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Suburban Speck

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As time goes by, people spend more and more money on transportation, either on public transit or on their automobiles. The thing is, as the society develops, there is a phenomenon called suburban sprawl. This means that as the city grows, more and more people will live farther from work, causing people to use their gas vehicles for longer periods of time and more frequently, therefore the cost of transportation starts increasing.

A sustainable transportation system will require a good business relationship between citizens and the government, as public transport cost put stress on both. This brings an idea from Jeff Speck, a city planner and urban designer. In Jeff’s TED talk, the Walkable City, he took Portland as his city of choice and illustrated how a sustainable transportation system brings forth sustainable city. Portland has invested $60 million in bicycling and walking since 1970, which seems like a lot of money, but it’s only $2 million per year, which is half the price it takes to rebuild one cloverleaf of the city. After Portland citizens started to drive less, they made 3.5 percent more income that year (Speck, 2013). Portland citizen contributed this 3.5 percent of their income into the local economy; Portlanders do spend a lot more on all kinds of recreational activities than most other Americans. …show more content…

Consequently, they become healthier as they exercise more when they walk and ride bike. Ontario has also worked on improving public transportation. According to Ontario Ministry of Finance, Ontario offered over “$330 million to 95 municipalities to help expand and improve public transit” in 2015 and will invest “$550 million in northern infrastructure through the Northern Highways Program” in 2016 (Building Tomorrow's Infrastructure

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