My dislike for suburbs

[MaC]

everyone knows why BTRD hates them.  For me it's slightly different.

Yes, I'll agree, there's no strip clubs because moms get hell bent on the idea of their kids seeing that stuff. God forbid<sarcasm>.

The suburbs started in the 50s.  They're supposed to be a combination of the city and the country, the problem is they combine the bad parts.

The country allows people to own a good deal of property and live in a house, also it's secluded from the intensity city life has, but everyone knows eachother in a town (to an extent).

The city has lots of people who are out and about, but most settle for a small living space.  However there's a convienience of fun places and having many stores within walking distance

The suburbs offer houses with a yard, but with such little space, it's not really enough to consider "property".  Also the suburbs are so big, people don't know eachother personally.  In the suburbs there's no night life, and hardly any fun places.  The stores you have to drive to since they're still a ways away, but noone knows anyone.  The sad part is that people live so close, to give the suburbs a community feel, but people hardly go out often, and they stay locked up.  People in suburbs often are boring, middle class, often white folk trying to start a family.  The only real benefit is the "safety" factor some suburbs have.

[MasterJedi]

Wow you must never have been to the suburbs.

We own plenty of land, more than you can own in a city. (visit there and you'll see and not the crappy inner ring suburbs that are basically the city now).

We people in the suburbs go out a lot and know many of our neighbors. Friendly atmosphere and not a lot of shootings.

Get your facts straight before you start critisizing. Geese!

[muon2]

Wow you must never have been to the suburbs.

We own plenty of land, more than you can own in a city. (visit there and you'll see and not the crappy inner ring suburbs that are basically the city now).

We people in the suburbs go out a lot and know many of our neighbors. Friendly atmosphere and not a lot of shootings.

Get your facts straight before you start critisizing. Geese!

There is a tremendous variety of suburbs in this country. Most any large metro area has a large variety of suburbs as well.

You can find old towns that have suburbanized, 1950-60's era communities that have aged, large estate communities, suburbs that have become ethnically diverse, and areas of largely new construction. I can find all of the above in the ten suburbs nearest to where I live. That's within about five to ten miles.

In that same radius I can find plenty of nightlife. There are restaurants (virtually all styles and prices), bars (at all price ranges), nightclubs, a jazz club, bowling, minor league sports, movies, video arcades, a comedy club, dinner theaters, ... am I missing something on your favorite list? Oh, and there are three strip clubs in that radius as well.

[dazzleman]

Dude, you're generalizing.

I have plenty of land, and live within easy reach of a lot of fun things to do.  But it's peaceful and relatively safe.

There are advantages and disadvantages to any lifestyle.  Suburbs differ greatly, and must be chosen carefully, just as a smart person chooses city neighborhoods carefully.

The idea that suburbs are sterile is true in some cases, but not all.  You're really talking about newer, undeveloped suburbs.

There's nothing more sterile in my opinion than being afraid to go out of your home at night, which is the case in certain urban neighborhoods.  But to say all urban neighborhoods are unsafe is also generalizing.

[John Dibble]

My problem in my area is the newer suburbs going up - cookie cutter designs for the houses, and yes there isn't much land(more than you could get in the city, but still). The older suburbs that are at least 10 or 15 years old tend to be much nicer, less packed in, and have a variety of architecture.

When I buy a house I definitely plan on buying an older one, or maybe just buying the land and hire my own architect.

[Alcon]

I echo John Dibble's comments - I like old neighborhoods that are now suburbs, and I like old suburbs, too. My problem is with cookie-cutter houses that look all the same. I just find that ugly and somewhat creepy.

[they don't love you like i love you]

everyone knows why BTRD hates them.  For me it's slightly different.

Yes, I'll agree, there's no strip clubs because moms get hell bent on the idea of their kids seeing that stuff. God forbid<sarcasm>.

The suburbs started in the 50s.  They're supposed to be a combination of the city and the country, the problem is they combine the bad parts.

The country allows people to own a good deal of property and live in a house, also it's secluded from the intensity city life has, but everyone knows eachother in a town (to an extent).

The city has lots of people who are out and about, but most settle for a small living space.  However there's a convienience of fun places and having many stores within walking distance

The suburbs offer houses with a yard, but with such little space, it's not really enough to consider "property".  Also the suburbs are so big, people don't know eachother personally.  In the suburbs there's no night life, and hardly any fun places.  The stores you have to drive to since they're still a ways away, but noone knows anyone.  The sad part is that people live so close, to give the suburbs a community feel, but people hardly go out often, and they stay locked up.  People in suburbs often are boring, middle class, often white folk trying to start a family.  The only real benefit is the "safety" factor some suburbs have.

this is actually very similar to my stance as well, and not too different. I agree completely. And people mocked me for saying there's no night life or fun places in suburbs! Are you telling me they actually are better than the city in that aspect?

 those miserable pits of hell.

[danwxman]

It's really the newer suburbs and exurbs that piss me off. They destroy beautiful farmland, cause environmental damage, and put a lot of stress on the local community while adding virtually nothing to the tax base. I love small towns and even older "inner" suburbs, which are in many cases urbanizing and becoming more pleasant places to live.

