Why do we have a suburb forum? (Chicago, Westchester: fit in, subdivisions)

[55degrees]

I guess this is an off shoot of the "I'm from Chicago" thread where many posters are concerned with ppl from the suburbs saying their "from Chicago". Are we the only (or one of the only) City that has separated its suburban posts from city posts (seems like it)? I might be totally wrong about this since it may not be easy to recognize the suburbs in other cities, but from a cursory look, there doesn't seem to be "suburbs of ____" listed except for us (and the suburbs of DC in MD and suburbs of Philly in NJ which sort of makes sense because of their unique situations). If so, why? Why do we have this divide that isn't so apparent in the other large city forums?

[chirack]

In Chicago it can take atleast 30 mins worth of time durring rush hour to get to the nearest burb from downtown(the loop) 15 mins non rush. The burbs can be quite distant from the city and you need some local help about particular burbs. It isn't a your not a from Chicago thing. It is a practical thing. There are burbs that are an 1:30 away. The midwest isn't like the east cost where large cities are nearby(i.e. New York, Philly ,D.C.). Large cities are further apart here.

[Milwaukee City]

Plus there are a lot of people that live in the burbs and never come into the city and some haven't been downtown in years.

[chirack]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

Plus there are a lot of people that live in the burbs and never come into the city and some haven't been downtown in years.

Or city people who don't go much into particular burbs. When I lived on the west side, I traveled the near west burbs quite a bit but now that I am a south sider I am out that way less and less. I am rarely out in the north burbs and occasionally the northwest burbs but the south burbs I am in most often and the far burbs are quite distant from me.

[emathias]

Either you don't know much about the other cities, or you didn't look very hard.

New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles all have forums dedicated to their suburban regions - it's just in New York, for example, you say "Long Island" or "Westchester County" or "New Jersey" instead of "the suburbs."

Same with Los Angeles.

The only difference between those and Chicago is that Chicago's suburbs have less of a regional identity. Chicago could break it down to "North Shore" and "Dupage County" and "South Suburbs" and "Northwest Suburbs" probably, but there may or may not be enough posting traffic to warrant those subdivisions, so they're all just lumped together in "the suburbs."

The reason the suburban areas and the city area are split should be pretty obvious - the lifestyle in each is very different, so trying to keep answers relevant is much easier when you group them that way.

[55degrees]

Originally Posted by emathias

New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles all have forums dedicated to their suburban regions - it's just in New York, for example, you say "Long Island" or "Westchester County" or "New Jersey" instead of "the suburbs."
.

yeah, that's what i was wondering. since there are only 3 forums labeled 'suburbs of___'.

as for city/suburbs being really different in chicago, i'm sure that's true of other cities as well.

[chicagocubs]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

Plus there are a lot of people that live in the burbs and never come into the city and some haven't been downtown in years.

Very true. Once my aunt moved to the suburbs, she never went to the city again. It's been 40+ years since she has been downtown.

As for me, now that my relatives have moved to the suburbs, I am consistently lost when I go to visit. As a city girl, I NEVER went to the suburbs. No idea where anything is. When I hit the city limits, I breath a sigh of relief. I now know where I am!

[chet everett]

Does Charlotte give you those same problem? Maybe it more do with where you grew up / live / work. I feel very comfortable navigating any part of Chicago, where I was born a very long time ago and lived / worked for decades, as well the North/NW suburbs where I worked for a number of years, the south / SW burbs where I have family, as well the western burbs, where I live / work now. They all fit into the same grid.

It may also be related to some neurological differences. I've seen reports that suggest females have a brain chemistry that is more attuned to "habitat" that they can mentally map out all the various corners of while male brain chemistry has an affinity to tracking / catalog differences in places. I know my dad would also be able to figure out an alternate route when we were in a different city with just a quick look at a map while my mom preferred step-by-step directions. Of course there were plenty of times where we ran into a road closed or bridge crossing that was not on the map and my dad would catch heck for the rest of the trip...

[Alacran]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

Plus there are a lot of people that live in the burbs and never come into the city and some haven't been downtown in years.

And there's people from the near burbs or city fringes that go in and out of city limits without even thinking about it everyday.

Downtown ain't the whole city.

[ToriaT]

to try to keep all the suburban people out of anything that smacks of chicago. god forbid they would ever say that they were from chicago.