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I've split my life living downtown (SF, NYC, London, Melbourne, TO) and in the suburbs. Outside my house the only thing I hear is the wind tossing about with t
by colmvp 10y ago
I've split my life living downtown (SF, NYC, London, Melbourne, TO) and in the suburbs.
Outside my house the only thing I hear is the wind tossing about with the trees. Can't hear my neighbors or traffic or people on the street. Contrast that to when I lived in areas where the bars or homeless/mentally unstable individuals would keep me up all night.
And I love all the space. Yes, it's a double edge sword. But I have lot more space for my hobbies such as bike ownership/maintenance, musical instruments, photography studio... I can sit in my backyard and just meditate or play music. When I lived downtown, I had to rent space or just forego certain things.
Lastly, I like how there's less population density. Downtown, good luck if you want a seat at the nearby cafe. Whereas my local cafe which has ample parking also has ample open seats.
I'm not trying to say surburbia > urban living. They just have very real differences that suit different people and life stages.
- TulliusCicero 10y agoIt's amazing all the people posting comments here who completely missed the point of the article. The author is NOT saying that suburbs are bad. The author is saying that American suburbs are bad. There is a difference, and that difference is the entire point of the article. Seriously, did you even read it?
- djrogers 10y agoSome of us LIKE American suburbs. The author is stating as an objective fact something which is entirely subjective in nature - a sadly common mistake among the overly cynical.
- TulliusCicero 10y agoHe's sharing his opinion. Do you really not ever say something like "X sucks" when it's just an opinion? I'm sure the author is well aware that it's not an objective fact.
- bklimt 10y agoWhy are you assuming that none of us defending suburbs are American? There's a reason so many people like to live in them.
- TulliusCicero 10y agoI'm not assuming that. If anything, I assumed that most people defending them are American, and that Americans are wrongly interpreting "American suburbs suck" as "suburbs suck" because American suburbs are the only ones they know. Some people like them, sure. I suspect that much of it is just cultural momentum at this point, though, where people are unaware of the possibility of a different format, or don't have the option available, and that given a choice to live in a Euro-style or American-style suburb that were otherwise in a similar situation, many Americans would choose the European-style one. Might even split 50/50.
- ricardobeat 10y agoTo put the sibling comment more lightly, your idea of "living in the city" is very narrow. Most of the world lives in densely populated areas but do not have bars and drunk people in their doorsteps. The article does try to address this.