Lehigh Students Reimagine Bus Access and Urban Equity in South Bethlehem
At the base of Bethlehem’s Fahy Bridge, nestled just behind a curtain of urban obscurity, lies a small triangle of green space that most passersby barely notice. But for Karen Beck Pooley and her environmental studies students, this unassuming patch of land—currently a little-known bus stop—has become a site for envisioning more equitable, accessible, and sustainable urban infrastructure.
Pooley, professor of practice in political science and the co-director of Lehigh’s Small Cities Lab, directed a community and economic development project in Fall 2024 that offered students a rare opportunity: reimagine public transit access at the intersection of policy, design, and lived experience. Collaborating with the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANTA), the City of Bethlehem, and South Side community organizations, students were asked to investigate a deceptively complex question — how do we make a bus stop visible, functional, and meaningful?
Read the full story on the College of Arts and Sciences News
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