Where should you live if you work in a suburb? (suburban, transportation)

[jimmyev]

Since it seems so bad to live in a suburb, I was just wondering where one should live if one works in a suburb? Many suburbs are huge employment centers. It seems to me that it would be more environmentally-friendly to live near one's work.

[Ohiogirl81]

Live where you want. Screw everyone else.

[joe from dayton]

Why does it seem bad to live in a suburb? ^^^What she said.

[progmac]

word, live where you want. if i worked in a suburb, i would probably reverse commute from a reasonably close city neighborhood, but that is just me. or i would live in the historic district of the suburb. if it was a sprawling township with no real center, i would definitely do the reverse commute thing.

[wburg]

If you work in a suburb, it makes sense to live in that suburb in order to minimize your commute. The more economically diverse suburbs become, the more they will start to resemble functional cities and towns. Many suburbs were built out based on the idea that they would never be anything but residential areas, which limits the ability for their residents to get jobs close to home, and makes them economically dependent on adjacent cities with a higher balance of jobs to residents. More recently, the phenomenon of "edge cities," new auto-centric towns with more jobs than residents, have turned the idea on its head. And as cities try to rebalance their own city centers by attracting new residents, eventually it may be harder to tell the city from the suburb, at least from the perspective of jobs balance.

The problem will be transportation. Cars are okay for decentralized travel in an area without a definable center, but their transportation infrastructure takes an enormous amount of space and energy. Public transit takes up less space and has higher capacities but works better on a centralized or linear model than a totally decentralized model. In either case, there are benefits to living closer to work--ideally, close enough to walk.

Also, keep in mind that the definition of "suburb" changes. The three-story brownstones in the heart of most eastern cities were once considered suburbs, as were the small-lot foursquares, bungalows and cottages of older western cities. As cities expand, what was once the edge of the country becomes part of the city--and uses, population demographics, and transportation systems change. If you work and live in the same suburb, eventually it might not be a suburb anymore, even if you work in a strip mall and live in a mid-century ranch house.

[nei]

Probably depends on how far the suburb is from the center city. I might try to live in a city myself but it's not worth a horrible commute. A walkable suburb or small city next to the big city is probably the best compromise.

A more specific situation would help.

[jambo101]

Living and working in the same suburb sounds great unless you like spending hours a day sitting in your car getting all stressed out with rush hour traffic, as you do your 5 minute commute you can laugh at all those suckers in their eternal traffic tie ups. i see no down side to living in the same suburb you work in.

[progmac]

Originally Posted by jambo101

Living and working in the same suburb sounds great unless you like spending hours a day sitting in your car getting all stressed out with rush hour traffic, as you do your 5 minute commute you can laugh at all those suckers in their eternal traffic tie ups. i see no down side to living in the same suburb you work in.

well there are some suburbs where i'd be happy to live. there are others that i would put up with an hour of traffic per day to not live in.

[jambo101]

I guess unless the op comes up with specifics we can only talk in generalities..

[wburg]

Pretty much. I live in work in the same streetcar suburb (a part of my city that some would call "urban" but plenty of others would consider pretty suburban) and it's mighty sweet. I walk to work instead of using a treadmill at the gym, saves me on gas, parking and gym membership fees!