Thoughts on suburbs?

Recently saw a video (below) and it made me wonder what you guys think of suburbs.

Personally I've always found suburbs boring and depressing, with little purpose aside from acting as a landfill for humans. I'd never see something quite like a suburb here in Spain; every town is a town for a reason, with its landmarks, history, culture and people with a link to said town. Suburbs, on the other hand, have no identity of their own; I could never see myself living in a place so monotonous and dull.

Then again, I'm sure there's someone out there who disagrees with me. I want to hear your opinions.

Edit: Yeah, it's 19 minutes long, don't watch it if you don't want to, but keep your "ain't nobody got time for that" posts away from my thread :(

I love suburbs, the ones with middle class incomes, anyway. Nothing gets your further away from crime and violence of bigger cities than a suburb where people have at least a little money. It's great.

@ianhh6: I don't understand how it's something people can hate... It's just a place filled with homes. It makes zero sense to hate a group of homes.

Hate them with a passion.

Lived in one from the age of 6 to 23.

I come alive in a rural setting and ultimately want to live in one. Not necessarily far away from civilization... but I want land, I want a lawn, I want a garden, and I want trees... lots of them.

The suburbs that were built back in the 50s or 60s are great. The newer development creepyass pod people burbs where the houses are 2 feet apart and there're no trees and all the houses are various shades of brown and grey and no one's outside ever and the yards that have nothing to mark them as different from the other yards, those suburbs are freaky.

I like living in the suburbs. I don't have to deal with all the douchebag cyclists who think they can not only be on the same roads as cars but ignore traffic rules too. Bikes belong on the sidewalk. A car or truck is faster than any human powered vehicle, and they provide protection to occupants. Bikes, on the other hand, not so much. A helmet and some knee pads aren't gonna save you in the event of a collision with a car going even just 30 or 40 MPH, probably not even 20 MPH. The motor vehicle will win 100% of the time and the person on the bike is gonna have a really bad time.

@samusbeliskner: "Nothing gets your further away from crime and violence of bigger cities than a suburb where people have at least a little money. It's great."

Take away crime/violence, city life is better.

Actually legally you're supposed to ride a bike on the road, at least in my state.

The house I'm buying is considered to be in a suburb. I have no problem with it though. The neighborhood is upper middle-class, its half a mile away from a university, some nice restaurants, etc.. If I want to experience the outdoors, I only have to drive 5 minutes west. The place I'm moving too has a lower than average crime rate. Granted I would rather live out in the countryside and I will someday, but for now, this is just fine. Its better than being cooped up in an apartment in the middle of downtown with the rest of the douchebags.

I like suburbs as well. I value my privacy air/space which simply isn`t there in a city setting. If I need access to the city, then I go there.

One thing I like about my neighborhood is how the main roads were planned to accommodate bicycles and people with disabilities.

Another is how much easier it is for homeowners to organize. I lived in several cities in different countries. I observed that the residents there tended to be more aloof.

Apartments in cities are the worst. They`re okay if they were quiet most of the time. But, I have yet to see one which didn`t have its share of inconsiderate dicks. Such people where the reasons why my folks moved to the suburbs in the first place.

The suburbs I know also have large tracts of land for use as parks with maximum access for surrounding subdivisions. Commercial areas are also planned for maximum access.

Some suburbs become self-contained to the point that they become a separate town of their own. An example is the suburb I live in. I tend to identify with my neighborhood more than the bigger city next door.

I love it. I grew up in suburbs in many cities. We had and have space, privacy and a car ride away to the cities.

@gamerguru100:

Really?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3BWueO5Djg

I hate those dumps with a passion, and I don't get the infatuation with them either; families flock at them as if they were a haven. They're excruciatingly dull and boring, seeping of pedestrianism and middle-class despondency.

Personally, my residence will either be an apartment somewhere decent in the city or a house in some rural area.

@GazaAli: somehow I knew you wouldn't think very highly of them :P

Anyways, I have to say I am a little surprised by the overwhelming love for suburbs. I get that people want somewhere tranquil to live, and don't like the constant sound of cars and people, but I don't see suburbs as a solution to that. My town has parks, forests, a 700 year old castle, shops everywhere you go, a town square surrounded by pedestrian streets with bars and restaurants, giving it life. I'm always a short walk away from something to do or a place to be. I look at suburbs and I see nothing but houses, no life, no things to do close by... places where by law you cannot be unless invited. Sure, there are things to do in a suburb, but be ready to take the car for a 20 minute drive, and you better be ready to do an entire week's worth of shopping, coz it ain't like you're gonna be walking to the nearest supermarket if you need anything you forgot. I dunno, there's a huge difference between a town and a city, but there's no need to make everything so sparse. A little density brings life to a community, and ultimately brings a sense of identity and purpose to that community, aside from just a place to park your humans who don't want to live downtown.

Also, just a thought: maybe this mentality comes from the fact that here an apartment can be a perfectly good home, and isn't looked down on as a place for poor people who couldn't afford a full home. At least that's the sense I get.

