14. Ivy McDermott- Public Transportation (outside reading)

    I’ve been thinking a lot about public transportation as well this semester, especially during studying for French class. My professor taught us that in France and many European countries, it is standard for college students and coworkers to carpool, especially if they live in the same apartment buildings, and they often have bulletin boards to post when you are looking for a carpool arrangement. It’s highly unlikely that most people in France have their own car as well, and the roads are designed so that the houses of the cities are practically on top of each other and the streets are too crammed for cars oftentimes anyways. Biking, walking, and other much cleaner means of transportation are far more common. They also have buses and subways that can take you virtually anywhere.

     Pierre L’Enfant is the French-American architect who designed much of the layout of the city and metro systems of both Paris and Washington D.C.. One can clearly see similarities between the two cities and can find comfort in the familiar architecture. Both of these places hold many people and sufficiently shuttle them about while fostering a community that can work off of the design. Evidently, architects and environmentalists will become very important in responsible urban planning. Like we talked about in class, it would be cool if we can transform these necessary amenities (such as parking garages or parking lots) into a multipurpose space; for example, affordable housing or adding a garden on the rooftop and hanging plants off the many sides of a parking garage to absorb some of the pollution running off when it rains. Green infrastructure will require a lot of creative thinking and ideas, as well as a strong push in the right direction. 

Magazine, Smithsonian. “A Brief History of Pierre L’Enfant and Washington, D.C.” Smithsonian Magazine, n.d. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-brief-history-of-pierre-lenfant-and-washington-dc-39487784/.