Similar sustainability challenges connect global cities
It feels like just yesterday I arrived in Schipol Airport but now I wait in the same place to take a train to Groningen, our home for the next two days. Week one consisted of a 20-mile bike ride, seeing the world’s fastest solar race car, eating under one of the oldest windmills in the city, talking with the “Father of Bike sharing,” having a picnic in Vondel Park and many more adventures. In this week alone I have traveled more by trains, trams and buses than I have my entire life and the best part was realizing that public transportation actually can be enjoyable and convenient!
The cities we have traveled to by train, tram and bus have had surprisingly similar features to U.S. cities. Rotterdam, one of the oldest and largest port cities in the world, reminded me of Pittsburgh. Almere, a fairly new city built on reclaimed land once covered by water, had a city center similar to Tempe Marketplace and Haarlemermmeer’s large modern business center called Park 20|20 resembled those I had seen back home in Ohio.
The thought never occurred to me that these cities would have their own set of sustainable challenges. In my head they were all wonderful green cities where everyone rode their bikes and had their own garden. Although that was true for many people, each city as a whole dealt with problems like water management, transportation planning, future growth patterns and other issues similar to U.S. cities. I found it very interesting comparing each to Phoenix. Almere for example, was a city created for a place close enough to commute into Amsterdam. I was surprised to hear how so many cities like those in the Phoenix Valley are commuter cities. On the other hand, Almere is a city that has so much water, they pump it out of the city and back into the sea, whereas Phoenix is the complete opposite. Learning about these cities and their sustainable challenges was both surprising and relieving; although these cities have a long way to go, they can still set an example for a Phoenix and other U.S. cities with the progress they have made towards a better future.
Isabelle