Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You're missing the magic. Part of the value of the random encounter is meeting people you don't know, and opportunities for networking between individuals--close friends, acquaintances, business associates, political associates, or customers (current or future.) If your only friends are your acquaintances at work, you should probably get out more--and the advantage of a walkable neighborhood (whether it is a small town, a streetcar suburb, or a central city) is that getting out more is generally very easy.
Yeah, very true.
It's easier to make friends in cities and towns vs. suburbs and rural communities.
I agree with what you say except LA's city neighborhoods don't have downtowns. Most of them have malls or shopping centers. Some have urban cores like Sherman Oaks' Ventura Boulevard and Hollywood's Melrose Avenue and Hollywood and Highland.
So it sounds like you are saying towns are just smaller cities. And suburbs are actually autocentric housing communities. I don't know what you would consider a suburb in California then. I think all of the suburbs become cities or towns here. Are towns considered to have smaller populations or have more rural land?
I mean I have only lived in three places. Oxnard, Northridge in Los Angeles, and Templeton. Oxnard was a city with 150,000 population during the 90s, Northridge has 50,000 people in the neighborhood, and Templeton has 7,600 people and is a census designed place community.
Northridge is very similar to many towns except it has no downtown and is all built out. No rural.
I was using "downtown" to just mean main shopping areas. In Hollywood there's the whole strip of Hollywood Boulevard, along with the more residential-focused stores a block or so off. Or in Los Feliz there's Vermont Avenue. LA's suburb/city thing is a little different, but I wasn't referring to the more classic, urban-like suburb, but more the stereotypical modern suburb. I'd say places like Thousand Oaks fit more into that mold, while places like Pasadena don't. But I guess yes, in this context I was talking about towns being smaller cities, or like city neighborhoods, and suburbs (meaning the steretoypical modern suburb, not the often older, more compact town-like suburbs) being more auto-centric housing centers with stricter zoning.
To SleepingWolf: I like encountering people I know while out because it makes me feel like I'm part of a larger, shared community. That doesn't mean that I want to have big conversations with all of them all of the time, but I like to feel connected. Since Hollywood was brought up, I'll use that as an example of why I liked living there; it was a dense urban neighborhood with a ton of tourists, but there were also all the residents who lived and often worked there. I knew some people and did like to talk to them when I saw them, but there were also all the people I knew or recognized casually -- people from places where I'd volunteered, people who worked in the neighborhood, people I recognized from our building or block, people from my bus stop. Given that this was Hollywood it was a weird mix of people (which was part of the appeal), but we all shared the common experience of location. I found that comforting.
California suburbs are really different than other parts of the country. In most of CA, development is stacked next to each other. The borders of one subusrb to another is hard to tell, and they generally share thoroughfares.
In other parts of the US, developers picked an empty plot of land and began development. For example, in Atlanta there are clusters of suburbs separated by lots of open space. Miles of open space before the development starts up again. Other than in the desert, or where there is a natural barrier (hills, rivers, mountains, deltas) I can't think of a place with a similar development pattern. CA suburbs generally have lots of amenities and less of a dependence on the city than in other places.
California suburbs are really different than other parts of the country. In most of CA, development is stacked next to each other. The borders of one subusrb to another is hard to tell, and they generally share thoroughfares.
In other parts of the US, developers picked an empty plot of land and began development. For example, in Atlanta there are clusters of suburbs separated by lots of open space.
Eh. I think most suburbs except for maybe the newest ones are continuous. At least, describes where I grew up. Suburbs separated by lots of open space don't sound normal to me.
Some outer suburbs in Eastern MA are separated by open space, but that is because there are somewhat dense old towns that form the centers of suburbs and in between is open space or low-density housing.
I was using "downtown" to just mean main shopping areas. In Hollywood there's the whole strip of Hollywood Boulevard, along with the more residential-focused stores a block or so off. Or in Los Feliz there's Vermont Avenue. LA's suburb/city thing is a little different, but I wasn't referring to the more classic, urban-like suburb, but more the stereotypical modern suburb. I'd say places like Thousand Oaks fit more into that mold, while places like Pasadena don't. But I guess yes, in this context I was talking about towns being smaller cities, or like city neighborhoods, and suburbs (meaning the steretoypical modern suburb, not the often older, more compact town-like suburbs) being more auto-centric housing centers with stricter zoning.
