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Ok, I'll pass. I have some knowledge of sustainability in my occupation and I disagree with you that suburban development harms the environment. And people have to live somewhere. It is not feasible everybody live in a downtown area.
I explicitly do engineering, construction, and planning for my career and some of my main focus is on sustainability. And I strongly disagree. With decades of data to back this up.
However, I referred you to simply do some research because there is so much detailed information out there that is not worth getting into here and I am not sure where your entry-point is based on some of your comments. You say you do some with sustainability, but then you make other comments that just go directly against anything someone would say who has studied sustainability, or architecture, or engineering.
And I understand that not everyone can live in a downtown area. I've stated multiple times that I know not everyone even desires that. And I respect that everyone wants different things. I totally get that. But, smarter planning of the growth and suburban growth in cities would be great. Smarter growth can affect everything from energy efficiency, water management, infrastructure, etc. However, there are so many roadblocks to that that it just isn't very feasible to roll out unfortunately.
Ok. I would have thought the SC DHEC and similar organizations would be talking about this suburban destruction of the environment. I haven't seen any news about it.
I would think urban areas could have used some better planning as well. There is room for improvement in anything and everywhere.
Just because you haven't seen news about it - or just from one specific source -doesn't mean it doesn't exist. That's like closing your eyes to avoid the boogeyman. I've invited you to research any of the innumerable studies over the past several decades that cover this topic.
And yes, lots of areas could be improved. But I'm not sure your point with that statement. The fact that urban areas could use improvement (what can't) doesn't change the fact that the way we build out suburbs is often without much regard to the environment.
I'm not trying to be vague, but I get the impression you are discussing this more on how you 'feel' or 'perceive' things rather than based on any research you've done, which makes it tough to have a real discussion on this topic.
Ok. Don't you live in Dallas now though. Why not talk about the suburban destruction of the environment on that forum. Dallas has a much bigger suburban area than Greenville. Gville's a tiny little baby in comparison to Dallas. If Simpsonville, Greer, etc are doing damage, Dallas suburbs are doing major damage.
I personally don't like being guilt tripped for living in a suburb.
You simply said people live in suburbs due to sustainability and I disagreed. Just because someone disagrees about something doesn't mean they're trying to send you on a guilt trip or question your way of life.
I'm a 25 year old millennial in Greenville. In July I'm moving downtown to one of the new apartment buildings being built in the middle of town. I really have no desire to live in the suburbs and I doubt that I'll ever have that desire later in my life. I've had my fill. I'm done with that lifestyle. If someone just gave me a house in the suburbs I still wouldn't live there.
I'm pretty sick of cars. I'm tired of driving, caring for the car, looking at the car, paying for the car. It's just a big mess. I HATE CARS. If I need a car I would rather just rent one for the day, have my fun, and then give it back.
I'm extremely fiscally conservative and this is obviously at odds with the urban lifestyle since taxes in the city are higher. In my mind the lifestyle in the suburbs sucks so bad that I have no choice. I will pay if it means a better lifestyle. I want to be able to walk to the store, see the faces of other human beings, go for a bike ride, etc. Basic stuff like that.
I think one factor driving this change is that everyone that I know my age that doesn't work retail sits in front of a computer all day. Half of those people, myself included, works on the computer from home. If I buy a giant house in the middle of nowhere it means I never leave. I'm just there day and night for weeks at a time without ever leaving. What kind of life is that?
You guys can just have your 5000 square foot house in the middle of nowhere. A lifestyle where I don't die of loneliness, depression, and diabetes is what I'm looking for.
Greenville is great. It's urbanizing. My one criticism is they seem to be afraid of tall buildings. If Greenville doesn't continue to urbanize I will relocate to somewhere that is.
People see the suburban life as some kind of benefit to their kids. It's not. How is letting your kid grow up in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere a benefit to them? Even if I have a family someday I'll probably still stick to the city.
You simply said people live in suburbs due to sustainability and I disagreed. Just because someone disagrees about something doesn't mean they're trying to send you on a guilt trip or question your way of life.
I think asserting the suburbs are damaging the environment is questioning my way of the life if I live in the suburbs. Why make the point in the first place if not. People are going to keep moving to the burbs so you might as well accept it. You can't stop it.
I said that the suburbs are sustainable in that so many people live in them and everything seems to be ok.
You also advanced a premise that you know more about sustainability than me and other people without knowing about me and other people.
You were the first one to put the words in my mouth that 'suburbs are destroying the environment' and also the first one to assert an overall knowledge of sustainability. You were also the one to assess that people move to the suburbs due to their sustainability. I simply replied to all of your posts. And I also already did say that it's really too hard to stop so the best practice was for smarter planning moving forward. It's almost as if you don't read my posts. So often you repeat things I've already said or suggest things I already explicitly stated.
I personally feel that you look for a way to feel personally attacked no matter what I post. In my very first post I say that the building practices of suburbs *in America as a whole* are not very sustainable. I also very deliberately said that, while the suburbs don't appeal to me, I do understand the reasons why some people move there.
If you twist that post as my questioning your *personal* way of life and sending you down a guilt trip simply for living in a suburb then I really don't know what to tell you. It couldn't be much further from the content of my post and it's not adding to the discussion. I simply added to the discussion that I agree many younger people are looking for more sustainable living and that is causing many (not all and maybe not even a majority) to look for more urban dwellings in my personal experience.
If suburbs around the globe are bad, why not post on your current city forum Dallas about this topic. It is odd to me that you left Greenville and come back to post here and generally it is about what you don't like about Greenville.
I will not respond to you again on this. I have my interpretation of your comments and I think others who live in burbs would have same interpretation. Burbs are sustainable given there are so many of them and the world seems to be ok.
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