The Future of Suburbs

[Ira500]

You might live in auburn, bigtrees, but it doesn't sound like you really live in the classic suburb situation, which I think of as developments of hundreds of nearly identical houses squeezed right next to each other. A lot of Auburn does have a real country feel to it, and for the people who live in the country, it really helps one feel sane.

[seattlenextyear]

Originally Posted by bigtrees

I care about the quality of life for me and future generations. But after growing up in rural Western Montana, I cannot make a case that living in densely populated Seattle equates to "quality of life". For me, a high quality of life is about living in rural parts, where neighbors don't look into to your backyard, where you can turn up your music and people don't mind, where you can have a bonfire and your neighbors don't call the fire department. For some people, that's living in misery because there's nothing around. But for me, that's exactly what I'm looking for in life and what is important to me and my family.

I want my kids and grand kids to have the same opportunity of enjoying freedoms the way I did, and not to have to live on the 18th floor of some condo in downtown wherever. I want them to be able to live in a place that is there own and a place that they can be free. I want them to live in a place we call "the suburbs" because I think they have valuable benefits.

That's super great, but if everyone on earth was given .5 acres of land and a 3 bedroom house right now, we'd need a few more planets to accommodate everyone. So your solution either requires some severe population control or colonization of the moon, Mars and Venus.

[bigtrees]

Originally Posted by seattlenextyear

That's super great, but if everyone on earth was given .5 acres of land and a 3 bedroom house right now, we'd need a few more planets to accommodate everyone. So your solution either requires some severe population control or colonization of the moon, Mars and Venus.

Uh, last time I checked I didn't realize I was in charge of solving the world's problems. Until I get paid a lot more, I'm not taking responsibility for overpopulation and all the problems that come with overpopulation.

[bigtrees]

Originally Posted by Ira500

You might live in auburn, bigtrees, but it doesn't sound like you really live in the classic suburb situation, which I think of as developments of hundreds of nearly identical houses squeezed right next to each other. A lot of Auburn does have a real country feel to it, and for the people who live in the country, it really helps one feel sane.

Auburn has some of those suburban places where they have squeezed a bunch of houses together in a really small area. I don't like them one bit, and sure don't feel that living in a dense area a long ways from downtown is where I'd like to live either.

Ira, have you ever heard of Anthem or Sun City down near Phoenix? Those are the classic (wasteful) suburubs. They created a little town a long ways from the city center and then everyone was forced to commute to the city for everything.

Once fuel prices increased and the housing market went downhill, the home value of Anthem has plummeted and everyone's moving back in close. Phoenix and Las Vegas are really good examples of suburbs that are dying.

I attached a picture of a model home of a community down in Phoenix. The real estate agents on here will get a real kick out of it. For those that haven't experienced buying homes in Phoenix, they usually have three models in a subdivision of 90 homes or so, and the models are complete homes that everyone walks through and decides if they like the floorplan. Then you go to the sales office (located in the garage of one of the models), put down some money, and they build a home nearly identical to the model.

As you can imagine, the models are always shining examples of what the builder will build. Only in this case, I'm not sure the word "shining" fits. This community was located on the fringe areas of town, and no one really wants to live that far out anymore, so the builder ended up filing for bankruptcy, leaving the model homes abandonded.