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Why do people want suburbs to be like cities? If you want to live in a city, go live in a city.
I think Cary does a great job with planning, and did a great job prior to the theme of building new construction on tiny postage stamp lots.
People keep throwing out the environment card, but I'm still waiting for someone to tell me how dense housing in a place like Cary is good for the environment.
Why do people want suburbs to be like cities? If you want to live in a city, go live in a city.
I think Cary does a great job with planning, and did a great job prior to the theme of building new construction on tiny postage stamp lots.
People keep throwing out the environment card, but I'm still waiting for someone to tell me how dense housing in a place like Cary is good for the environment.
If by "environment" you mean tax base expansion, then it is good.
Can you explain to me how a dense suburb like Cary (pop 150k+) is better for the environment than a suburb of say, 30k. I can assure you that very few people in Cary are walking anywhere, even if where they want to go is within a walkable distance.
I'm not trying to argue here, I'm really trying to get the other side of the story. People keep pulling the environment card, and I just don't see how a suburb of Cary's size is helping the environment in any way. Yet dense neighborhood after dense neighborhood keeps getting built.
I can only speak for me here, but when I say dense development is better for the environment, I don't really mean places like Cary.
What I mean is sprawl and associated development take up a lot of space, suck up a lot of water, and introduces a lot of pollution into the environment while not housing as many people as denser places. Cities have a rep for being dirty, but they're a much more efficient method of development than suburbia, which is really more of a facsimile of 'greeness' that in reality destroys a lot of habitat. I mean acres of manicured turf grass might look nice to people, but it's an environmental disaster when you look at fertilizer runoff, water usage, pesticides, and the fact that it's a mono crop that does nothing for displaced wildlife and native pollinators.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JONOV
I'd just like to point out that by the time you hit 28, you start to see them move out to the burbs again, because babies.
And, there are more of my parents generation that is moving into denser housing, for the same reason that SINKS and DINKS like to live closer in.
I agree and disagree.
For me personally, I can see wanting to get a SFH and more space if/when I get married and kids. But I would absolutely never want to live in the type of soulless exurb that I grew up in. NEVER. And I wouldn't want to raise my kids there either. And I think quite a few people in my generation feel a similar way.
It's not that space, and yards are bad at all. But I don't want that if it means living in an isolated pod off the interstate with rows of other similar isolated pods, and having to drive everywhere. Not for any amount of space, or privacy would I ever do that.
And to your point about older generations, I see that with my Mom. She is also terribly bored in suburban FL, and talks all the time about getting a small place in a mid-sized city to be closer to events, and entertainment.
Here are my thoughts on the Triangle's new homes being offered:
1) I don't understand the tiny postage-stamp lot subdivisions rationale. Townhouses or row houses that share a wall would use less materials and be more energy efficient. Having completely detached boxes baking in the sun with no possibility of trees or shade is downright criminal with regards to conserving the world's resources. Wasting what little lot you have as a separator between homes renders it completely useless. Two homes sharing one wall would have double the yard available with more potential uses.
Not everyone wants to share walls. We have done it twice and will never, ever do it again....especially with a home theater system. Plus we enjoy having our own private pool. Not all new homes in the area are as pictured. Brighton Forest for example has nice 1/3 acre lots, with tons of trees and great new homes with character.
Regarding grid streets. I have always hated them. I much prefer the nice curving roads, with neighborhood side streets off of them. I don't want to travel every 50 feet into an intersection. I avoid that layout like the plague. We live on a wonderful cul de sac road. Love it.
The thing is, different people like different choices and the area provides very nicely for that. People should just pick which one they like, enjoy it and let others enjoy what they like. It's all good.
Last edited by The Villages Guy; 01-10-2016 at 12:33 AM..
Reason: Typo & Addition
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,775 posts, read 15,776,851 times
Reputation: 10880
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lycaon pictus
But I don't want that if it means living in an isolated pod off the interstate with rows of other similar isolated pods, and having to drive everywhere. Not for any amount of space, or privacy would I ever do that.
For me personally, I can see wanting to get a SFH and more space if/when I get married and kids. But I would absolutely never want to live in the type of soulless exurb that I grew up in. NEVER. And I wouldn't want to raise my kids there either. And I think quite a few people in my generation feel a similar way.
It's not that space, and yards are bad at all. But I don't want that if it means living in an isolated pod off the interstate with rows of other similar isolated pods, and having to drive everywhere. Not for any amount of space, or privacy would I ever do that.
And to your point about older generations, I see that with my Mom. She is also terribly bored in suburban FL, and talks all the time about getting a small place in a mid-sized city to be closer to events, and entertainment.
How naive the young and idealistic often are. Assuming you get married and have kids (a fair assumption, most people do,) you will find your outlook vastly changed. Your desire to live closer to the urban core will change when you and your SO need more room than that 2 br condo will provide, and she's tired of schlepping up the stairs with an infant. You look for a nice, bigger place, ITB (or in a good part of whatever city you decide to live in) and find that your (decidedly definitely not racist wife) isn't comfortable living in the neighborhoods that you can swing on your budget, (because of safety and cuz greatschools.com gave them a 5, not tbecause she has AA neighbors of course, she says,) and while we're at it, shopping with a toddler means that walking distance to the grocery store isn't all that important anymore because you sure as hell aren't going to put little Hayighden (the gh is silent as a nod to the semester mom spent in Ireland learning Gaelic) a stroller to shop an she can't carry it home anymore.
You meanwhile, still insist that you'll never live in a "soulless exurb" in a pod of houses off the interstate. If have much of a vote anymore (or your budget forces it) you pick an older neighborhood in a mid century modern home and extoll the virtues of "an established neighborhood" because the tree's are all taller than new construction and you might get a little more yard, while denying the fact that your neighborhood is simply an older amalgamation of interstate convenient pods with taller trees. You don't care about being walking distance to anything other than a park to take your spawn to and even if you could walk to downtown, you would maybe take advantage of it twice a year.
I am not married. But i do see how these things go.
How naive the young and idealistic often are. Assuming you get married and have kids (a fair assumption, most people do,) you will find your outlook vastly changed. Your desire to live closer to the urban core will change when you and your SO need more room than that 2 br condo will provide, and she's tired of schlepping up the stairs with an infant. You look for a nice, bigger place, ITB (or in a good part of whatever city you decide to live in) and find that your (decidedly definitely not racist wife) isn't comfortable living in the neighborhoods that you can swing on your budget, (because of safety ans schools, not tbecause she has AA neighbors of course, she says,) and while we're at it, shopping with a toddler means that walking distance to the grocery store isn't all that important anymore because you sure as hell aren't going to put little Hayighden (the gh is silent as a nod to the semester mom spent in Ireland learning Gaelic) a stroller to shop an she can't carry it home anymore.
You meanwhile, still insist that you'll never live in a "soulless exurb" in a pod of houses off the interstate. If have much of a vote anymore (or your budget forces it) you pick an older neighborhood in a mid century modern home and extoll the virtues of "an established neighborhood" because the tree's are all taller than new construction and you might get a little more yard, while denying the fact that your neighborhood is simply an older amalgamation of interstate convenient pods with taller trees. You don't care about being walking distance to anything other than a park to take your spawn to and even if you could walk to downtown, you would maybe take advantage of it twice a year.
I am not married. But i do see how these things go.
It won't let me rep you but if I could, I'd rep you a thousand times for this post. It is so true and certainly represented my decision about 15 years ago when we started having children. [I never was one who espoused to living in a condo/apartment my whole life though]
Nice post. The only other thing you could have added would be when they get a minivan.
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