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That's nice. I don't envy you, sorry. I've lived in New York as well (for 28 years), after all. Driving is just as easy and Amazon prime/Instacart/Walmart pickup is available here too so I guess I don't even need to leave my house either. Most of the country outside of New York drives. Not unusual. And New York heat's got nothing on Texas.
I would say it's quite unusual because all of Europe developed in walkable communities.
Singles could specialize, trading skills, so that one excels at say plumbing, and another at lawn-care, and they take turns, bartering their labor. Singles could trade gardening tips, car-repair tips, and on and on... activities useful and natural in the suburbs/exurbs/countryside. But... how often does this happen?
They could all these things but the reason why they don't is because families / couples are pretty exclusive and not inclusive. I went to Disney world with my daughter. No one spoke to us. I went on a weekend trip to the Poconos with my brother from another month. No one spoke to us. When you are in places with couples and families; they pretty much stick to other couples and families. Most single people consider living in places like that the end of having any local social life, with good reason.
Movies. We go out and see the occasional movie, but most of the time, we wait until it comes out to rent or buy and then we watch it in our own theater room. I much prefer watching movies at home vs going to a theater now, my seats are better, picture is unobstructed, and we don't have to worry about other people ruining our viewing experience. Oh, and we can sneak in all the snacks and drinks we want, LOL!
This is not a personal judgement because I spend a lot of time at home; I work on a computer for a living, and my daughter... well is a tween which means... I'm not one of her buddies. I spend a lot of time alone.
People do exactly what you described. But according to most social scientist and psychologist, this is an extremely emotionally unhealthy way to live. Being so isolated an insular is NOT good for humanity. You gotta wonder why we have a run up of mass shootings, and a lot of other socially questionable behavior. It's not normal to be so isolated, yet it has become that way. It's healthier to spend the bulk of our time with others, not getting away from others.
Movies are a lot more fun when you experience them together, especially if it is a comedy or something really profound. You had that kindred experience with them. And what's left out here: LIVE performances.
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We have an adequate number of restaurants and bars near by for when we want to get out for a night.
Personally, with Restaurants except for world cities like London, Paris, NY, and even smaller ones like Raleigh Durham, Seattle, Portland.. there isn't enough variety or quality to suit my tastes, especially the quality part. Confession: my ex-h was a professional four star chef. Don't serve me poorly prepared, under seasoned, overcooked stuff. I will call it out.
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I disagree that the suburbs are unsuitable for singles, especially today. Most people end up with someone they met at college/school, or at work.
50% of the population gets divorced. Many women don't remarry, for a variety of reasons. I'm divorced and not looking. (Cause the men are either too old, too young, or assclowns.)
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So living in the suburbs has no bearing on a lot of single people and their love life.
According to my divorced friends, the dating stock is terrible in the city and 10x worse in the burbs.
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In fact, I bet a lot of women would consider it a positive if they met a guy who already had a home in the suburbs, it shows he's got his act together, probably has some decent equity in his home, stable employment and income, etc.
I have met guys like that. They were lying about a spouse already at home and they were just cheating on their spouses.
It's not a conspiracy theory and, he 's not wrong. Dismissing any idea that a coporation or politician does not have the citizenry's best interest at heart as a conspiracy is one of the main reasons why they get away with the bulls--t that they do.
Are you aware that prior to the 20th century that around 50% of Americans worked in agriculture which meant most people in this country lived in rural areas? And then factories started getting built and people packed themselves into cities work at those factories. Mind you this was about 100 years ago.
So why don't most people work on farms and live in rural areas now? Is this really the work of some evil cabal of corporations? Or maybe it is the simple evolution of technology and the economy? Did people come up with wild conspiracy theories to comfort themselves back then as well?
I grew up in the 'burbs. Great place to be a kid, lots of space and other kids.
In my 20s, I moved to the city because there were lots of things to do, lots of excitement.
At 30, I moved about halfway between urbs and the burbs--affordable and convenient to work.
At 50, I moved to a rural area--wide open spaces, privacy.
