3 ms·

What bothers me with suburban living in the US is that you give away the convenience of the city and all you get back is a backyard barely big enough for a barb

What bothers me with suburban living in the US is that you give away the convenience of the city and all you get back is a backyard barely big enough for a barbecue. Here's the house where I grew up in France: http://i.imgur.com/ETum2lk.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ETum2lk.jpg It's 10 minutes by car to the center of the nearest city, Rennes (pop. 200,000), with good hospitals and good schools and pretty much anything you need: http://i.imgur.com/3DkTrwC.jpg http://i.imgur.com/3DkTrwC.jpg And 5 minutes from a smaller town with a small supermarket, bakeries, and bi-weekly farmer's market that covers everything needed for daily life: http://i.imgur.com/GDSpg3f.jpg http://i.imgur.com/GDSpg3f.jpg In comparison, a suburban home in San Mateo, CA, where I lived for a year felt very cramped: http://i.imgur.com/9Nkm3wO.jpg http://i.imgur.com/9Nkm3wO.jpg (quick collage from Google Maps, might not be exactly at scale) Of course, San Mateo is just 20 minutes away from an international airport and destroys Rennes in job opportunities in the tech sector, but it seems that suburban homes in the US are all built on this same cramped model regardless of their location. I don't have kids yet so I'm probably missing something though; my brother with two small kids just moved from a downtown apartment to a small house and seems to be enjoying his small garden a lot.

davidw 12y ago
To be fair, you get much bigger yards when you get out of the Bay Area and out of urban California and into more 'middle America' kinds of places.
- peferron 12y ago
  You're right, it doesn't make sense to compare a smaller city surrounded by farmland with one of the biggest urban sprawls in the USA. I posted this under the strong influence of nostalgia :)
Shivetya 12y ago
All depends on where you live, you need to use comparable areas. I am twenty six miles from work, I was closer but they moved and while I would not mind moving closer the housing market really hasn't recovered to make it feasible. Regardless of that, the primary reason I like being out in the country is that it is quiet, it is also fairly dark excepting for the odd street lights. It is also safe, I have left windows open all day while at work, I have done so at night. Heck I have gone to work and the garage door didn't close. All the conveniences you list are likely in both housing plots you show. The difference is familiarity. I can go about ten minutes in multiple directions from my house and pass four or more super markets, a dozen or more doctors offices, a full blown hospital and a few satellite facilities, and countless places to eat and such. Yet I make jokes about being past the banjo line because being just a few streets off the main roads its completely peaceful. and its not unique by far, fortunately being in the tech world I can work from home and I do so at least once a week. As more employers realize the savings of letting employees work from home i expect this type of living to become even more popular. I could go join friends downtown, live behind locked doors. Hell they even have to buzz me in the lower door! Yet I can't be down there an hour without hearing a cop go by and frankly I don't need the noise and worse, the filth.

davidw 12y ago

To be fair, you get much bigger yards when you get out of the Bay Area and out of urban California and into more 'middle America' kinds of places.

peferron 12y ago
You're right, it doesn't make sense to compare a smaller city surrounded by farmland with one of the biggest urban sprawls in the USA. I posted this under the strong influence of nostalgia :)

Shivetya 12y ago

All depends on where you live, you need to use comparable areas. I am twenty six miles from work, I was closer but they moved and while I would not mind moving closer the housing market really hasn't recovered to make it feasible. Regardless of that, the primary reason I like being out in the country is that it is quiet, it is also fairly dark excepting for the odd street lights. It is also safe, I have left windows open all day while at work, I have done so at night. Heck I have gone to work and the garage door didn't close. All the conveniences you list are likely in both housing plots you show. The difference is familiarity. I can go about ten minutes in multiple directions from my house and pass four or more super markets, a dozen or more doctors offices, a full blown hospital and a few satellite facilities, and countless places to eat and such. Yet I make jokes about being past the banjo line because being just a few streets off the main roads its completely peaceful. and its not unique by far, fortunately being in the tech world I can work from home and I do so at least once a week. As more employers realize the savings of letting employees work from home i expect this type of living to become even more popular. I could go join friends downtown, live behind locked doors. Hell they even have to buzz me in the lower door! Yet I can't be down there an hour without hearing a cop go by and frankly I don't need the noise and worse, the filth.