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Honestly, I don't think it will change the urban living trend. Those folks tend to be younger and looking for a certain type of lifestyle, regardless of the hea

Honestly, I don't think it will change the urban living trend. Those folks tend to be younger and looking for a certain type of lifestyle, regardless of the health and safety impacts. That lifestyle just doesn't exist out here. Our 'fun' revolves around standing or sitting around talking for hours on end. My spouse jokes that you need to factor in an extra 2 hours to any small errand just for the bullshitting sessions that will inevitably accompany. I'm guessing this will be older, wealthier folks moving out here. Maybe that's too myopic for my area, though - there's not really any employment areas offering big money for younger folks like tech does. One thing to remember, when you live in a city, there are things to do and people around. Out here, you either make your own fun (everyone has a hobby of some kind - the three of us within 1 mile of each other do machining, woodworking, and blacksmithing respectively), or you leave to go somewhere else. It is a hard transition for folks not used to it. The boredom and isolation are real. It took my wife (Chicago city native) about two years to get used to how loud it is here at night due to all of the animals and insects, while it's absolutely quiet at the same time because of no people. She still (12 years later) has problems with feelings of isolation.

mumblemumble 7y ago
Former country kid here, but inching my way toward having spent half my life living in urban areas. My sense is that a population-level trend toward country living simply can't happen. There are too many people, and they can't all move out to the country without causing it to not be the country anymore. The difference over the past couple decades in the are where my mom lives is stark. Night isn't noisy anymore, because, thanks to land developers, all the wildlife has been crowded out by McMansions. Growing up, we roamed an area of quite a few square miles on foot and on bike. Nowadays I'm not sure I'd let my kids do that, because there are just so many more people blasting down the road in their Audis while fiddling with CarPlay.
- toss1 7y ago
  Yup, grew up in rural-ish burb, lived in VT, spent many, many, many miles on my road bike, both workouts, point-point rides, and racing. But traffic has changed so much that I haven't been on it in years, so my Mtn bike & trail running shoes get all the action

mumblemumble 7y ago

Former country kid here, but inching my way toward having spent half my life living in urban areas. My sense is that a population-level trend toward country living simply can't happen. There are too many people, and they can't all move out to the country without causing it to not be the country anymore. The difference over the past couple decades in the are where my mom lives is stark. Night isn't noisy anymore, because, thanks to land developers, all the wildlife has been crowded out by McMansions. Growing up, we roamed an area of quite a few square miles on foot and on bike. Nowadays I'm not sure I'd let my kids do that, because there are just so many more people blasting down the road in their Audis while fiddling with CarPlay.

toss1 7y ago
Yup, grew up in rural-ish burb, lived in VT, spent many, many, many miles on my road bike, both workouts, point-point rides, and racing. But traffic has changed so much that I haven't been on it in years, so my Mtn bike & trail running shoes get all the action