> recent research finds that people living in low-density suburbs are happier than people living in cities. People living in rural areas are happiest of all.
Anecdata, but that one year I lived in suburbia was terrible from just about every perspective I care about. Couldn't even walk to the corner store to grab milk because there was no such thing as a corner store. Wanna go party in the evening? City is an hour train ride away. Terrible. Wanna grab drinks somewhere close? Choice of 3 bars. Ugh. Wanna party past 10pm? Can't. Everything closed. (this was in the US)
As for rural ... I have a lot of family who comes from rural lands. They all fled into the cities as soon as they were old enough to do so. The infrastructure to support modern life just isn't there in ruralandia. Even my grandparents moved from super rural to slightly less rural with the wave of post-ww2 modernization in the 50's. (this was in Europe)
I'm probably the odd one out here, though. I will never understand the American fetishization of suburbia. Even now I keep arguing with my girlfriend (grew up in US) cause she wants to move from SoMa to the more outskirt parts of SF like Portrero.
Never is a strong word. Maybe if I ever have kids the same sort of salmon-like instinct that Americans have will kick in and I too will want to move back to my spawning grounds.
edit: Actually, this might be cultural. As a European, I think that the closer you live to downtown, the higher your social status. This is a bias that is hard for me to escape even though in the US the social signal is inverted.
> Wanna grab drinks somewhere close? Choice of 3 bars.
And then you either leave your car there, and pay more to take a cab home, and then back again in the morning to pick the car up - or risk driving drunk.
Anecdata, but that one year I lived in suburbia was terrible from just about every perspective I care about. Couldn't even walk to the corner store to grab milk because there was no such thing as a corner store. Wanna go party in the evening? City is an hour train ride away. Terrible. Wanna grab drinks somewhere close? Choice of 3 bars. Ugh. Wanna party past 10pm? Can't. Everything closed. (this was in the US)
As for rural ... I have a lot of family who comes from rural lands. They all fled into the cities as soon as they were old enough to do so. The infrastructure to support modern life just isn't there in ruralandia. Even my grandparents moved from super rural to slightly less rural with the wave of post-ww2 modernization in the 50's. (this was in Europe)
I'm probably the odd one out here, though. I will never understand the American fetishization of suburbia. Even now I keep arguing with my girlfriend (grew up in US) cause she wants to move from SoMa to the more outskirt parts of SF like Portrero.
Never is a strong word. Maybe if I ever have kids the same sort of salmon-like instinct that Americans have will kick in and I too will want to move back to my spawning grounds.
edit: Actually, this might be cultural. As a European, I think that the closer you live to downtown, the higher your social status. This is a bias that is hard for me to escape even though in the US the social signal is inverted.