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Watching Nightly News, it seems like the suburbs offer a "better way of living". What do you think?
What is this better life that people move away for to other places? It seems like everyone can find this "better life" in the South.
For me, the 'better life' will always be in the city. I can't drive and have no interest in learning so I need everything to be close by so I can walk or use public transport. I also can't stand all the waste that goes with a suburban lifestyle. That's my take anyhow.
IMO they're a bit less pretentious and more down-to-earth.
On the other hand, living in the the city is obviously way more convenient. Maybe not if you have kids, but otherwise.
I am married, 2 kids. I love the two cities closest to my home (NYC, Phila), which, indeed is why I live right in the middle of both markets. But there is absolutely no way, with kids, that I would ever live in either city.
Most people with families (especially with teenage children) can't afford to live in the desirable neighborhoods within the city limits of large cities. It's that simple.
Watching Nightly News, it seems like the suburbs offer a "better way of living". What do you think?
What is this better life that people move away for to other places? It seems like everyone can find this "better life" in the South.
Long commutes
Cookie cutter McMansions
Big box stores
Olive Gardens
Homogeneity
What's not to like?
I don't have any of that.....well, maybe Olive Garden, but my area is so full of real Italian restaurants we don't even have to think about considering that place.
The whole idea was brought about during the turn of the last century. Basically some people looked at the poor parts of late 19th century cities where whole families of 12 were living in one room, and made the correlation that cities = overcrowding = bad stuff. Then the solution was a mix of countryside-bucolic romanticism, flawed science, and poor judgement. You saw the first plans for "Garden Cities" and division of use suburban style housing come out around a hundred years ago, actually it started in Europe, of all places. Once the Depression, and later the post-war babyboom and GI Bill came around the government, taking its new larger role in driving American real estate consumption, started to push these new "better" modes of living. Because it was perceived that this "better" living style would promote a healthier, happier populace.
So has that happened? Not really. People are just as, or even more happy, in cities than in suburbs. Most of the overcrowding problems have been alleviated, and are more attributable to extreme poverty than to urban living. Not only that, but the sheer amount of resources invested in suburban growth is both unsustainable, and personally I think, one of the stupidest and costliest investments this country has ever made.
If anything its all just a problem of perception. Suburbia has commanded such an important place in the American psyche for so long now, people have just become used to that way of living.
Suburbs are generally quieter and safer, but like I said several times on here, it really depends on the suburb nowadays. Many suburbs are basically extensions of the city. Cicero(suburb of Chicago) is a town of 84,000 and density of 14,000 ppsm. And the suburb I grew up in had a consistant high murder rate.
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