Suburbs vs. City

[Front_Range_Guy]

I've spent my entire life in the suburbs but am in love with the energetic atmosphere and lifestyle that the city has to offer. That being said, I could be happy in either situation, though I would prefer living in the city. Both have benefits and both have drawbacks... I do wish there was a limit to how far cities can sprawl... In Colorado Springs for example, the city has been spreading further and further north and east for the last two decades while huge chunks of land near downtown remain vacant. So wasteful. I guess I'm anti-sprawl, but I understand the appeal of the suburbs.

I should also point out that when I say I prefer to live in the city, I don't necessarily mean a huge city. Downtown Colorado Springs would be sufficient for me to be happy... I'm in a quandry. Colorado Springs just seems a bit too small for me, but I feel overwhelmed in Downtown Denver sometimes. Granted, some of the smaller cities can actually have some of the most urban cores.

[skylinefan]

I lived for 16 years in suburban Washington, DC (Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax etc) before moving into DC proper in 2000. I would not trade it for the world. I am located 2 blocks from the metro stop, 7 blocks away from work and a scant 1 block from restaurants, nightclubs and bars. I own a car, but rarely drive it. I would have to be really really in love with someone before I would move back into the suburbs.

[redhead]

After growing up in the 'burbs, I love my city life. I sold my car and I don't have to worry about the cost of gas. My office is only two blocks away. I can to walk to anything and everything, including great parks and open spaces. It may seen odd, but I actually feel safer living in the city than I did in the suburbs.

[FromCityToRural]

I'd be willing to try out urban life for a while, but since I'm not very good at taking orders and urban areas regulate just about everything, it would DEFINITELY drive me nuts.

[runawayjim]

I'd be willing to try out urban life for a while, but since I'm not very good at taking orders and urban areas regulate just about everything, it would DEFINITELY drive me nuts.

[FromCityToRural]

Can go here, can't go there, parks open until such and such an hour, gun ownership, leash laws, unregistered cars parked on the street, etc. New York, for instance, bans folks from going to many of the little islands in NY Harbour or in the East River. It's basically lots of little things that don't mean much individually, but they add up quickly. Again, it's not that these things are necessarily terrible ideas, I just don't do well taking orders either on things that shouldn't matter enough to have a law, or are there to instill common sense in folks who don't have enough of it on their own. I don't keep my distance from the iron because my mother told me (she did), I keep my distance from it because I touched it, got burned, and learned from it, and the lesson stuck much better than having it dictated down to me. I'll mention that burbs have some of these laws, but what I love about living in the country as we do now is that basically none of this is regulated...it's great!

[davidals]

City would be my preference overall. I need to be near - or preferably in - a place that is diverse and has a lot of cultural life and opportunities, and in attempting to get away from the kind of suburbanism I grew up in, I think I have always been trying to get away from places that just had no life. That being noted, I can afford suburban or small town, and apart from scary neighborhoods, urban is probably far outta my price range for the forseeable future.

[FromCityToRural]

City would be my preference overall. I need to be near - or preferably in - a place that is diverse and has a lot of cultural life and opportunities, and in attempting to get away from the kind of suburbanism I grew up in, I think I have always been trying to get away from places that just had no life. That being noted, I can afford suburban or small town, and apart from scary neighborhoods, urban is probably far outta my price range for the forseeable future.

[Ronald]

For now I'm stickin to the city though, I like blending in, having tons of people all around me and knowing that if I suddenly couldn't afford a car, I could still get by.

[ShowMeKC]

Modern suburbs are wrong, pre-50s suburbs are much better and more correct. Any suburb that includes sprawl is always much worse than an urban area.

[TennBear]

I voted for city. That is my preference. That being said, I live in the suburbs. The city that I live in is Columbia MD. It is a planned community located between Baltimore and DC. The reason is that my partner and I travel in opposite directions to work. I lived for years in San Francisco and I don't find that even downtown DC is urban enough for me. I love where I live. It is very pretty and I have the worlds best neighbors. It is convenient to get into both DC and Baltimore. That being said I still would love the grity streets of San Francisco or New York where you can walk out your door and down the street to do all of your shopping, eating out, etc.

[DancingQueen]

I am now living in a suburb. You know my answer to that poll.

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[wolverine]

I prefer the city, although I wouldn't mind living in a suburb that is:

1. Walkable

2. Has a nice retail district with some history

3. Isn't sprawling

4. Housing stock is unique

5. Sense of community.

6. Close to a rail line

Some people tend to use suburb and sprawl synonymously, which isn't true. Some follow the classic grids, and have nice historic city centers. It's just that there is more open space and bigger yards.

I guess I want to live in a city when I'm done with grad school, but when I marry and have children, I wouldn't mind moving to an area with some more space.

[runawayjim]

I prefer the city, although I wouldn't mind living in a suburb that is:

1. Walkable

2. Has a nice retail district with some history

3. Isn't sprawling

4. Housing stock is unique

5. Sense of community.

6. Close to a rail line

Some people tend to use suburb and sprawl synonymously, which isn't true. Some follow the classic grids, and have nice historic city centers. It's just that there is more open space and bigger yards.

I guess I want to live in a city when I'm done with grad school, but when I marry and have children, I wouldn't mind moving to an area with some more space.

