By: Samantha Ryan

Photo by: The Insiders Guide to Fort Collins

Fort Collins, Colo.- Fort Collins, known as “Choice City,” checks all the boxes of a successful and happy city. With a variety of green spaces, large sidewalks and bike lanes, and open space, Fort Collins attracts waves of residents each year. This city welcomes you with a large variety of shops, live music, microbrewery industries, and outdoor amenities. 

We translate our own ideas of happiness into our cities, so when our outlook on what makes us happy changes, our city begins to change with it. We see this in plenty of cities, such as New York, known for its bustling business atmosphere, vast entrainment options, and amazing food. New York started with minimal green space, yet throughout the years, the career-focused individual’s ideas of happiness shifted. Green spaces slowly appeared in the community, thus the creation of Central Park. Although New York has minimal green space, they actively implemented it into their community, making it a popular attraction for many citizens seeking a break from the day-to-day hustling. 

Another aspect that makes a city successful is the access to alternate modes of transportation, such as large sidewalks, bike lanes, and buses. Thanks to Franklin Avery, Fort Collins is known for its large sidewalks (31 Things That Will Make You Love Fort Collins) Having these options makes commuting more accessible for citizens while adding a bonus by being environmentally friendly.

The Fort Collins Commuter Study aimed to learn about individual exposure to air pollutants when commuting and how it’s associated with mortality within the Fort Collins commuter community. Comparing commuting via motor vehicles and cycling, they concluded that the exposure to CO and BC was lower when cycling alternative routes that avoid motor vehicles. This study shows that implementing more alternative routes and modes of transportation for a town’s citizens not only helps the environment but positively affects the health of the people who live there as well. This makes biking or walking to an individual’s destination more desirable since there the sense of concern for one’s individual health is involved.