I hate them. People only live in suburbs because its cheap. They are full of ignorant losers and snobby hipsters who think they are voice for all humanity when in reality most are uneducated simpletons.

I love the suburbs. It's quiet and there's less crime. Plus, I get paid extremely well to do snow removal and landscaping for lazy people.

Suburbs are not cheap. Not when you factor in property taxes.

After living in the city for most of my life, I welcome the opportunity to own a home in the suburbs. People in suburbs just have a different mentality than those in the city, especially when it comes to owners vs. renters of the property.

You obviously have never looked into housing costs in different areas. Suburbs are one of the most expensive places to live.

Depends on the suburb and the hoa governing it. I've lived in the middle a big city, rural town, company owned man camp, suburbs, and an university town. They all have their positives and negatives.

Rural town- 100% freedom, within feet of a lake, hiking trails, and hunting land. But you are also an hour from stores, restaurants, groceries, nightlife entertainment, etc. even something like getting gas can take a half hour or longer.

Big city apartment living- noise, crime, constant nagging by the property managers, parking, and at least a hour to get out of town. Positives- opposite of rural negatives.

Suburbs- walking the dog or jogging during the evening. Backyard grilling and your own private swimming pool. Yard work is a fun hobby. We used to do block parties every Saturday during the summer, then it was major holidays(4th, Labor Day, Halloween), but once the neighbors' kids started graduating, we became a keep to yourself neighborhood. Negatives- property value is based solely on your neighbors. A hoa can be as intrusive, if not worse, than dealing with a property manager. Everybody is in competition, if your neighbor buys a boat, you feel obligated to buy a bigger boat, etc.

This is another reason why I've come to detest suburbs even more. My parents never had to deal with these kinds of things while I was living there, but it seems to be the norm in new developments now.

They seems inauthentic. They're manufactured communities existing for no other reason than to house people making above 50K a year who are obsessed with owning their own home.

Watch American Beauty for further info

@topgunmv: That's a dumb fucking law. Cyclists are safer on the sidewalk.

LOL at all the people bashing suburbs. They have more space and generally less crime. Housing can be expensive, but housing is also pretty expensive in upscale neighborhoods of major cities.

Yeah, they can be dull, but a quick drive to the nearest major city should provide you enough entertainment.

It's clear that most Americans prefer suburbs considering they usually have a collective population that outnumbers the core city or cities.

Yah, I'd rather live in downtown Detroit than in its suburbs. Not.

But not the people walking on them.

Are you implying cyclists are posing as much a threat to pedestrians as car drivers are to cyclists? Hell, when I used to ride bike a lot, people would yield to me or I'd yield to them; in other words, we'd make space for each other. I can see why this would be difficult on a busy city sidewalk, hence the existence of bike lanes. However, I see lots of cyclists on the same roads as cars, and many of them seem to not give a crap about traffic lights and stop signs, which is mostly why I'm against human powered vehicles sharing roads with motor vehicles.

I hear you there. I'm in Minnesota and traffic is so claustrophobic in Minneapolis (largest city) and you have jaywalkers everywhere. If you want to park for free, it's going to be difficult and you'll likely end up parking far from your destination if you want free parking. While the skyline is cool and everything, driving in the city sucks balls. St. Paul (capital and second largest city) is just as bad if not worse. It's an older city, so some of the roads are confusing and parked cars on the street can block your view, posing a risk of an accident. Glad I'm in a suburb of Minneapolis instead. Plenty of space to drive. :)

Where I live, those ignorant losers are the city dwellers. It's the cities which are full of snobbish hipsters. Most of those who live in suburbs are either retirees or middle-class folks with families.

You make it sound like people who live in suburbs need to go to the city to get what they need. That's not the case. It's the businesses that are coming to the suburbs. Most suburbs have their own parks and town squares. They have their own fire and police departments along with their own school districts. They have their own banks/credit unions and post offices.

Some things are still needed in the city such as court cases/passports/social security, setting up water/utilities/electricity, etc. But, most other things tend to have their own branches in the suburbs.

Not sure how there is an identity crisis when we know we're all part of the bigger whole.

I'm not sure what kind of suburbs you have where you're at. But, the suburbs where I live have parks/skateboard rinks, town squares, sports facilities, and fairgrounds that are full of people especially now during school vacation. Kids are all over the place.

If I have time to spare, I hobnob with the neighbors just like I would if I lived in the city.

Maybe my suburbs are just different but I can legitimately walk to a Walgreens if I don't feel like taking a three minute drive to the supermarket. Also, it's not against the law to be in the suburbs. I've never heard of such a thing.

I prefer suburbs over shoebox apartments...unfortunately my hometown seems to be turning into Hong Kong. I can imagine it being cramped in a matter of decades.

@airshocker: No no, I was referring to being on other peoples' property (their homes) since there's pretty much nothing but homes.

