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Yes, well, my point was that there is poorly built, cheap housing in the city as well. DH and I actually rented an immediate post WWII house in Champaign in the late 70s. It wasn't that bad. Very small, by today's standards, but functional. Certainly no worse than many of the apts I/we rented over the years.
I grew up in the city. Southside of Chicago in fact and I still live here. If I have kids, I'll raise them right here. I like that the city can still function even when we get 15 feet of snow dumped on us The streets are plowed in a timely manner and I can hop on the bus right outside of my house and get to where I need to go if my car is trapped in the garage.
By any chance, when does a city cease being a city and become a suburb, relative to the defined or inferred city center/intersection? For instance, if you are in Queens NY, when you pass into Nassau County, do the suburbs begin in earnest? I say 'no'. Outer Queens looks and feels like Inner Nassau County. There has to be a criteria, whether it be distance, population per square mile, etc.
I grew up in the city. Southside of Chicago in fact and I still live here. If I have kids, I'll raise them right here. I like that the city can still function even when we get 15 feet of snow dumped on us The streets are plowed in a timely manner and I can hop on the bus right outside of my house and get to where I need to go if my car is trapped in the garage.
You are lucky. Every mayor of Denver has taken flak for not getting the streets plowed after a major snowstorm. Federico Pena was rewarded for same by being give the post of Secretary of Transportation in the Clinton administration! At least here, the sun comes out quickly and melts what hasn't been packed down by struggling cars.
I don't live in a ww2 tract house; I live 4 1/2 miles from my work; my DH lives 8 miles from his job, closer than when we lived in the city (Denver). I'd take a post ww2 tract home to a tenement any day.
No, of course not. My house was built after WWII, heck, after VietNam, but it's not a tract house. I explained myself above; not all city houses are quality built one of a kind masterpieces, either. I have said this over and over again on this forum: many city homes are architecturally the same, too. You can go into any neighborhood in Denver and see that. Someone posted a picture of a Chicago neighborhood where all the houses looked alike.
I personally do not agree that "older is better", especially comparing pre/post WWII houses. I have done some research on kitchen design and learned that my mom was right: when the older houses were built, they took whatever space was left over and called it the kitchen. Thus, some of them don't "work" well. Most of the "pre" houses have only one bathroom, tiny closets, and little insulation. Many, such as the one my DH grew up in, were originally built w/o a bathroom at all! Their bath was an add-on, in a very awkward location for the bedrooms. Many do not have garages, which is a disadvantage in any climate with a winter climate. The wiring is usually inadequate for all our modern electronics.
Very few houses were built during the Great Depression or WWII. Thus home design has a gap from 1929 till about 1946. There are more similiarities between a house built in 1946 and one built now than in one built in 1929 and one in 1946. A house built before WWII is generally at least 78 years old. Even if it were true that these older homes are better, we can't all live in one, obviously. There are too many of us vs too few of them.
Wiring is a huge problem with older apartments and/or houses. I don't know how many times I've blown my fuses just trying to run two electricity heavy items at once.
I explained myself above; not all city houses are quality built one of a kind masterpieces, either. I have said this over and over again on this forum: many city homes are architecturally the same, too.
The same is true in Baltimore where you will see the same rowhouse design repeated for blocks and blocks. I don't know where this idea that cookie-cutter homes are uniquely suburban came from. People were building cookie-cutter homes and destroying open space long before suburbia. Because what do you suppose was on that land before those inner city rowhouses were built? Either farmland or wilderness. There's a neighborhood in the southern district of Baltimore that I believe used to be all farmland back in 1920's. Today it's all city rowhomes and condos, but that's not considered big bad ugly sprawl that destroys farmland just because the houses are attached rather than single family units.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't limit development, but to act as if the suburbs created the cookie-cutter home and the destruction of open space is inaccurate IMO.
We all know not all suburbs are ugly. I love towns like Evanston Illinois, Chevy Chase Maryland and Montclair NJ. But what I see now is just ugly. As I drove from Olympia yesterday I took the long way. Once again endless beige and white developments, tons of traffic and plenty of strip malls. The same ole Apple Bee's, Home Depot, Red Lobster, Starbucks, Country Buffet etc. Also in some of my cases it wasn't a choice for couples to live in these places. It was all they could afford. Not all but some. Seems the same all across the U.S.
I do and I think it's great. I mean I'm pro city but when it comes down to it, I just like being in my safe suburb (Carmel, IN) at the end of the day. I would say that I am in the minority here for doing so but in the majority with the general population. Of course I'd still live in the city but there seems to be this better way of life outside the city than inside. This is why I laugh when people tell me the inner city is a great place to raise a kid. I just tell them to look at Cleveland and St. Louis for proof...and actually I have no sympathy for cesspools like Cleveland and St. Louis because they sit back and let their cities are falling apart while at the same time wondering why the high growth areas like Nashville, Charlotte, and Houston are passing them up. I know it's subjective but it really is the quality of life.
Here, here! I feel most of what you are saying, but what is your definition of a "suburban mindset"? Wanting a thriving economy, working schools, safe environment, low pollution, low noise? Sounds like you just want a good life to me...
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The streets are plowed in a timely manner and I can hop on the bus right outside of my house and get to where I need to go if my car is trapped in the garage.
