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The Role of the Suburbs


NorthCoast

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With the big push to bring medium/upper class living and commerce back to downtown, I was wondering where does that leave the suburbs? What will be their role in the 21st century?

What kind of industrial/commercial/residential development(or redevelopment) should we pushing for which A)benefits the local community and B)does not detract from the revitilization of downtown GR?

Suburbia is not going away so what can we do to still make them viable and valuable to the metro area?

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What data is there to back this up?

Nitro

C'mon Nitro... remember when we were in Chicago and you ate that big hotdog. JK! Remember though what happened to places like Cabrini Green? Down went the public housing for a new urban mixed income development. A lot of the people that once lived there were shipped to the suburbs.

On another note.....

1st ring suburbs will be the first to change and in fact many of them have. Look at the increase in diversity in Wyoming public schools compared to ten years ago. It

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C'mon Nitro... remember when we were in Chicago and you ate that big hotdog. JK! Remember though what happened to places like Cabrini Green? Down went the public housing for a new urban mixed income development. A lot of the people that once lived there were shipped to the suburbs.

On another note.....

1st ring suburbs will be the first to change and in fact many of them have. Look at the increase in diversity in Wyoming public schools compared to ten years ago. It

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The Urban living may gain popularity with single, young people, but families will generally continue to live in the burbs.

There is already some evidence to suggest that families are moving back into the cities, and leaving the burbs because of the increased burden on transportation.

And rizzo is right, the suburbs in europe are mostly lower-middle class citizens. Which is also true outside of europe as well. Its surprising that the US is really one of the few countries who have their most affluent families living so far away from the urban center.

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I agree that the suburbs as we know them are a temporary abberation caused by one thing: the cheap-gas powered automobile. They were built after the second world war when gas was really cheap and people started getting cars. We are beginning to see that the suburb culture is one that is unsustainable. People are having to move further and further away from the center city to get the "good life" and it will reach a point where there is either no more land to move to or it is too inconvenient to live so far way from everything you want to do. So we are and will be seeing the people with the means move back into the central cities. The only thing we need to be careful of is that it will displace those who are poorer to the less desireable places- which will have to be- ironically- the suburbs. A healthy society is one which is economically integrated; hopefully we can do it.

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I agree that the suburbs as we know them are a temporary abberation caused by one thing: the cheap-gas powered automobile. They were built after the second world war when gas was really cheap and people started getting cars. We are beginning to see that the suburb culture is one that is unsustainable. People are having to move further and further away from the center city to get the "good life" and it will reach a point where there is either no more land to move to or it is too inconvenient to live so far way from everything you want to do. So we are and will be seeing the people with the means move back into the central cities. The only thing we need to be careful of is that it will displace those who are poorer to the less desireable places- which will have to be- ironically- the suburbs. A healthy society is one which is economically integrated; hopefully we can do it.

Also, as the more affluent move into the cities, the places that are left behind will hit rock bottom prices, causing the burden on the less affluent to be smaller then if prices didnt change.

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Also, as the more affluent move into the cities, the places that are left behind will hit rock bottom prices, causing the burden on the less affluent to be smaller then if prices didnt change.

I don't know about rock bottom, but I think that the present day middle class 4 bedroom 2 stall garage ranches will be a lot more affordable and the suburbs will become A) more dense and B) more diverse, but you will still have the well kept gated comunities and the the private 7K square foot mansions with acrage that will not go down in value to the point that anyone can buy

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I don't know about rock bottom, but I think that the present day middle class 4 bedroom 2 stall garage ranches will be a lot more affordable and the suburbs will become A) more dense and B) more diverse, but you will still have the well kept gated comunities and the the private 7K square foot mansions with acrage that will not go down in value to the point that anyone can buy

Perhaps not, but you might see such communities become ghost towns, and be bulldozed over.

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So it seems established what most people think the suburbs are headed for. Is it really worth investing in curbing sprawl in these communities then if this is the mindset. I know there A LOT of problems with suburban culture/philosophy but I would have to think that there is a middle ground somewhere. Perhaps a consolidating of retail area and forming instead of sprawled out cities, true small towns to compliment the main urban center. Downtown Grand Rapids is going to have to rely a lot on its metro area for growth.

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And by that you mean the Polish Sausage that I bought at the Taste of Chicago? How does that fit into suburbia?

Nitro

"The Epidemic

61% of Michigan adults are overweight or obese. (CDC BRFSS, 2004)

24% of non-Hispanic white adults, 33% of non-Hispanic black adults, and 31% of Hispanic adults in Michigan are obese. (CDC BRFSS, 2004)

24% of Michigan high-school students are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. (CDC YRBSS, 2001)

29% of low-income children between 2 and 5 years of age in Michigan are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. (CDC PedNSS, 2003)"

-How can this be with all the dense urban cities that we have in Michigan????

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:huh: So everyone on this board currently is all packed up and ready to move to the burbs, if you don't live there already? Cause...if you've got time to be here, you ain't gonna make the elite 1% that can afford to live in the city (according to your logic). :P

Id say more like 25% would be able to live right in the town center with 50% in ring 1 suburbs, and the remaining 25% in farther out burbs.

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There is already some evidence to suggest that families are moving back into the cities, and leaving the burbs because of the increased burden on transportation.

And rizzo is right, the suburbs in europe are mostly lower-middle class citizens. Which is also true outside of europe as well. Its surprising that the US is really one of the few countries who have their most affluent families living so far away from the urban center.

I live in the older norther section of Wyoming where there are still some great pre WW II homes that are well built and have a lot of character. We are starting to see some gentrification out there along with an influx of Hispanics and other immigrant groups who are moving into the middle-class. Hopefully, the older 'burbs (Walker, Kentwood, G-ville, etc.) will be able to tap into the re-clustering of people toward the urban core.

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^^^ interesting obesity stats, I herd MI was the second most obese state only to MS. Thats not good. I think a city can benifit in many ways from having good parks, sports programs and athletic clubs which I would say we do, but there should also be nutrition taught in schools.

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^^^ interesting obesity stats, I herd MI was the second most obese state only to MS. Thats not good. I think a city can benifit in many ways from having good parks, sports programs and athletic clubs which I would say we do, but there should also be nutrition taught in schools.

herd? Freudian slip :rofl: I think GRGridGirl is saying that suburban living has increased obesity? I don't know, my brother lives RIGHT downtown Chicago (about as close to the Loop as you can be without being in it), and he has put on quite a bit of weight from all the dining/going out that they do. Don't tell him I said that :unsure:

I think it has more to do with weather, personally, but I could be wrong.

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I think it has to do with weather also, and personal responsibility,the ability to reduce the temptation to take the easy road.

It's probably a combination of things, and suburbia tends to encourage many of them, such as driving instead of walking, and getting that super-duper sized McHugeBurger with all the fixin's and eating it during the commute. I think people would be less likely to do that if they were walking more and driving less. For most people, especially in the 'burbs, walking is what you have to do in order to find a place to sit down, instead of a means of getting somewhere. I don't know if that made any sense or not... :P

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