Why is everybody comparing the suburbs to the city though? Is it simply impossible to have small towns in the states? We don't have suburbs here in Spain, not even anything close to a suburb. The outskirts of Barcelona are all smaller towns that are more or less tranquil depending on how many people live there, but they're still urbanizations nonetheless. Nobody ever felt the need to plant themselves in the middle of nowhere 20 miles out of Barcelona and say "yup, this is where I live now" and then have a million other people follow them suit, to only end up with this as a result:

That is a suburb, right? It's all homes. Sure somewhere within a 20 mile radius there's going to be a park, a fire department or whatever, but it's dull, it's distant, and ultimately, it's highly inefficient.

I agree with everything you said, but this is also about the culture of the suburb. Something about that accretion of middle-class families makes the suburb a despondent and spirits-crushing place. Its those unwritten conventions, that dismal conformity, that absence of identity that make suburbs a soul-consuming and stagnating place that you ought to flee the moment you can.

Funnily enough, here too an apartment is looked down upon and is considered poor man's residence. Yet I don't give a **** really. I wish I could move to some tiny apartment somewhere more metropolitan. My parents slaved their entire lives to own a house. After years of working abroad they came here, bought a land and built a house on it in 7 months or so. To this day I believe it's the stupidest thing they did in their lives. It's not that owning a house isn't nice, but what people go through to own a house in the suburbs is atrocious from the point of view of opportunity cost.

@ianhh6: That's a very heavily built up suburb. Not all of them are like that. The ones in my county in New York have much more land for each house. My apartment complex, for instance, is surrounded by woods.

@airshocker: New York is quite a bit more metropolitan though isn't it? Couldn't that explain why your suburb (like many others) is closer to being its own community as opposed to the suburb in the above picture? I don't imagine the suburbs of the more densly populated East coast are too similar to, say, the Phoenix suburbs.

Ah the suburbs where people with a little bit of money go to get away from what they consider as inferior humans and have such a douche attitude that they are better.

The Twin Cities is packed, and as you put it, traffic is so tightly packed. For me, I'm rural MN, and I prefer that over urban life.

Well where I am it is because we're only like 30 miles away from New York City. But there are suburbs further away that are more secluded and isolated.

Aside from the old world parts of the US (mostly parts of the East Coast and the old parts of California) , most cities and towns have separate residential and commercial zones.

I am currently visiting my relatives in northern Nevada. The town has a population of approximately 9,000. Most of the residential areas inside city limits are very similar to suburbs. The nearest commercial establishments are a good 20 to 30 minute walk away. If you happen to live in a residential zone that borders a commercial zone then good for you. But, many within city limits still have to drive to do their groceries and anything else they need to do.

I live in a suburb in Arizona. The commercial and public areas are located within a 5-minute drive from every corner of the suburb residential zone.

It's kind of strange to see you as the only Euro here who gives a crap about national identity while most others espouse their progressiveness and discard the need for one.

I love my burb...it's 15 minutes away from 2 major cities, is surrounded on 2 sides by rural areas, and was planned with many awesome parks and trails. The street we live on is extra awesome too, almost every house has a young (30's) working like-minded professional couple with a kid or two. On any given day there's kids running all around being kids, and on holidays we often bring out the BBQ's the culdesac and have a big party where everyone cooks up all sorts of awesome food. Sometimes we all pitch in and rent jump houses and stuff too...kinda like a mini-fair.

There's a ton of other benefits, for one, while we often go and enjoy the city for the day we don't have the crime rates that the city has. So kids can run around and it's a lot safer for them.

I lived there as a kid and early teens but now I'm in the city.

I'll never go back. The urban sprawl can **** off

This is a pretty extreme generalization/stereotype. There are plenty of people who move to the suburbs for reasons that have nothing to do with thinking themselves superior to others.

The irony.

Another Minnesotan! :D

Yeah, traffic here in the metro is pretty bad sometimes, especially on I-494. The Twin Cities actually has over 60% of Minnesota's population (about 3.5 million out of Minnesota's 5.5 million people) crammed into this small part of the state, so it's no wonder traffic blows a lot, especially during construction. Remember, our two seasons are winter and road construction. :P

You know what's up. Kudos.

I live in Burnsville, a suburb of Minneapolis with about 62,000 people. We've got a little downtown area called Heart of the City, which contains some businesses as well as apartments and townhouses. It also has a sizable park where you can find lots of kids and their parents hanging out. The police department is down the street from Heart of the City, and I actually live really close to the fire station. I frequently hear firetrucks going down the street.

The school district, Burnsville-Eagan-Savage, is centered in Burnsville and serves the other two suburbs in its name. I actually live about a block away from Burnsville High; I graduated in 2011. Living here for the past nine years has been A-okay for me. Plenty of shopping available with a nearby Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, and Target. We've got a post office and plenty of banks. My bank is only a couple minutes drive from my home. The suburbs are just convenient and very car friendly, just the way I like it. :P People have this impression that all suburbs are just rows of houses and nothing to do. They couldn't be further from the truth.