

Washington D.C. is perhaps the most beautifully planned city that I have ever been to. The streets are arranged in a nearly perfect grid, except for large avenues named for states that run at diagonals and connect several large rotaries throughout the city. The Federal Government buildings are prominently displayed along the National Mall. The government operates the Smithsonian museums, which are always free to the public. Washington D.C. would be at the top of my list if it were not for two things. The city is ravaged by a large racially divided wealth gap and has one of the worst performing education systems in the country. The Southeast quadrant of the city, across the Anacostia River is the center of these problems; I think that this is particularly sad in our nations capital city.

The End of the Semi-Urban Landscape

I have a theory that over the next 100 or so years many of the semi-urban towns that have come to populate areas such as New England will fade away. First I want to describe what I mean by a semi-urban town because this moniker is not in itself descriptive enough. I am referring to areas with somewhere between 25,000 and 75,000 residents that have many of the expanded municipal functions of larger cities such as hospitals, shopping centers or public transportation systems. Additionally, these towns must be between 30 and 90 minutes from a larger city by car.

The trend of urbanization over the past 150 years seems to have encouraged the development of these small city-like areas. In New England specifically, larger cities have these almost suburban satellite cities that fill up much of the landscape. An example of this is somewhere like Amherst, Massachusetts. Amherst is about 45 minutes outside of Springfield, which is the hub of Western Massachusetts with about 150,000 people. At this distance, residents of Amherst generally would not commute to Springfield to work or for other needs such as visiting a hospital or shopping. However, the communities that are between Amherst and Springfield naturally direct their traffic towards Springfield for their needs as it is within a reasonable driving distance. Effectively, this keeps areas like Amherst from developing into true cities because they are close enough areas like Springfield to remain in their shadows. Small cities like Amherst will never have the population to support first rate services that are offered in larger cities.

I think that these small cities can be traced back to when a much higher percentage of the population was employed in farming. Small farming centers would develop naturally and evenly spaced throughout a belt of farms. People may live in the central development but many would work in the farms. Because so many people were employed in farming, the development of large cities was more limited. Over time however as people moved out of the farming occupation, they remained in these small satellite cities and much of the land that was formerly farmland became suburbs of large cities.

It seems that there is an emerging trend in the United States of people for the first time choosing to leave the suburbs for the central city that the suburb revolves around. This seems to be due to a number of factors including rising transportation costs, increased commuter traffic and perhaps a decline of crime rates in cities. As people move back to central cities, these cities will be able to offer even more services  and become more efficient. Eventually, smaller cities outside of the suburban ring will begin to suffer and I think that eventually many of these areas will greatly diminish in importance.

Exploring the Urban Landscape

When I was a little kid, I remember sitting with my Aunt Judy and spending hours reading the Atlas. We would talk about all sorts of things and learn facts about all different parts of the country and the world. I would always wish that I could see all of the places that I saw in the Atlas. I spent months memorizing all of the states and capitals and later I moved to countries and capitals.

My interest did not stop here. After some time, learning about specific places was not enough to satisfy me; I wanted to know more about the people who lived in those places. I began trying to learn about demographics and I eventually became interested in sociology as well. I hope to be able to share some of my opinions as well as some of the information that I have gathered over the years. Perhaps I should start with some background on my own environment.

I grew up in the small town of Sutton, Massachusetts. I moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, a relatively small city, for college. I would say that these two areas really resemble all of New England in many ways. Worcester in particular was settled hundreds of years ago with little planning. As such, the city streets spread every which way causing traffic jams at seemingly every hour of the day. Interestingly enough, the city attempts to solve many of these traffic problems by constructing rotaries that can be fed by as many as six streets. Yet despite the relative disorganization in the city layout, there are some really interesting parts of the city. 

It seems that Worcester was built in a time before New England decided on it's now traditional style of architecture. As a result, one of the main residential sections of the city, the West Side, has a mix of Mediterranean, Tudor, Victorian and Federalist architectural styles all right next to one another. I tend to take a lot of pictures of the places that I visit, but unfortunately I do not have many pictures of Worcester that describe the phenomenon that I am describing. I will try to take some on a nice day and add them in. 

The Beginning of an Adventure

My name is Zach. I have spent most of my life thinking about what I wanted out of it; I have never felt like I truly knew where I would end up or what things I would encounter along the way. It is 1:24 A.M. and I am sitting in my apartment. 

It was the first week of February when I first wrote this; my junior year of college was more than halfway over and I had not done anything yet which I considered to be significant. It is now the summer before my senior year and I can feel my life starting to take shape.

I am a business student, but I have always had a love for writing. I thought for a while that I might become an English major, but I worried that I couldn’t make a career out of that. My whole life I have focused on always doing what is right and most beneficial; I have had little time to consider the implicit impact of these positive decisions on my emotional well being. 

Despite my seemingly mundane pathway, I have always considered myself to be a cheerful and optimistic person. It is finally time for me to slow down and enjoy the small pleasures which life throws my way.