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My house used to be next to the highway, the sound was so irritating
You don’t dislike the city, you dislike cars. Cars in cities are often people who live outside the city imposing the cost of their life style onto the city.
This. Fuck cars
Not really. Yes, I dislike large cars, but that’s just a part of why I don’t like cities. I hate living in the city as a whole. Living in Navi Mumbai was a horrible experience. Sure, you have stores and malls nearby, and it is cheaper and more modern than Mumbai, but the vibe sucked. It was nothing like Worli, one of the many high-end parts of South Mumbai. The air was heavily polluted, there was trash thrown everywhere, and I am more of a recluse. Living next to a highway flyover with huge traffic, cars beeping everyday, even at night will make you lose your mind.
Countryside.
Perfectly located small town. 10k population, right besides the train station which takes me in 10min to either a small city, a medium sized city or, in 30min, to the largest city of the country.
I grew up in a small town. I live in a big city. While I can see the allure of smallish towns (20-50k people), I prefer not having to drive several miles to get anywhere. I have three grocery stores and a bar/restaurant/music venue within walking distance. Cities that size also tend to have urban sprawl which I think is ugly af.
The town I grew up in had about 2500 people and you had to drive an hour and a half to get to a town with more than 10k people. People there tend to be very conservative which is odd considering the government is the biggest employer and towns like that take more state funds than they produce.
That’s a planning problem imo, from small towns to metropolises groceries, health clinic, some entertainment can be in walking distance.
Yeah but people in small towns are more likely to believe 15 minute cities is just a cover for 15 minute prisons so planning is a minefield of conspiracy morons.
US Centric Answer:
Somewhere in between.
Somewhere there is still a downtown, the arts, interesting things to do.
But also, just not to massive. I don’t want actual skyscrapers. 6 stories is tall enough for me.
There’s only a handful of US cities like this, that straddle the line between having big city amenities and small town charm where it feels like you know a bunch of the locals.
I’m always confused when I hear people say this. I’m in an actual one-water tower small town and I see people I don’t know constantly. If you go up to tens of thousands you might as well be in the city, because you’ll mostly be interacting with strangers.
Is everyone else just really great at keeping track of everyone, or something?
What are some places in the US that would fit this description? I’m guessing maybe something like Burlington, VT?
A lot of big state university towns that are not part of major metros probably fit this. They are going to have a lot of amenities due to the university.
They can definitely fit this, and are my preferred town type. I grew up and spent most my life around college towns and they’re pretty great.
To add examples about the nearby metros: Moscow/Pullman on the Idaho/Washington border are college towns in the middle of a large farming community. Never any real need to travel to a city because they’re too far away and the needs of the college keep the town in stock with everything you’d want anyway. Cheney on the other hand is close enough to Spokane that it uses Spokane’s bus system (or used to idk haven’t been there in years). Cheney is lacking a lot of essentials because people just go to Spokane for them.
Moscow/Pullman have tight knit communities while also being open and friendly. You just see so many people from different places coming in through the colleges. College towns are really the best middle ground of small town feel with city convenience I’ve been able to find.
Asheville, North Carolina used to be one, but it’s been almost 16 years since I knew anyone out that way, so I don’t know if it still has the same vibe. Easy for that vibe to be killed by too many people moving there.
Also yes, Burlington is pretty much exactly the kind of city I’m thinking about (never been there, just looked it up on Wikipedia).
Most cities in the 100-200k population
The way the world is going … to live as far away from others as much as possible.
Not in a small town, but on the outskirts at the end of a long drive. I’ve lived in two houses like that and it was wonderful both times. I’m a boring person and enjoy doing yard work and I finally had enough to keep me busy and fit.
Big city so long as I don’t have upstairs neighbors.
I don’t know if I could ever deal with (American) upstairs neighbors again in my life. The percentage of inconsiderate people meeting the percentage of multi-family housing with basically no soundproofing is a recipe for sleeplessness and rage.
The percentage of inconsiderate people meeting the percentage of multi-family housing with basically no soundproofing is a recipe for sleeplessness and rage
This problem is exactly why I will never live in a city again. I’m sure it’s possible for multi-family housing to have reasonable sound proofing. I’m also sure it will never actually happen in anything except the most high-end units… And even that soundproofing does nothing when you try to have the windows open during nice weather and discover that your neighbor’s wife screams like an actress in a bad porno at 3am. Ya, no, fuck that noise. Gimme a small home in the forest with trees between me and the next asshole.
That all said, I quite like my current setup. I’m in a rural area with ~25k people in the county, last time I looked into it. The community I live in is more suburban in layout. We don’t hear our neighbors unless they are really, really loud. But, we also have BBQ’s on the regular with our neighbors and our kids are out and about together constantly. It’s pretty darn idyllic.
Big city! Given those 2 extremes. Not that I genuinely know. Every choice of residence has been out of extreme necessity. Never made a “voluntary” choice to move with proper time.
I want walkability, access to services, and robust infrastructure.
2nd choice is middle of nowhere where I can do all that stuff myself and homestead.
I prefer living i a nice suburb with excellent public transport to get to work in the city.
Just like I have been doing for all my life (:
The city is a place you visit, and then come home to your nice suburb walk home from the bus stop along a small, quiet canal, sometimes there is an event in the park you pass through, else it is just quiet.
Need to get to work in the city center? Get on the bus that departs every 5-10 min during rush hour, 30 min later switch to the underground that departs every 5 min, switch lines, get off 15 and walk to the office, arrive 45 min after you left home having slept or watched videos on your commute.
It is really expensive to build public transportation in lower density suburbs.
Nope, not if you build it before selling land and building houses.
Here in Sweden, it usually works like this:
The municilapity decide to develop some land, this includes public transport, in lower density areas a few well placed bus stops is all that is needed, they connect with the suburb center, and might even have a few lines connecting further away, the suburb center usually has a train station and a small shopping center, the train then takes you further along to your destination.
If you don’t build public transport during or before construction of the neighbourhood then it will obviously be a higher cost. But build it before or during construction and it will be quite resonable
I’ve done both, neither, just kill me now. Unless the small town is near a big city, so I can have cheaper housing but also access to more than a dollar general without driving for an hour.
If I could live in West Virginia but without West Virginians, I’d probably do that.
I think a small city works well enough for me. It’s basically the best of both worlds.
Low cost of living city near big city is great
I wish Buffalo was closer in size to Cleveland or Pittsburg, but being within driving distance of Toronto and to a lesser extent NYC (on top of the aforementioned Cleveland and Pittsburg) is pretty friggin great.
I’m definitely a city person. I love walking to things (for which I need sidewalks) and hate cars. I like being able to walk to a bar, personally I find more sense of community with close neighbors instead of being a mile from anybody. I have a rural friend who once asked if I got freaked out that my neighbors could see what I do in my yard and…no. Doesn’t bother me. Honestly I feel safer when I leave for vacation that my neighbors would text me if something was wrong at my house. I’m not scared of violent crime because it’s vanishingly small odds in most residential areas that aren’t poverty stricken.
Any outdoor activity I don’t do frequently enough that it’s worth having a huge plot of land for it and I don’t want to have to mow an acre or more. I wouldn’t be able to survive on satellite internet.
