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Whenever this topic comes up on HN I'm always in dismay of HN's worship of cities. The main reason anyone (edit: the most common reason anyone) lives in a city

Whenever this topic comes up on HN I'm always in dismay of HN's worship of cities. The main reason anyone (edit: the most common reason anyone) lives in a city in the US is for their job. And they are generally living in small apartments. There also exists some people who can afford massive brick houses in eg. Park Slope who wonder how anyone could live in such dreadful dessert wastelands called suburbs. Then you get these think of the children arguments from groups like "Congress for the New Urbanism" in order to save them by banning cars. Supposedly Suburbanite children have no friends, and are trapped in their houses on their phones.Of course there is never any data to back up this claim. If we are lucky we will get a statistic about car injuries. I wonder why this is? >The suburban preschool children spent more time outdoors, were read to more frequently, visited the library more frequently and more often attended summer camp. The suburban school age children spent more time outdoors, more frequently participated in a community sport league and more often attended summer camp. The urban school age children watched more television or videos. During the summer, suburban school age children spent more time outdoors, while during the school year, suburban school age children used the library more frequently.[0] [0]https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1015254007582 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1015254007582

kibwen 3y ago
> The main reason anyone lives in a city in the US is for their job. This is a failure to acknowledge the existence of values systems other than your own. I live in a city because I like being around people. I spent the first 30 years of my life in rural and suburban areas, which was enough to tell me that they're not for me. If they're for you, then good for you. But other people can think differently.
- fngjdflmdflg 3y ago
  what I meant is that the most common reason people live in cities is for their job. I didn't mean that for each person that lives in a city, the most important factor to them living there was their job. The usage of "anyone" here was indeed wrong. Thanks for pointing that out.
novok 3y ago
There is only one city in the USA, and it's called new york. Everything else are central business districts surrounded with suburbs, and if they are lucky, have some commuter rail to alleviate the traffic. Urban is a code word for 'poor' , 'too poor and can only afford multifamily housing', or 'lives in slightly more dense poor suburb'. And yes, if you compare the poor who live in 'urban' food desserts with parents who have no time to interact with their children working their 2 jobs, they will always, always, do worse in stats. And even in new york, you can live 1 hour away by train and have your idyllic suburban lifestyle too.
oblio 3y ago
The US needs better cities. Most cities with apartment buildings with 2-4-6 floors are very charming and the convenience they offer is astounding, it's basically an unbeatable combo. Where does the US have that in large numbers? Ah, yes, practically nowhere.

kibwen 3y ago

> The main reason anyone lives in a city in the US is for their job. This is a failure to acknowledge the existence of values systems other than your own. I live in a city because I like being around people. I spent the first 30 years of my life in rural and suburban areas, which was enough to tell me that they're not for me. If they're for you, then good for you. But other people can think differently.

fngjdflmdflg 3y ago
what I meant is that the most common reason people live in cities is for their job. I didn't mean that for each person that lives in a city, the most important factor to them living there was their job. The usage of "anyone" here was indeed wrong. Thanks for pointing that out.

novok 3y ago

There is only one city in the USA, and it's called new york. Everything else are central business districts surrounded with suburbs, and if they are lucky, have some commuter rail to alleviate the traffic. Urban is a code word for 'poor' , 'too poor and can only afford multifamily housing', or 'lives in slightly more dense poor suburb'. And yes, if you compare the poor who live in 'urban' food desserts with parents who have no time to interact with their children working their 2 jobs, they will always, always, do worse in stats. And even in new york, you can live 1 hour away by train and have your idyllic suburban lifestyle too.

oblio 3y ago

The US needs better cities. Most cities with apartment buildings with 2-4-6 floors are very charming and the convenience they offer is astounding, it's basically an unbeatable combo. Where does the US have that in large numbers? Ah, yes, practically nowhere.