Now in my 60s, I'm headed back to the city, where things are convenient and easy to get to.
It's all good, but you won't like all of it all the time.
This is not a personal judgement because I spend a lot of time at home; I work on a computer for a living, and my daughter... well is a tween which means... I'm not one of her buddies. I spend a lot of time alone.
People do exactly what you described. But according to most social scientist and psychologist, this is an extremely emotionally unhealthy way to live. Being so isolated an insular is NOT good for humanity. You gotta wonder why we have a run up of mass shootings, and a lot of other socially questionable behavior. It's not normal to be so isolated, yet it has become that way. It's healthier to spend the bulk of our time with others, not getting away from others.
Movies are a lot more fun when you experience them together, especially if it is a comedy or something really profound. You had that kindred experience with them. And what's left out here: LIVE performances.
Personally, with Restaurants except for world cities like London, Paris, NY, and even smaller ones like Raleigh Durham, Seattle, Portland.. there isn't enough variety or quality to suit my tastes, especially the quality part. Confession: my ex-h was a professional four star chef. Don't serve me poorly prepared, under seasoned, overcooked stuff. I will call it out.
50% of the population gets divorced. Many women don't remarry, for a variety of reasons. I'm divorced and not looking. (Cause the men are either too old, too young, or assclowns.)
According to my divorced friends, the dating stock is terrible in the city and 10x worse in the burbs.
I have met guys like that. They were lying about a spouse already at home and they were just cheating on their spouses.
I think I follow. Can you shed some light on exactly how corporate interests favor dense urban development when the prevailing development pattern of this country for the last 60 years has tended toward sprawl?
You are right. The past 60 years have been geared towards urban sprawl. However, the tide is changing. Companies want to spend less on transport, gain a greater amount of customers in a smaller space and, politicians cater to companies. Not for any sinister, illuminati crap, in most cases, but cuz' money.
Thats how my 'hood is. Very blue collar, mostly white and black. Tons of people are of German, Polish, Hungarian, Scandinavian and Irish descent. Lots of European cultural influence. Lots of wealthier areas too just down the road. Not a lot of crime but the occasional tweaker and alcoholic. Every one knows everyone pretty much but people dont pry into your private lives either. I think its fantastic! And guess what... pretty residential. You dont need suburbs to have a nice big house.
This does describe, with somewhat different groups of people, about a third of Philadelphia or slightly more if parts of S. Philly are included. These neighborhoods are pretty stable with less crime. Great ethnic food too.
It's not a matter of "putting down" burbs, but more the lack of good planning which is evident in many (most?) places.
If one wanted a REAL reason to "go urban" (or more urban), it would be energy and resource use. People living in populated areas use 1/2 to 1/3 the amount of energy.
But I think the biggest beefs are:
1. The isolation - obviously this varies by location. However, many Americans who experience Europe and similar places are really pleased about being able to walk places, sit down outside at a Cafe, see people of ALL ages and types, etc.
2. The Lack of Planning - I did business in Denmark and visited a few times. The people I knew lived in what we could call suburbs....with a BIG difference. First, their children could easily walk to a local "downtown" which had places they could go (yes, you can drink beer at 16 or earlier). Same goes with many factory workers - you could walk to work or bike (very close), and yet everything was clean and green.
When you wanted to go to any bigger place (this was a village), there was a train (trolley-type in the small villages) and it ran VERY often and you could get anywhere. So they had the best of both worlds.
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I live in an older burb (part-time) on the W. Coast of Florida. I can walk to just about everything...but, of course, as more people have desired a sunny winter, they have built burbs up to 5+ miles inland. The other day I counted...and one regular road has 10 lanes!
Now, many of you may see nothing wrong with multiple (every couple of blocks in some cases) 6-10 lane roads full of traffic, but this is a result of suburban development without proper planning. It adds excess noise, pollution and other factors which reduce the quality of life.
Maybe some could care less. On the other hand, in this area many people die each week from vehicle accidents...so there is another problem with large and high speed roads and poor planning.
So I'd say Planning is Everything. This is true whether in the city, burbs or even in a more rural area.
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