A European immigrant moves to USA and explains why he believes US suburbia is soul crushing (article)

[elhelmete]

Something I'm seeing more and more of in the suburbs I'm familiar with (LA and New England) is this:

As commercial rents in the urban core are at levels which seemingly only generic mega-chains can afford, I'm seeing an uptick in interesting independent businesses pop up in underutilized areas of the suburbs.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by elhelmete

Something I'm seeing more and more of in the suburbs I'm familiar with (LA and New England) is this:

As commercial rents in the urban core are at levels which seemingly only generic mega-chains can afford, I'm seeing an uptick in interesting independent businesses pop up in underutilized areas of the suburbs.

Yes! Especially non-chain restaurants. (Denver area)

[Coseau]

US suburbia was greatly influenced by the Garden City movement. The Garden City was to stop people from migrating from the country rural areas where there was the beauty of nature but lack of employment opportunities, no society, lack of places for amusement, etc. People were migrating into the cities for jobs, places for amusement, social opportunities, etc. But cities had air quality problems, expensive housing and rents. The Garden City was meant to be a utopia by having the best aspects of city and country. Plenty of employment opportunities with high wages, low housing costs, low costs of living, fresh air, beauty of nature, bright homes and gardens, social opportunities, places for amusement giving people plenty to do in their free time.

It is easy to see why the Garden City movement is still very influential in metropolitan civic planning. Who wouldn't want the best of both worlds. But where suburbia fails in trying to combine city and country living is the replication of lively active streets of public street sidewalks of a great city. A residential suburban street will be dead because there is no reason for people to be on it fairly continuously in sufficient numbers to make them lively. City streets are lively and active because of the many enterprises along them in which people have reasons to frequent. Great cities have high concentrations of people in small areas able to economically support a great variety of small shops and stores. This provides social opportunities for casual public contact along the many stores and shops with other people with no strings attached in the informal public realm of the city sidewalk and enterprises. In suburbia the mere contact with neighbors brings the threat of intrusion of privacy with unwanted obligations or entanglements. US suburbia is designed for isolation and privacy.