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Old 10-15-2009, 02:10 PM
 
161 posts, read 697,701 times
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It's no secret that in cities across America, much of the middle class population that devotes their 20s to the excitement of urban living, devotes their 30s, 40s, and 50s to an atypical suburban lifestyle. But not everyone follows those trends and as cities generally become safer, more lively, better educated arenas to spend your child rearing years, more people continue to live in the urban core.

So I want to hear some stories from people who have resisted the move to the burbs. What inspired you to stay in the city once your friends and colleagues began moving to the burbs? What difficulties did you encounter by making that decision? If you had to make the decision again, would you have made the same choice? And if you could give a little background about your situation (where you live, job, kids, etc.) to create a context, that'd be appreciated.
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Old 10-15-2009, 03:12 PM
 
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I don't have any kids - don't want any kids. I live in the city and teach in the suburbs and have never had any desire to live in the suburbs, especially after having grown up in one. I'm not complaining about growing up in the suburbs, but it made me want something different as an adult.
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Old 10-15-2009, 05:24 PM
 
Location: Greater PDX
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Sprawling on the fringes of the city in geometric order
An insulated border
In between the bright lights and the far unlit unknown...
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Old 10-15-2009, 06:22 PM
 
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My story is, we moved to the burbs, a year after getting married. Part of it was in order to split commutes (mine was actually out to outer burbs, her's was into the City). Part of it was, we had not yet decided whether or not to have kids, but nonetheless, we planned to buy a place about a year out, and had to at least allow for the possibility. So, the burbs it was. Still here after 13 years (but close enough to the City that we have not severed the ties and still spend a fair bit of time there).
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Old 10-15-2009, 10:18 PM
 
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We're committed to raising kids in the city, but realities like cost of living will impact what city. We've lived in big cities that we've loved on both coasts (LA, SF, DC), but would have a hard time affording to raise kids (or at least more than one) in the long run. We're hoping to buy a place in Minneapolis and set down some more permanent roots, as Minneapolis has a great blend of big city amenities (and is very livable) but with an affordable price tag and good public schools. For expensive cities like San Francisco and NYC, it's a lot easier to raise a family in the city if you have money, or at the very least if you have some family around to help. In San Francisco many of our friends all talked about the pressure to leave the city when their kids got to school age; in Minneapolis (and St. Paul) many people choose to stay. I think for many people it comes down to the schools first and foremost, followed by space. I've noticed in places like DC and SF there are tons of people with young children, but the real movement out comes when it's time to start school.

I like city living. I grew up in a city, like living in cities, and expect to raise my son (and any future kids) in the city. I also love Minneapolis (and the fact that we have family in MN), but if we could afford it I'd be equally happy living in a city like NYC. Cities are very convenient, and I think they're a great environment for kids, and especially for teens.
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Old 10-17-2009, 12:29 PM
 
Location: Tennessee
37,746 posts, read 40,814,062 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Libertine View Post
It's no secret that in cities across America, much of the middle class population that devotes their 20s to the excitement of urban living, devotes their 30s, 40s, and 50s to an atypical suburban lifestyle. But not everyone follows those trends and as cities generally become safer, more lively, better educated arenas to spend your child rearing years, more people continue to live in the urban core.

So I want to hear some stories from people who have resisted the move to the burbs. What inspired you to stay in the city once your friends and colleagues began moving to the burbs? What difficulties did you encounter by making that decision? If you had to make the decision again, would you have made the same choice? And if you could give a little background about your situation (where you live, job, kids, etc.) to create a context, that'd be appreciated.
Your premise is flawed.

How can cities be more educated than suburbs if 20 year old educated city people move to the suburbs in their 30s, 40s and 50s, per your own post. Do they leave their degrees at the city line?

And where do these "intellectual" dropouts below, live?

"It is no surprise that more students drop out of high school in big cities than elsewhere. Now, however, a nationwide study shows the magnitude of the gap: the average high school graduation rate in the nation’s 50 largest cities was 53 percent, compared with 71 percent in the suburbs."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/ed...22dropout.html
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Old 10-17-2009, 03:17 PM
 
Location: Youngstown, Oh.
5,496 posts, read 9,442,272 times
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I plan on staying in the city (though not always Youngstown) for the simple reason that city living provides freedom from driving. I know some suburbs have decent mass-transportation, but it would probably take longer to get to work.

I guess I'm cheating a little because Youngstown isn't a very dense city. My neighborhood is one of the closest to downtown, and it's still made up of single family homes with lot sizes between 35-50 feet wide. So, I get the best of both worlds.

When I retire, I might move to a small town. We'll see when the time comes, I guess.
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Old 10-17-2009, 03:49 PM
 
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I don't think the premise is flawed; more and more highly educated people ARE living in the cities, although in many cases it tends to be either young people, people without kids, or returning empty nesters. As for statistics about city schools, keep in mind that in many desirable cities with poorly performing schools the truly wealthy families simply send their kids to private schools. In other words, public schools don't include all of the city's kids. The problem with many bigger cities is that there are two classes of kids: kids from poor families who end up in often highly segregated and often troubled schools, and very wealthy kids who attend expensive private schools. It's the middle class who has been squeezed out, as they don't want to send their kids to the public schools, but can't afford to live in the city and pay for private school tuition.

I don't think the OP was trying to say that cities were more educated than suburbs, necessarily, but rather that an increasing number of highly educated people are choosing to live in and raise families in the city instead of the suburbs.

And just to note, city neighborhoods are often very segregated along educational lines; it's not uncommon to find urban neighborhoods where a large majority of residents hold advanced degrees, sometimes more with graduate degrees than with "only" an undergraduate degree. In other words, broad studies or statistics about a city don't reflect every neighborhood equally. Suburbs have variety, too, but in general there's great extremes of wealth and poverty within one core city than there is in one suburb. Cities also offer educational benefits like increased access to museums and other educational venues (which are usually located within city limits); those are, of course, also available to kids in the suburbs, but families in the city have the convenience factor working on their behalf.

And finally, I think more and more high school dropouts are moving to the suburbs, often for the same reasons other people make the move: city living is often expensive. The really undesirable neighborhoods are obviously cheaper, but that doesn't always mean affordable. Not to say that they're moving out to McMansionLand and buying 4,000 square feet new construction in gated communities, but they are moving out, often as others from the 'burbs move in and the city neighborhood rents go up. There seems to be the cycle now where poor city residents move to the inner ring suburbs, inner suburban residents move out to the next tier, those people move to the exurbs, and so on. Now some of those suburban residents are choosing to return to the core city itself, or, alternatively, are choosing never to leave in the first place.
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Old 10-17-2009, 06:51 PM
 
161 posts, read 697,701 times
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Yeah, that's basically what I was hinting at, I'm not saying that smarter people live in the city, I'm simply saying that an increasing number of well educated (degree holding) people are choosing to live in cities (for obvious reasons: good paying jobs, cultural capital, etc.) then have in the past 30 years or so.

But I also wasn't directly referencing New York, Chicago, D.C. and other similar cities as the only ones I wanted to hear from. I consider Berkeley, Ann Arbor, Austin, and the like as definite cities as well. If you look at it, urban centers have some of the best universities in this country (Harvard, Penn, Georgetown, Columbia, Washington U., Rice, U of Chicago, etc.) because many of our country's oldest institutions are found in cities.

Any other good urban stories?
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