how can you live in an urban city and yet be in a rural or suburban neighborhood? (cul-de-sac)

[the city]

Okay, im a bit confused on this one certain issue....

I am planning to go to college at CSU Northridge. I'm thinking since I'm going to be in the city of Los Angeles I am going to be in a urban city.
Is that right?

But some people say i want be in an urban city because they say I'm going to be in a suburban neighborhood located in LA called Northridge.
But I told them that I have lived in an ex-urban and rural community before and I wasn't particularly living in a rural or ex-urban neighborhood. In the rural and ex-urban neighborhood I lived in suburban cul-de-sac neighborhoods.

So can some one try to explain this factor to me....living in an urban city but your not really in an urban city? does this make sense? its like an oxymoron

[DannyBanany]

I have a friend that goes to CSUN. She says Northridge is "considered" part of LA but it's actually very suburban-esque and it has cul-de-sacs and lots of homes. Just consider it a suburb that has been annexed by LA, yet hasn't lost any of its charm.

[the city]

So would it be considered an inner suburb perhaps? I mean i know inner suburbs are very populated and very dense cities within 15 minutes of urban cities and outer suburbs can be far out as an hour and have less and lower population densities than the inner suburbs.

northridge isnt it's community though. it's a suburban neighborhood in LA. im in the urban city of LA, so can i be considered to be living in a urban city? even if i live in that part of the city will i still get urban life or not? your saying i should consider northridge a inner suburb?

[crisp444]

Northridge is part of the City of Los Angeles, as are a multitude of other suburban areas in the Valley. However, just because it's within city limits doesn't mean that it's "urban." Northridge is very suburban in character; little is "urban" about it. I would say that most of the City of Los Angeles is quite suburban in character.

Take a Google Street View tour of Northridge and you won't see lots of pedestrians, sidewalk cafes, and people window shopping; you will see six-lane streets with high-speed traffic, single family homes with lawns, and strip malls.

[lammius]

IMO, Suburban/Urban/Rural are all about environment, and they're all pretty subjective. Where the city boundaries are drawn doesn't determine where the transition between those environments occur. Whatever your surroundings look and feel like will tell you. Most cities, even large cities like LA, NY, etc., have areas on their outer fringes which look more like suburbs than inner city neighborhoods. Those fringes are suburban in character, though most other parts of the city may look and feel very urban.

Let's look at an extreme example. Oklahoma City. The place is geographically enormous. It has an urban center (sorta) downtown. There are neighborhoods that are more suburban in character outside of that. Then there are exurban areas beyond that. There are even flat-out rural areas within the limits of Oklahoma City. If you live on a 10-acre farm in Oklahoma City, are you in an urban setting?

Coming back to Northridge, it's a suburban part of the city of LA. LA is mostly urban, but not every part of it is.

[Banx]

move to south florida... u will have no idea if ur in a city, suburb, ghetto or Carribean nation.