Why do city dwellers put down suburbanites? (state, crime, metropolitan)

[sk8t]

Originally Posted by tommyc_37

It's an interesting observation. It appears that this phenomenon is only common in a handful of cities, and not coincidentally they are the more cosmopolitan and urban of the US cities - Boston, New York, DC, San Francisco.

There is snobbery that goes both ways though - many suburbanites view city dwellers as rough around the edges, or kooky/artsy, or just liberal wackos.

Also, in New York, any anti-suburban snobbery generally only exists in the more cosmopolitan sections of the city, namely Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, and I've certainly experienced it recently also in Hoboken and Jersey City.

Another note - I've noticed that in just about every other market OTHER than New York, people that are from the suburbs of a city, in the general metropolitan area, just say they're from that city, even if they live 30 or 40 miles away. For example, somebody that lives a 45 minute drive outside of say, Minneapolis, will undoubtedly say they are from Minneapolis, while traveling somewhere. In the NY market, you're either "from Queens", "from Westchester", "from the island", "from New Jersey", etc, etc, etc. It's VERY provencial here.

Many people do that in the ATL metro too. If you live outside the perimeter then you are more likely to say you are from say "Dacula" or "Douglasville" for example.

[UrbanAdventurer]

Originally Posted by Alacran

Discuss.

Most annoying ones are the people that recently moved and think they know everything.

"Oh you're from the suburbs?" As if it where a bad thing.

Yeah there's a bit of snobbery regarding that in almost every big city and even in some smaller ones. The suburbs are viewed as dull and culturally vapid by hard core city dwellers

[chitown85]

But also in Chicago a lot of the burbs and outlying city neighbhorhoods are very urban and blue collar. City neighborhoods like the north side and downtown can be looked down upon by not being the "real Chicago" and vice versa. Depends on one's perspective.

The place where I have seen the most animosity toward the suburbs by the city and vice versa is Dallas.

[ckhthankgod]

I think more times than not, it is the opposite due to media showing a narrow view of the city. So, in turn many suburbanites view the city based off of the rougher urban neighborhoods instead of realizing that cities range in terms of the types of neighborhoods. This could even be said about schools, as some urban schools perform at a high level, even if the district in a general sense is suspect to bad in terms of performance.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

I think more times than not, it is the opposite due to media showing a narrow view of the city. So, in turn many suburbanites view the city based off of the rougher urban neighborhoods instead of realizing that cities range in terms of the types of neighborhoods. This could even be said about schools, as some urban schools perform at a high level, even if the district in a general sense is suspect to bad in terms of performance.

This.

It's only a recent trend that city living has been looked upon as more desirable than suburban living, and is almost exclusively the domain of people born in the 1970s and younger crowd.

Since I grew up in they and have never lived in any suburb, I can't speak much for the mentality of this switch as it has always been my preference. I suppose it could be due to the fact that people who grew up in the burbs always viewed the city as the "place to go" and where "exciting things happened" and felt "stuck" living in some random suburb somewhere. That animosity for where they grew up then turned to hate and explains a lot of the crazy ramblings you often see on this site about the suburbs.

[K.O.N.Y]

Originally Posted by jayp1188

.

the only time a suburbanite bothers me is when they are from nj and claim to be a new yorker.

amen

[Champ le monstre du lac]

The cliche is the 20 somethings who reside in the city, grew up in the suburbs in which they were inevidably bored in the suburbs (right of passage). Either in co9llege or post college, they are out of mom and dad's house living in the big city with lots of stimulation and entertainment and they just love it (what 20 something single wouldn't?). Then they may evolve and settle down with Mr. or Mrs. Right, have kids, need a bigger house, better schools, and a yard, and voila!!! back to the suburbs! This isn't always the case, but as I said it would be the common cliche.

[BacktoBlue]

Residents of San Francisco and New York City definitely have this supperiority complex and act extremely stuck up on these boards. Anything not dense is a "dump" or "uncultured" or whatever other lame comeback they can think up. What a bunch of snobs. Plus walkable cities aren't everything you know. I love driving, it's way better than sitting next to some stinky weirdo on the train or bus.

I would never live in NYC or SF because they are way too crowded for my taste and I just don't like cities like that. I want some elbow room.

The posters and residents who act that way should take their heads or sticks or whatever is up their butt and explore other cities. Many cities have a unique topography that pretty much makes it impossible for them to be dense. Dense or not dense, it doesn't matter to me because I can find beauty in every city.

[BacktoBlue]

Originally Posted by jayp1188

The only time a suburbanite bothers me is when they are from NJ and claim to be a New Yorker. :P

or they live in Conecticut and tell everyone they live in NYC.

[mas23]

Originally Posted by Footballfreak

or they live in Conecticut and tell everyone they live in NYC.

shots fired!