[wolverine]

I was kind of thinking more of the suburbs north of Chicago. Very quiet, lots of space, tons of trees and grass. But at the same time, historic, great architecture, and defined business district. I still want to live in a big city, but if I choose to move out of it, I still want to be close.

If it's a town with very urban characteristics and surrounded by rural open areas, I guess that's okay... again just as long as a big city is close by on train. The issue is so many small towns fall victim to sprawling out when a couple thousand people realize it's a nice place to live, and all jump on it. Although some towns are better at planning than others when it comes to sudden population increases.

[runawayjim]

I was kind of thinking more of the suburbs north of Chicago. Very quiet, lots of space, tons of trees and grass. But at the same time, historic, great architecture, and defined business district. I still want to live in a big city, but if I choose to move out of it, I still want to be close.

If it's a town with very urban characteristics and surrounded by rural open areas, I guess that's okay... again just as long as a big city is close by on train. The issue is so many small towns fall victim to sprawling out when a couple thousand people realize it's a nice place to live, and all jump on it. Although some towns are better at planning than others when it comes to sudden population increases.

[UptownNewOrleans]

It's funny people would move to the suburbs based on crime, when little do they know that the suburbs are getting hot (crime infested). Many people that live in Greater New Orleans don't come in the city because there's too much crime, which is true to a fault but @ the same time, you can get your head knocked off in Metairie, Slidell and/or Covington just the same. I grew up in the city & I'll most likely remain a city boy. The only way I could see myself living in the suburbs is if they have the same amenities as the city-malls, entertainment, parks, schools, etc.

[NCB]

I lived in the city of New Orleans for 18 years and I'm now going back and forth between the suburbs and the city; some nights in the city, some nights in the 'burbs. The city is definately the place for me, even if crime is much higher. I grew up walking just about everywhere, and if it was too far to walk I could easily just hop on a streetcar or a bus. In the 'burbs, on the other hand, it's either a car or nothing at all. I have to sit in traffic to go to the store, post office, gas station, etc. and that's just not for me.

In a few months I should be back in New Orleans for good and if I can find a good apartment on some higher ground, I'll never look back.

[FromCityToRural]

I grew up in the 'burbs, so 'burbs for me.

[Mr Downtown]

As my name suggests, I would definitely pick the city. Being a single guy, with no children, the suburbs offer NOTHING for me.

[runawayjim]

I grew up in the 'burbs, so 'burbs for me.

[FromCityToRural]

Yeah, covered this ground many times...to each their own. I'd love to have the mix of stuff you get in an urban environment, but don't care for the density, etc. of the city. Suburbs have the right combination of being close to all of that while having a little breathing room for myself. Plus I like to work on cars and love my gadgets like power washers, etc., none of which is terribly practical for urban living (or in the case of a power washer...not even needed, really).

I can't begrudge anybody who lives in an urban environment, though. I can say that I'd at least like to try it for a while to see if it's as "bad" as my impressions suggest. I was thinking Bucktown/Wicker Park neighborhoods in Chicago, or maybe as far as Logan Square...

[VistaLakes01]

what do urban areas regulate that suburban areas don't, aside from the obvious street parking. sure, some parts of a city you have to pay to park on the street or you're limited to 2 hours or after a certain time or something, but many other areas (usually the residential areas) have free on-street parking all day long.

[ShapeShifter]

Id rather live in the city as a young professional...actually, downtown. Then when I have kids I want to move to a well-established neighborhood in the city. Somewhere walkable with a neighborhood business district but clean, and with very little crime.

[Cyburbia]

"City" and "suburb" isn't so cut-and-dry. Throughout most of the United States, it's not as if dense neighborhoods of rowhomes, brick walkups and 1920s-era bungalows give way to sprawling subdivisions, ranch houses and split-levels at the city line.

Cleveland, where I live now, has a number of what I call "urban suburbs", where development spilled over the city limits long before World War II. Suburbs such as Cleveland Heights, Lakewood, and parts of University Heights, Shaker Heights and Euclid have an urban built environment, but they're outside of the city limits.

I live in South Euclid, one of the Heights/Hillcrest suburbs east of Cleveland. Almost the entire city was platted in the 1920s, and development started to boom. Construction stalled during the Depression and WWII, and resumed in the 1950s. One block may have a dense pre-war streetcar suburb feel, while the next is solidly 1950s middle class suburbia. Some blocks are lined with small Cape Cods from the 1950s, but have a few big pre-war Shaker Heights-style mansions scattered amongst them; evidence that the original developer marketed the area as a high-end project just a short time before the stock market crashed in 1929. My street has a mix of homes built in the 1920s and 1950s.

Personally, I like vibrant interwar streetcar suburbs, whether they're in the city or a suburban community.

Buffalo is really one of the few cities I've seen where, in many places, there is a conspicuous city-suburban contrast at the city line. This is most evident at the northeastern side of the city; drive down Eggert Road, and small semi-bungalows on 35 foot wide lots give way to post-WWII housing on lots 60' wide and larger immediately at the city boundary. This isn't a stark transition from ghetto to old money like the Detroit-Grosse Pointe Park boundary at Alter Road; it's a shift from a very urban built environment to one that is very suburban right at the Buffalo/Amherst boundary.