Why all the hate for the suburbs?

[Hungary Jack]

It's lifeless, but I don't "hate it"

It is hard to hate something that leaves you numb.

[ThatGuy]

I live in the suburbs.

It's awesome.

[Arthur Dent]

More grist. Pew Research finds people living in suburbs are more satisfied with their communities than people living in cities (and much more than small towns and rural areas). It's clear that demographics are a huge factor in this. The report indicates that they ran regressions on the data, but they don't seem to have published a version of these results that controls for demographics.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1134/conten ... an-suburbs

[docellis]

NPR correspondents/interviewees keep saying in 10-15 years suburbs will be the slums and cities will be renewed...factors like excess housing in the suburbs, crappy/fast construction, the fact that so many houses were built all at the same time-so they will all fall into disrepair at the same time....etc...and they say that because we don't have jobs for 30 years anymore we need the mobility a renting society and the mobility that public transportation offers in cities.

I keep looking at houses in Soulard and Lafayette Square on craigslist...

[thrill]

Rich people are happier?

[lukethedrifter]

NPR correspondents/interviewees keep saying in 10-15 years suburbs will be the slums and cities will be renewed...factors like excess housing in the suburbs, crappy/fast construction, the fact that so many houses were built all at the same time-so they will all fall into disrepair at the same time....etc...and they say that because we don't have jobs for 30 years anymore we need the mobility a renting society and the mobility that public transportation offers in cities.

I keep looking at houses in Soulard and Lafayette Square on craigslist...

There are already examples of this phenomenon. San Francisco. I'd say New York is getting there. And it's my impression that the central cities in South America and some in Europe as well typically house the wealthy and the slums surround them.

[heyzeus]

Even in a smallish city like Austin, it's well underway. The old housing close to the center of the city has almost all been bought and fixed up. The slums are about 5+ miles from downtown, mostly centering in the low quality duplexes and apartment complexes built as suburbs in the 70s. (AD, ever been to the Rundberg area? It's crack/prostitute central). It's not just Manhattan where the wealthy are displacing the poor in the inner city. Just about any city that has high mobility and/or growth in the past 15 years is showing it.

edit: This is true for "inner ring" suburbs. The outer suburbs built in the last 5-10 years, which were built with strict deed restrictions and their own school systems, are still safe/upscale/desirable. But if the expansion outward continues, they/'re not immune.

[Freed Roger]

Spent a week of vacation in a planned community -not unlike Seaside - locale for the Truman Show.

I enjoyed it. I wouldn't want to live there though.

[IMADreamer]

Can't believe no one posted this video.

Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In between the bright lights
And the far unlit unknown

Growing up it all seems so one-sided
Opinions all provided
The future pre-decided
Detached and subdivided
In the mass production zone

Nowhere is the dreamer
Or the misfit so alone

Subdivisions
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
Subdivisions
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth

Drawn like moths we drift into the city
The timeless old attraction
Cruising for the action
Lit up like a firefly
Just to feel the living night

Some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rats
Get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight

Somewhere out of a memory
Of lighted streets on quiet nights


I think my distain for the suburbs has been documented here. It just all seems so unoriginal, so boring. Not to mention where are the trees? There is this community off I70 somewhere in suburban St. Louis if you look to the north there are all these townhouses. Every one of them looks the same. The streets are devoid of life, everyone locked away inside safe and cosy and boring. I just couldn't do it. If that's your thing fine, but I don't want any part of it.

[tlombard]

I grew up in the suburbs and I don't hate them but I prefer the city where I'm at now by far. Mainly because everything I do is so convenient from my apartment and I love the local restaurant options around much more than the chains that dominated my area growing up.

I will admit to a hatred of New Town though. I bought something off of Craigslist a few years ago and I got out of there as quickly as I could. Something about it just didn't feel right and I did not feel welcome. I got a really weird vibe the entire time I was in the subdivision.

I recently heard somebody refer to New Town as a cult and the more I've heard, the more I think they might be right. A girl I used to be good friends with (haven't seen her in a couple of years) apparently just had a house built there with her fiance and they even have to use one of those old timey push lawnmowers because that is one of their rules. They have a freaking rule for everything and it just seems like everyone is way too involved in everyone else's business and trying to keep up appearances.

Mainly I just got a really weird vibe when I was there that one time which makes obviously makes me an expert on all things New Town.