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Really? Small villages and towns sound great, until you live there. If Americans love it so much, why don't they build them? It seems to me that based on what you and the OP wrote here, there must be a huge market for it. But they are not being built, Americans prefer the big houses, the big cities. So I conclude that the nice
Actually, if you follow trends (as I do for my work), a huge trend is building "Walkable Communities" and transit communties where cars are parked on the edge or behind houses and citizens can walk or bike (and in some cases, ride an electric golf cart) to all the amenities.
Seems many of us DO want out of our cars. Especially those who live in large cities and have long commutes. When we come home at the end of the day, we don't want to get back in our cars and fight for parking spaces to go out to grocery shop, eat out, go to entertainment venues...
So you see, many do want walkable areas and "walkable communties" are big news in modern urban design. Rails to Trails projects are other big news in towns and cities where people can cycle for recreation and in some cases to work.
With the cost of gasoline ever rising and roads clogged, it makes sense to get us out of our cars and into less pricey and polluting commuting and transportation modes.
Meanwhile we have Paris and New York-- two walkable cities with great public transporation. It's a liability to own a car in those two cities.
Another huge trend is smaller homes and downsizing. Google "tiny houses" to see what's wildly popular. Why do you think Americans want huge houses? That's yesterday's news. We're all going broke (except for the top 2% tier)--we cannot afford to maintain, heat, cool and furnish those McMansions any more.
This is so true! "Walkable" is a luxury these days that people are willing to pay extra for, as in--higher prices in attractive, small towns, or neighborhoods in bigger cities that have amenities close by. And small, 2-br. cottages/"bungalows" are very popular, actually. Especially for singles and couples starting out. "Walkable" provides people with a sense of community, something that got lost in the large, anonymous suburbs of earlier eras.
I'm too young for the Cold War to cross my mind, lol. I was thinking more of some of the Germanic cultures, where conformity is important, and young people don't feel free to cut loose and have crazy fun.
Oh yeah they're so deprived of individuality that the Beetles could never have found an audience of young people there as far back as the early 60's to make a living playing their songs before the rest of the world and Ed Sullivan ever heard of them.
If I took an average piece of country in any nation in Europe and stacked it next to the US/Canada equivalent, I find the US one comes in very boring and dull-looking
Most depressing for charm anyone would tell you is a flight from Paris back to Atlanta and then switching from the more charming Air France carrier to connecting to a plain ole mediocre Delta flight with crowded ugly airport lines and mediocred American average-ism
The loss of the long European summer days and comfy temperatures and millennia old landscapes
To a land filled with Walmarts and quizno and Starbucks and humid 90-degree stagnant air and nothing of Any real charm
Most architecturally impressive for the US I find to be the towns around Boston Harbor and Newport Rhode Island, but even those wane in impression next to real harbor towns in Scotland, Ireland, England
I find very little resemblance ANYWHERE in US to real Dutch, Belgian country and architecture
Very mild resemblance between some Midwest towns and Germany,
Perhaps a touch of Barcelona and Nice in San Francisco
Scenic wise the most impressive unmatched US scenery would be the red rocks of the Colorado River in Desert Southwest and Zion national park
But it takes but one European town to capture the charm unfounded in 90% of the US
I agree with this sentiment, partly.
Any town center in most European countries can beat 95% of U.S. town centers, but once you get into the residential 'burbs (where most people live), urban areas in the U.S. outshine many European urban areas. I'm sorry, but rows of tower blocks or identical-looking rowhouses is boooorrring. Perhaps on par with a cluster of beige McMansions.
idk, I think there's something to it. Switzerland has a reputation for being regimented and conformist, just one example. Heaven knows what effect the Beatles would have had on Swiss society if they'd done concerts there, lol.
To a land filled with Walmarts and quizno and Starbucks and humid 90-degree stagnant air and nothing of Any real charm ...
Most architecturally impressive for the US I find to be the towns around Boston Harbor and Newport Rhode Island, but even those wane in impression next to real harbor towns in Scotland, Ireland, England..
Scenic wise the most impressive unmatched US scenery would be the red rocks of the Colorado River in Desert Southwest and Zion national park ...
But it takes but one European town to capture the charm unfounded in 90% of the US
You are so clueless. I live a few hours from Chicago. I have been going there for the last 6 years and every time I go there, I find some amazing architectural wonder I did not know anything about. I could say the same about New York City.
As far as scenery, the United States has at least 20 different types of landscape that simply do not exist in Europe.
Just off the top of my head: Grand Canyon, Yellowstone NP, Death Valley National Park, White Sands National Monument, Monument Valley which is my opinion one of the most amazing places I have ever visited.
Saguaro National Park in Arizona..I could go on and on...Joshua Tree National Park in California. Have you ever seen a Joshua Tree anywhere in Europe?
You are so clueless. I live a few hours from Chicago. I have been going there for the last 6 years and every time I go there, I find some amazing architectural wonder I did not know anything about. I could say the same about New York City.
As far as scenery, the United States has at least 20 different types of landscape that simply do not exist in Europe.
Just off the top of my head: Grand Canyon, Yellowstone NP, Death Valley National Park, White Sands National Monument, Monument Valley which is my opinion one of the most amazing places I have ever visited.
Saguaro National Park in Arizona..I could go on and on...Joshua Tree National Park in California. Have you ever seen a Joshua Tree anywhere in Europe?
Have you ever seen giant Sequoyas anywhere in Europe? Any Sequoyas at all?
Do people surf in Europe? Cowabunga!
Sorry, I couldn't resist. California's in my blood. So shoot me.
I'm too young for the Cold War to cross my mind, lol. I was thinking more of some of the Germanic cultures, where conformity is important, and young people don't feel free to cut loose and have crazy fun.
You should visit the Germanic cultures. Berlin is fantastic. You'll 100% see a 'Freedom of Expression' throughout the Germanic cultures. It's there.
Yes, you can surf in Europe. Newquay in Cornwall, UK is actually quite well-known for it. Cowabunga back! :P
That video above is crazy!
To the OP's statement, I think it's a little extreme. There are some amazing places in the US that I'd visit in a heartbeat over the dullest parts of Europe. But Europe is overall more interesting.
You are so clueless. I live a few hours from Chicago. I have been going there for the last 6 years and every time I go there, I find some amazing architectural wonder I did not know anything about. I could say the same about New York City.
As far as scenery, the United States has at least 20 different types of landscape that simply do not exist in Europe.
Just off the top of my head: Grand Canyon, Yellowstone NP, Death Valley National Park, White Sands National Monument, Monument Valley which is my opinion one of the most amazing places I have ever visited.
Saguaro National Park in Arizona..I could go on and on...Joshua Tree National Park in California. Have you ever seen a Joshua Tree anywhere in Europe?
These are the parks that few Americans actually visit. It's international tourists that really visit these places and so it goes there's places within the US that are magnets for international tourism and nobody actually calls these places home. Also the architectural cities of NYC and Chicago are also surviving on foreign tourism and foreign investments and have little to do with any American influence these days. Some but not consider almost 50% of NYC residents were foreign-born.
The real America is watching TV, listening to Top 40, going to Target and McDonald's and subway and barely ever leaving the backyard. And believing that the earth was created in 7 days and that this same creator had a son who wants us to love our enemy so much that we send troops all around the world with guns and tanks
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