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Not OP, it was a bit of caricature I believe. But there are stark differences he also mentioned - many times in US I couldn't walk to a store, unless walking on

Not OP, it was a bit of caricature I believe. But there are stark differences he also mentioned - many times in US I couldn't walk to a store, unless walking on the road and risking getting hit / stopped by police. Some shops I wanted to visit simply didn't have pedestrian access at all. Or stuff like the need to walk 45 minutes in a big U shape to store that is 1km away. Replace store with any other destination. This reflects a bit different reality in US. You might not even see it anymore, but for many Europeans its a bit shocking when first encountered.

wostusername 7y ago
What you are describing has only been my experience in suburbia. Major cities are a lot more walkable as far as getting to a grocery store or convenience shop or whatever. I'm currently in Chicago and the entire city has a grid layout, no weird U shaped routes anywhere and every street has a sidewalk for pedestrians.
- phil21 7y ago
  > What you are describing has only been my experience in suburbia. Major cities are a lot more walkable as far as getting to a grocery store or convenience shop or whatever. The problem of course, is that almost all American cities outside of a small handful are effectively a tiny downtown core surrounded by what amounts to suburbs. Only a few cities such as NYC, Boston, Chicago, etc. really qualify as "city living" in the sense you write above - being able to quickly and easily take care of your day to day needs within the neighborhood and thus resulting in a wildly different lifestyle/culture than the suburbs. I've lived in a number of places, Chicago is where I currently call home. The lifestyle of living 2 miles from downtown Chicago vs. the Chicago suburbs is a night and day difference. Living 2 miles from downtown in Minneapolis is effectively no different than living 30 miles out in the exurbs, even with sidewalks and grid layouts. As I get older I see "suburbs" to be a lifestyle more than a description of urban density. While not perfect, my quick rule of thumb is that if the average person requires a car to effectively participate in society - it's a suburb, not a city. The more time I spend living in European cities really drives this point home to me. Sprawl has totally, completely, and irreversibly changed American culture for better or worse in very deep and subtle ways.
MandieD 7y ago
It's disorienting when I visit family back in Texas each year after living in Germany for the past 15, and especially now that I've given up our second car because I realize I wasn't driving enough for it to make sense, it really irritates me that I have to have a rental car the whole time I'm visiting. Since I'm a respectable-looking, middle-aged white lady, I just get stopped and politely asked if I need a ride or to borrow their phone when I'm walking between shopping centers. It's not as universally pleasant for people who do not look like me. My sister-in-law thinks I'm nuts for wanting to walk a couple hundred yards to the other side of a large shopping center rather than get back in the car and drive there.

wostusername 7y ago

What you are describing has only been my experience in suburbia. Major cities are a lot more walkable as far as getting to a grocery store or convenience shop or whatever. I'm currently in Chicago and the entire city has a grid layout, no weird U shaped routes anywhere and every street has a sidewalk for pedestrians.

phil21 7y ago
> What you are describing has only been my experience in suburbia. Major cities are a lot more walkable as far as getting to a grocery store or convenience shop or whatever. The problem of course, is that almost all American cities outside of a small handful are effectively a tiny downtown core surrounded by what amounts to suburbs. Only a few cities such as NYC, Boston, Chicago, etc. really qualify as "city living" in the sense you write above - being able to quickly and easily take care of your day to day needs within the neighborhood and thus resulting in a wildly different lifestyle/culture than the suburbs. I've lived in a number of places, Chicago is where I currently call home. The lifestyle of living 2 miles from downtown Chicago vs. the Chicago suburbs is a night and day difference. Living 2 miles from downtown in Minneapolis is effectively no different than living 30 miles out in the exurbs, even with sidewalks and grid layouts. As I get older I see "suburbs" to be a lifestyle more than a description of urban density. While not perfect, my quick rule of thumb is that if the average person requires a car to effectively participate in society - it's a suburb, not a city. The more time I spend living in European cities really drives this point home to me. Sprawl has totally, completely, and irreversibly changed American culture for better or worse in very deep and subtle ways.

MandieD 7y ago

It's disorienting when I visit family back in Texas each year after living in Germany for the past 15, and especially now that I've given up our second car because I realize I wasn't driving enough for it to make sense, it really irritates me that I have to have a rental car the whole time I'm visiting. Since I'm a respectable-looking, middle-aged white lady, I just get stopped and politely asked if I need a ride or to borrow their phone when I'm walking between shopping centers. It's not as universally pleasant for people who do not look like me. My sister-in-law thinks I'm nuts for wanting to walk a couple hundred yards to the other side of a large shopping center rather than get back in the car and drive there.