Swanson School of Engineering

After becoming more familiar with my neighborhood, there were many things that stood out to me. The most striking of those observations is definitely the width of the streets. In my neighborhood, and Florence in general, the streets are far narrower than the typical streets in most United States cities. Florence is clearly more pedestrian friendly and designed primarily for foot traffic. Most of the vehicles in the neighborhood were also designed to accommodate the city. The cars are all very compact, and there is no shortage of mopeds or motorcycles, in fact, I have never seen such a high concentration of motorcycles and mopeds in the USA before. Buildings are also very close to the street, with no front yards, driveways, or garages. I haven’t noticed a single family home styled building, as almost everything on the block is an apartment building or a mixed use building with a store on the ground floor.