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I've lived in the suburbs and in the city. I personally love the city and can't stand the 'burbs. What do you like better? Why?
Why do so many people decide to settle down in the suburbs but then go back into the city for work, shopping, etc.?
Why do most parents not want to put their child through public school in the city? Not every school is horrible, and it also depends on what city youre talking about.
City vs. suburbs isn't as important as the form of the neighborhood. I'd rather live in just about any inner-ring suburb of Chicago than just about anywhere inside the city limits of places like Houston and Phoenix which are populous cities but much of which is "suburban" in form.
Rural. I love small towns and countryside. Also, Pittsburgh isn't exactly a "small city." When I think of small cities, I think of places like Mankato and Kalamazoo. Pittsburgh is a major metro.
I've lived in the suburbs and in the city. I personally love the city and can't stand the 'burbs. What do you like better? Why?
Why do so many people decide to settle down in the suburbs but then go back into the city for work, shopping, etc.?
Why do most parents not want to put their child through public school in the city? Not every school is horrible, and it also depends on what city youre talking about.
CITY
Not necessarily NYC or SF it has to be, but on the lines of Portland, Seattle, Tampa, Boston for sure.
Suburbs suck. My town only got a 3 rating on the walkability scale. I currently am in exurb hell waiting to get out. I cant wait to go to the city and I definitely don't think I'm the only one who feels this way. I think many young singles my age do or maybe even married couples do now as well. I think and believe suburbs are dying. I think the immediate burbs to bigger cities will be hip though, Exurbs though.. fading out fast and real estate is dropping big in them.
I live in a suburb and I can't stand it. Sure I like the peace and quiet, but I am very bored here. Hopefully when I move out from my parents, I can become rich enough to live in Manhattan I hope for at least 5-6 years.
I like the city much better because I don't like driving very much. I like to be able to walk everywhere, and if I cannot walk, then I can take a subway or bus or a taxi if I am really in a hurry. I like cities because there are a lot of women who are single that are there, and when I am in the suburbs (at least here in a sprawl suburb of Chicago), it seems like all the single women are gone because they are either too young for me or they are already married with children. I also like the city because I don't have to cut the grass or have other responsibilities that I find are a complete waste of time. Other people believe taking care of a yard or their property is fun and I think it is ok for them but not to me. I don't like it when for example if you don't cut your grass or you do something else wrong, if you live in an HOA suburban neighborhood they'll foreclose your house which was expensive to buy where if you live in an apartment there isn't that much to take care of and if they evict you, it will not be as bad as if you get foreclosed.
I also like cities because I think that they are more ecologically responsible by their very nature of their density. If 50% of Americans lived in cities (like if New York was 3 to 5 times its size and held many more millions and smaller cities like Chicago and Philly were the size and had as much pop as New York now), and the other 50% of Americans lived in compact small rural towns (think of the old colonial areas like Georgetown near Washington DC) or farms, I think much more wildlife would be saved than if suburbs sprawled and destroyed an ever increasing amount of wilderness areas. I want to live in a city because of that moral component alone.
As far as city schools, I think it is very sad that they become degraded because many white families moved to the suburbs. It would have been better had city schools be more racially diverse and integrated, as the tax money that could have been used from the people lost to white flight could have been used to ensure schools are safer and perform better so the white flight wouldn't have happened in the first place.
Rural. I love small towns and countryside. Also, Pittsburgh isn't exactly a "small city." When I think of small cities, I think of places like Mankato and Kalamazoo. Pittsburgh is a major metro.
Oh I lived in Pittsburgh and now I live in Philly, I guess Pitt for me atleast feels like a smaller city to that of Philly and say New York.
I like an urban neighborhood, but am not going to get hung up on the exact city boundary; I've seen too many suburbs that are quite urban in form, as well as urban neighborhoods (even in cities like San Francisco) that are far too suburban for my tastes.
I prefer a highly walkable neighborhood in which I can get almost all of the necessities of life without having to get in a car or on a bus or train. (but do want ready access to public transportation to get other places) I do like having the opportunity to garden, although don't necessarily need that to come in the form of an actual yard (although it probably will be, in our case). We live in Minneapolis, and are hoping to buy a duplex with a small yard in one of the most walkable neighborhoods in the city. I love Minneapolis and love that my family lives here, although if cost of living and proximity to family wasn't an issue I'd probably prefer to either return to LA (far, far more dense and urban than many people realize) or to NYC or DC.
I prefer to live in a city of about 250,000 people to 500,000 people. We have most of the amentias of the larger cities including plays and great restaurants but none of the hassle. For example I live in Pueblo that is 110,000 people with a MSA of 160,000 people yet our trade area is over 400,000 people. Sure I would love for it to grow more but we have most of the same things you can do in a large city like NYC or Chicago.
I loathe big cities. They can be fun to visit, but I try to avoid living in them. My dream: A cabin in the mountains near a town. My reality: suburb in mountain foothills. I like it, but I'd rather have that cabin.
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