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Not sure in which section to post this, so the moderators can feel free to move it.
I've noticde that I dread living in small and midsize towns (let's say from 4000 people to 400,000), I enjoy bigger cities of about 1-2 millions (haven't been in many bigger cities, but I enjoyed London). I also like farmlands with lone houses and small villages and communities (less than 1000 people) nice, too. Anyone that feels the same, that likes the extremes? What makes you feel like this?
I think for me it's mostly about what they each offer - small, sub 1000 communities are very rustic, close to the nature, the land. Ditto for farm houses. On the other hand cities of 800,000 and up offer lots of stuff and diversity, not found in smaller towns. In small towns and midsize towns, you don't get enough fun, yet you don't usually have the same closeness to nature you find on farms and villages. One would think it would be the golden middle, yet I don't feel like this. I currently live in a city of 400,000 people and I find it boring compared to my home city of 1,3 million people, yet not as peaceful as those cute country houses by the fields. It's a bit better than the town of 38,000 people I used to live in before and the one that had 60,000 people, but I'd rather go to a farm somewhere or a bigger city of 1 million.
One thing I have always known growing up in the country....that there are only two ways to live...either out by a lake with swamps or right down town in the thick of it....no middle ground for me...I WOULD NEVER LIVE IN THE SUBURBS...I would rather stick a sharp stick in my eye.
Yep, European smallish towns often feel like American-style suburbs. Sure, they have more amenities, but most of their residential areas are just as beige and boring. Things start improving once you reach 500,000 I think (it varied on the country, though), as then you get local area shopping districts, like min town-centers with amenities like stores, pharmacies, etc. so no need to go to downtown. For me farm/rural/village life OR big city life are the only two ways, I'd rather have less nature and glamour/the shiny lights and all the culture OR lush green/golden fields. In mid-sized communities nature is usually away, they often are boring and lack true parks compared to bigger ones, and night life is boring. If I have to often go out of town to see the greenery every day, why not move to live there and only work/shop in the beige town? On the other hand, many large cities have parks, heck Sofia has a forest not far away from it's city center. So for me the middle ground lacks the magic of the sticks or the large cities. I bet more things happen in the sticks with nature, animals, etc. than in a town of 60,000 lol.
The other day I was in the car down town and was thinking how remarkable mankind is...to have created these super complex cities...at the same time I think that nature is twice as remarkable...if you know how to see it for all that it is. We live in a miracle. Natural and artificial. To really appreciate things you have to understand both.
Staying in touch with the natural world makes you happier and live longer. Growing up in nature gave me an appreciation of this fantastic and miraculous world we live in...Yes as mentioned I am impressed with the works of man...but civilization can never come close to the power of nature.
The other day I was in the car down town and was thinking how remarkable mankind is...to have created these super complex cities...at the same time I think that nature is twice as remarkable...if you know how to see it for all that it is. We live in a miracle. Natural and artificial. To really appreciate things you have to understand both.
I think this sums it best. To me large cities are like man-made miracles - think about all the flashy lights, the beautiful glowing skylines seen from afar. At the opposite end you have natural beauty of small villages/farm communities, almost untouched by humans. Ponds, river creeks, fields, forests, etc. In the middle you have mid-sized communities, towns and small cities - not as flashy and glowing as a large city, yet nowhere as green and close to nature as smaller communities. It screams "mundane", lacks the wow factor of large cities and the tranquility and closeness to nature and the eternal you have on farms and villages. I think in Europe midsize is like suburbia in America with a bit more amenities - boring, too small to be interesting, fun and glowing, and too big to be close to nature and back-to-basics. Working in a big city and spending your weekends out in nature hiking/fishing trumps working and spending your free time in some town of 60,000 for me. So does working and living on a farm and only going to said beige midsize community for food and checkups.
Childhood summers spent in nature in the village of my grandparents (less than 1000 people est.) were much better than those spent in the 100,000 town of my other grands. And I also feel better in my 1,3 million home city.
I fall into this camp. In my opinion, there is no point in living in a city unless it is a large metropolitan area. I am currently living in the smallest metro size I would feel comfortable with (~1,000,000).
And if I did have to live in a smaller city, I would prefer to live as close to the core of it as possible.
Otherwise, I would prefer to live surrounded by the land. Problem is, few jobs out there.
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