Suburbanites versus urbanites
Ok, I know we just battled about something else, but I promise I’m not trying to start things. This question is inspired by (and published with permission from) the blogger responsible for Transitional Neighborhood Lowdown… Do you classify yourself as an urbanite or suburbanite? What are some of your core ideals and why? And while […]
Ok, I know we just battled about something else, but I promise I’m not trying to start things.
This question is inspired by (and published with permission from) the blogger responsible for Transitional Neighborhood Lowdown…
Do you classify yourself as an urbanite or suburbanite? What are some of your core ideals and why? And while you’re at it, tell us what generation you’re a part of (Greatest, Boomer, X, Y, etc.)
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Valerie Catrow
Valerie Catrow is editor of RVAFamily, mother to a mop-topped first grader, and always really excited to go to bed.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Whenever I see the cul de sace debate start up on local blogdom, there seems to be a tendency to move away from the real impetus for the cul de sac ban- environmental reasons, namely stormwater runoff and sprawl.
http://scfoj.tumblr.com/post/91307024/coup-de-grace-for-cul-de-sacs
Cul de sacs aside, I chose to live in an urban environment. It is certainly possible to be an environmentalist and live in a suburb, but by the same token, there is no excuse for living in denial of the environmental costs of doing so.
Urbanite. Generation Y.
An urban environment provides a central point for culture, history, and diversity. I live next to Fountain Lake in Byrd Park, and I love having the option of walking to everything. I have multiple coffee shops, restaurants and bars, and the many shops in Carytown within mere blocks of my home. Most of the restaurants and shops are independently owned, and like my very diverse neighborhood, I have many non-chain restaurants of nearly every ethnicity imaginable from which to choose. A great new movie theater (BowTie’s Movieland) is a little more than a mile up the Boulevard, and then there are the many shows nearby at The National, Landmark, and soon-to-be CenterStage (Carpenter Center). Also, do not forget the many museums and art galleries located throughout the city. However, there’s more to culture than just shows, concerts, museums, art galleries, and restaurants. Think of every major every event happening in the metro area (Easter on Parade, Monument Ave 10K, Ukrop’s Christmas Parade, Arts in The Park, Richmond Marathon, Church Hill Irish Festival, Broad Apetit, Carytown NYE, The Watermelon Festival, etc.), and notice how they are all located very near downtown. My urban location also provides unparalleled interstate infrastructure, although I never hear the traffic. Lastly, an urban environment provides the ability to interact with others more freely thanks to the density. Suburbs do serve a purpose, but they are just not for me.
Urbanite. Generation X or Y, depending on what source you’re reading (I was born in 1981).
I choose the city because I was flat-out miserable in the suburbs as a kid. And because commuting is soul-sucking, horrible stuff. This definition by E. B. White sums it up:
“Commuter – One who spends his life in riding to and from his wife; a man who shaves and takes a train, and then rides back to shave again.”
Generation X.
An Urbanite who went to Suburbinite and perhaps will go back again.
Seriously, I love my neighborhood!! I love it that my kids can walk to school, walk to the pool, play kickball in the middle of the street and never have to move. We run on the trails through the woods, take the kayaks out to the lake.
I probably have more trees in my yard than anyone in the city – and I have the leaves to prove it. It’s true I have to keep my mailbox brown, I have to get permission to build a fence, but my neighbor can’t park his car in the middle of the yard, or neglect his house, or board up all the windows.
I guess when I hear people say they didn’t like growing up on the south side. Did your parents ever take you out of the south side??
Who cares where you live!! It’s how you play that’s important.
My parents never took us out of the Southside, except to go to the West Endish area to see family. Maybe that was my problem.
I’d live in the city if I worked there,
and if it wasn’t so needlessly expensive.
suburbia has uninteresting architecture, and the urban environment is too damn noisy. I prefer an urban life with a country get-away
Gen Y – Urbanite for now… I’d rather live in the city as long as I can afford it. But if the city needs to shape up.
I live on the southwest side of San Antonio and i can get the best of urban and suburban environment. Downtown is just 10 minutes walking distance from me, yet i love my .75 acres lot, plenty of trees, and the city ending right at loop 13 and 410 which is not even far at all from my house. Unlike normal suburb neighborhood with boring architectures build very shoddy and cheap, my house was built in the 20’s queen anne style and never had problems with it. There are plenty of ma and paps stores and local bars and cofee shops around, but no national chains or walmart exist here. My kids experience good interactions, being close to city center with school located downtown. You can say it was a 20’s suburb, and remains a suburb to this day. I know it may be rare for this type of neighborhood in other larger cities, but if i was in those cities, i know the inner city setting will be most healthy setting for my 2 kids, physically and psychologically, instead of having to drive everywhere and then having them experience miserable isolation situation of a typical modern day suburbia