To SleepingWolf: I like encountering people I know while out because it makes me feel like I'm part of a larger, shared community. That doesn't mean that I want to have big conversations with all of them all of the time, but I like to feel connected. Since Hollywood was brought up, I'll use that as an example of why I liked living there; it was a dense urban neighborhood with a ton of tourists, but there were also all the residents who lived and often worked there. I knew some people and did like to talk to them when I saw them, but there were also all the people I knew or recognized casually -- people from places where I'd volunteered, people who worked in the neighborhood, people I recognized from our building or block, people from my bus stop. Given that this was Hollywood it was a weird mix of people (which was part of the appeal), but we all shared the common experience of location. I found that comforting.
Ah, okay. Thousand Oaks is a planned community too.
I guesss Palmdale, Lancaster, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, many OC suburbs, and some others would fit that the modern autocentric modern suburb defintion.
The classic suburbs are now more like Glendale, Pasadena, Burbank, and Pomona.
So a city neighborhood is like a town, and a town is like a city, and a city is like town.
A modern suburb is a very autocentric city nearby a larger city.
A classic suburb has a downtown and is nearby a larger city
I am still confused as how you tell a town from a city. Do you define a town by a city that looks very rural or is considered a low population city away from larger cities? I think towns have the rural aspect.
Ah, okay. Thousand Oaks is a planned community too.
I guesss Palmdale, Lancaster, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, many OC suburbs, and some others would fit that the modern autocentric modern suburb defintion.
The classic suburbs are now more like Glendale, Pasadena, Burbank, and Pomona.
So a city neighborhood is like a town, and a town is like a city, and a city is like town.
A modern suburb is a very autocentric city nearby a larger city.
A classic suburb has a downtown and is nearby a larger city
I am still confused as how you tell a town from a city. Do you define a town by a city that looks very rural or is considered a low population city away from larger cities? I think towns have the rural aspect.
In my experience, towns are usually lower in density and less continuous. As someone else mentioned, there's usually open space between towns. I suppose you could say that a town is (usually) a less dense city neighborhood with no other connected neighborhoods (or less so). I suppose you could consider a city a grouping of dense towns that are connected and more urban in feel with a single LARGE downtown to consolidate them all.
I could just as easily say you're wrong. Obviously some of this depends on specific neighborhood and suburb and each individual's experience. I run into my neighbors all the time where I live. I've never lived in a city neighborhood where I haven't encountered people I knew on a regular basis. How could one not, if you're all shopping at the same places, going to the same library, the same parks, walking the same streets?
That's not what I was responding to. I was responding to THIS statement:
Quote:
That's what city life is like. Meanwhile, suburb life is a bit more separated due to the extra space needed for cars, geographic separation of uses, and the ability of the community to sprawl horizontally that doesn't take place in small towns or in big cities.
It's pretty absolute, don't ya think?
******************************************
Meanwhile, when I lived in the city, I seldom if ever, encountered anyone I knew. That is my experience, and it's as valid as yours. I'm not wrong. Here in the burbs, I run into people I know with great frequency.
It also depends on WHEN you ask, as well as WHERE. In Sacramento County, a lot of small towns (some incorporated cities, some not) were physically separated from nearby development by open fields or farmland until the real estate boom--now the intervening space is taken up by suburban development.
In my experience, towns are usually lower in density and less continuous. As someone else mentioned, there's usually open space between towns. I suppose you could say that a town is (usually) a less dense city neighborhood with no other connected neighborhoods (or less so). I suppose you could consider a city a grouping of dense towns that are connected and more urban in feel with a single LARGE downtown to consolidate them all.
I think the words town and city vary depending on the speaker and context. And the legal distinction between the two changes depending on the state. But I don't think most people use the word "city" to mean any place legally incorporated as a city or "town" to mean any place legally incorporated as a town.
I sometimes use town to mean a place that is smaller than a city. But other times I use town to refer to suburban places that don't have a big center. I think of where I live as a "town" because it has only 30,000 people and is isolated from other place in the metro area even though it is legally a city.
I think the words town and city vary depending on the speaker and context. And the legal distinction between the two changes depending on the state. But I don't think most people use the word "city" to mean any place legally incorporated as a city or "town" to mean any place legally incorporated as a town.
I sometimes use town to mean a place that is smaller than a city. But other times I use town to refer to suburban places that don't have a big center. I think of where I live as a "town" because it has only 30,000 people and is isolated from other place in the metro area even though it is legally a city.
The bolded line is what I never referred to as a town (assuming big doesn't necessarily mean big, but more as "defined"). I always referred to a town when it seemed to have some sort of definitive center and surrounding community. Here's a prime example of what I think of when I say "town":
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
