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What type of things make a community desirable for you?
On the top of my mind-a good movie theater like Cinemark or Regal.
A Best Buy
Good restaurants like Cheesecake Factory or Chili's
a good public high school system
a hospital
Hmm I decided to change my list-
24 HR places or open-late places.
good schools
a hospital
Trader Joes
a gym
coffee shop
a library
near a city with a four-year university or some other city that is wealthy
snow
Now let's see how this is different from the suburbs....
Quote:
Originally Posted by JKFire108
In a community, I would like:
-A healthily high density (7000 ppsm to 100,000 ppsm)
You are suggesting high-rise and multi story buildings. Usually this works if you don't have a family, but if you do try fitting five people into one of those lofts.
-Smart growth/New Urbanist/mixed use patterns
Yes, in the suburbs and in urban areas this is good
-Very walkable
Yes, in new suburbanism and new urbanism
-Lots of young people (20-30s) but that doesn't necessarily mean there should be no old people or families with young kids
Usually urban areas mean less families and less old people. Usually urban areas have more trendy clothing stores, bars, art galleries, black box theaters, cafes, coffee shops, and ethnic resturaunts for the cultured educated young crowd.
-No unjust or nanny state laws which are made just to give police more powers to arrest people for non-crimes (i.e. getting arrested for sitting on top of a milk carton or doing a cartwheel in front of your friends means "disorderly conduct")
Agreed.
-Very good historical preservation that doesn't just let developers demolish historical buildings at a whim, but if it is a new town then they should build historicist buildings and not all the 1950s/60s era modernist stuff that looks very cheap and bland
Agreed reserving historical buildings in downtowns is good. It draws in tourism to cities.
-Good public transportation
Yes, but also costly for cities and sometimes not needed in the suburbs.
-Controlled violent crime
Urban usually have, but suburbs usually have less.
-Decent schools, even though I don't have kids yet I'd want my schools to be at least adequate
In larger cities school are tight for space, but in smaller towns and suburbs they seem to better.
-Diversity of ethnicities
We are seeing this in the suburbs and urban areas
-Less chain stores and more locally owned mom and pop business
Usually in urban areas. The suburbs are usually very commercialized because chains are cheaper for families
-Multiple bookstores, both like Barnes and Noble and Borders, as well as some independent ones
Usually in urban areas. Can also be in the suburbs. Borders are in downtowns or strip malls. Barnes N Nobles in open-air malls.
-Good parks where it is big enough to at least jog around there
Definately in the suburbs. Usually at least one big park in urban areas
-Taxes which are used effectively so that there can be the maximum good use of social services at the lowest cost to the tax payer
Usually in wealthier towns that use them to help off-set the large homeless population.
-Lots of trees and vegetation but not at the expense of density and mixed use in the communityUsually means trees are planted in downtowns, but you mean no open areas with forests like in the suburbs where you have undeveloped mountains or sometimes suburbs in the countryside
Small town about 10 miles from downtown of a city with less than 200,000 people
The town is hidden in a valley and has a beautiful city hall placed on top of the hill.
A well landscaped main street with dozens of stores and restaurants line both sides of the street. Also a high school is located right in town, and the football stadium is in walking distance of the downtown area. Not alot of strip malls, but alot of nice shopping tennats and good places to eat are in minutes drive. The streets would be narrow with houses almost right on top of each other. Both old and new houses would coexist and there would be also atleast one 8 floor apartment building.---LOL
Small town about 10 miles from downtown of a city with less than 200,000 people
The town is hidden in a valley and has a beautiful city hall placed on top of the hill.
A well landscaped main street with dozens of stores and restaurants line both sides of the street. Also a high school is located right in town, and the football stadium is in walking distance of the downtown area. Not alot of strip malls, but alot of nice shopping tennats and good places to eat are in minutes drive. The streets would be narrow with houses almost right on top of each other. Both old and new houses would coexist and there would be also atleast one 8 floor apartment building.---LOL
LOL. I loved your small town until you mentioned the high-rise apartment building. Let's place that in the city of 200,000 population's downtown.
BTW, I deem a town under 200,000 population and a city 200,000 population and over.
Perfect city or town includes for me:
~quaint downtown with local shops, coffee shops, a book store, some national retailers, and lots of restaurants and bars
~a Costco
~diverse economy with strong employers
~an upscale department store (Macy's)
~many places for the performing arts
~several art galleries
~majority of the population are families. There can be small amounts of retiree and college population
~No segregation. Predominately the race of the native settlers, but with a mix of other races (ex: city/town in Mexico is predominatly Mexican, city/town in Paris is predominantly French, city/town in America is predominantly Caucasian)
~The average annual income is $60,000
~No ghettos
~low crime rates
~70-80 degree average temperature
~light traffic (but not important)
~lots of homes from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and some from 2000 (city is not overly sprawled)
~No high school smaller than 800 students.
~High schools have high success rate of students transferring to college
~Large concentration of Protestant churches (Catholic, Christian, Protestant, Lutheran)
~Good amount of national retailer shopping, but can be located in nearby town/city
~Good bus public transportation
~several healthy food markets
Hmm, in general don't people just want good schools, low crime rates, and alot of amneties like malls, Costcos, and lots of options for dining and shopping?
What type of things make a community desirable for you?
On the top of my mind-a good movie theater like Cinemark or Regal.
A Best Buy
Good restaurants like Cheesecake Factory or Chili's
a good public high school system
a hospital
Small-Medium town
I would like a community where you know your neighbors
Less chain restaurants and retail (I prefer mom & pop places)
I'd like a place where there were a lot of group/social activities to choose from
- good air quality
- good weather (cold 4 seasons climate, dry fall)
- high levels of economic and personal freedom
- parks and trails
- low crime
- low meth production/use
- cleanliness
- absence of cattle/pork slaughterhouses
- at least one big box (Target/Walmart/Kmart)
- at least one wholesaler (Costco/Sam's)
- at least one source of local food
- an East Asian immigrant population and associated retail
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