[danwxman]

Suburban office/shopping center sprawl (all of this should be in the city!):


Suburban sprawl (this isn't even that bad, at least it has sidewalks and the houses are somewhat densely packed):


Exurban sprawl:

[John Dibble]

Exurban sprawl:

That's a nice looking neighborhood, like the older suburbs I was talking about. A little rural, but still, that's the kind of neighbordhood I like.

[MasterJedi]

Well my suburb (at least the original part) was built during the depression and planned by the government so it's all good.

[Beet]

My problem in my area is the newer suburbs going up - cookie cutter designs for the houses, and yes there isn't much land(more than you could get in the city, but still). The older suburbs that are at least 10 or 15 years old tend to be much nicer, less packed in, and have a variety of architecture.

When I buy a house I definitely plan on buying an older one, or maybe just buying the land and hire my own architect.

I completely echo this sentiment! Unfortunately the older suburbs are also the more expensive ones to live in, since they tend to be located closer to where the jobs are; the commute from the exurbs is hell. At least that's how it is in my area.

The older communities definitely have much more of a charm to them, really interesting people live there and people generally take care of their houses and yards much better. Plus, as you said, it is not as compact and has more different kinds of architecture. That tends to happen when a lot of people have modified their homes more than once. The foilage is also much more mature and genuine-looking, which is a highly underrated plus that takes a community decades to cultivate. There are also more garage/yard sales where people have some really neat sh*t built up over the decades that you can sell on ebay for a much higher price!

[Gabu]

Given that danwxman decided to post pictures, here's a picture of the suburbs in which I lived in Victoria:



And here's a picture of the area in which I currently live in Redmond:



If these are pictures of "miserable pits of hell", then I guess hell isn't so bad after all.

[Smash255]

For some reason I can't get the pic to show on the page, this is my suburban area


http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.697801,-73.436759&spn=0.009184,0.014999&t=k&hl=en

[Smash255]

Speaking about shopping centers..  This one big enough for everyone?

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.738699,-73.612840&spn=0.009184,0.014999&t=k&hl=en

[Dave from Michigan]

I don't mind the suburbs but my area is more of a small city.
   milk and Cereal where do you live.

[MaC]

Wow you must never have been to the suburbs.

We own plenty of land, more than you can own in a city. (visit there and you'll see and not the crappy inner ring suburbs that are basically the city now).

We people in the suburbs go out a lot and know many of our neighbors. Friendly atmosphere and not a lot of shootings.

Get your facts straight before you start critisizing. Geese!

I live in the suburbs.

[MaC]

I don't mind the suburbs but my area is more of a small city.
   milk and Cereal where do you live.

Sterling Heights-anyone who has lived there can vouch for my generalizations.

[MasterJedi]

I don't mind the suburbs but my area is more of a small city.
   milk and Cereal where do you live.

Sterling Heights-anyone who has lived there can vouch for my generalizations.

No they can't, you're still generalizing all suburbs off of one suburb. Generalizations won't work with suburbs!

[opebo]

Suburbs are horrors for several reasons:
1 - too much driving
2 - bad food.  unbelievably bad food. (in fairness even urban ethnic food in the US is at best tolerable)
3 - no entertainment (in fairness, there is no entertainment in most US cities either)
4 - the mindless conformists which inhabit such hellholes (perhaps most important of all)

[Dave from Michigan]

yeah if you don't like the suburbs you won't like Sterling hts. although I've never really been there it's pretty much your average suburb.

[Gabu]

1 - too much driving

Depends on the suburb.  Where I live, everything is within walking distance.

2 - bad food.  unbelievably bad food. (in fairness even urban ethnic food in the US is at best tolerable)
3 - no entertainment (in fairness, there is no entertainment in most US cities either)

All of this is completely dependent on your tastes.  I find plenty of good food in the suburbs and I have enough to keep me entertained.

4 - the mindless conformists which inhabit such hellholes (perhaps most important of all)

This is just blatantly nonsense.

[Cashcow]

Michigan has terrible suburbs - there is absolutely nothing to do. You ought to try the east coast before you make such generalizations.

[Schmitz in 1972]

I'll admit that suburbs can't hold candle to the country or small towns, but they're much better than cities (of course it's very easy to feel that way when the major city in your area is a nightmarish place called Richmond).

Just a few days ago I took a walk through the suburban area I live in. It was a crisp cool night, and except for an occasional car wooshing by there wasn't any distracting noise. As I walked along I saw people out jogging, walking their dogs, having dinner on the deck, and even partying at a neighborhood gathering on someone's front lawn. After wandering briefly through a peaceful wooded area on the edge of the suburbs I returned home thinking "how the heck do so many people think suburbs are hellholes?"

[Platypus]

Melbourne has one of the lowest densities in the world in the outer suburbs; there is a massive urban sprawl. Damn 1/4 acre blocks.

Anyway, the suburbs are just for people to live in. That's it. They're like great big apartment blocks, in that people only go there to sleep at night and that's about it.

I personally livge in the inner city, which is actually the nicest place of the city. Well, some parts of the inner city are sh**te, especially the uinner northwest, but the inner south is fantastic. The 'middle suburbs' are very nice, they're the pre-ww2 suburbs, which had a big boom in the 20s especilly to the ast of the city center. They're really nice areas, and they're close enough to everything to make them enjoyable. I've read that Melbourne is the 5th largest city in the world in land area-and with 4 million people, compared to 18 million in cities like Mexico City, that's no small feat.