Quote:
Originally Posted by Brandon716
^It isn't that we tell ourselves that, it is that the entire marketing machine relating to housing, transportation, and our centers of job creation have centered life around a suburban model. No urban center seriously grows in an urban direction these days in America. Even "urban growth" darlings like Portland are intensely suburban on the whole. The difference is, in Portland, the entire metro region has transit that reaches the more walkable, planned single family homes that reside out in Hillsboro or Gresham, whereas most cities could care less about transit investments in those outer suburbs... Single family homes are just the thing to have in American society. To admire living in condos or flats is a foreign concept here, or for the less well off.
The 'problem' with America and urbanity is that Americans have identified living in an urban setting without your detached single family home to be of a lesser class of people, to be less established, to be less of a human being. American identity at it's core is not going to change, it is how our society has functioned since the beginning. If you want an urban lifestyle, there are a few choices. We have New York and Chicago and San Francisco (and these are truly grand, world class cities), but the costs are very prohibitive generally speaking.
There are no real "second tier" urban centers in America. I love Portland to death, I even lived there from 2007-2008 before I moved back east to Pittsburgh that fall. But even cities like Portland are largely a sea of suburban single family homes with a small village in the center and a few new urbanist dots along the outside. It isn't what I'd call truly urban, so America really doesn't have many second tier cities that offer the same urban experience you could get even in a city of 300,000 in Europe. We are forced to move to the most expensive cities to get that real, genuine active urban lifestyle.
America is what it is... It isn't pessimism to call a spade a spade, especially when most Americans enjoy this suburban and exurban lifestyle. There is nothing more cool for *most* Americans than buying a hot new car and a new house. We're the misfits in a nation of suburbia on SSP, keep that in mind.
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I dunno, most people I know are getting tired of commuting 20 miles to their workplaces and looking to move to locations closer to cities. While I agree that generally Americans are in love with suburbs, having a yard, and being able to drive around, I simply don't see this overwhelming number of people that are bogged down in their love of the typical commute.
Maybe it's just that Alabama is so far behind on the urban timeline that there's no where to go but up.
Either way, I still don't think it helps the situation to tell Americans that they're urban haters. I mean, I think we all know how gullible Americans are when it comes to what is said on TV or the internet. The average American just wants to be like the average American. So, when they see that "the average American" is a "suburb loving, city hating, gasoline fiend," they're probably gonna end up being the same way.
Other people's opinions have more to do with the average persons beliefs than you think. Even though crime rates are dropping in my area, people are constantly online, commenting on news stories, about how the crime rate is skyrocketing. Saying, "I would never go into downtown, it's so dangerous!" even though downtown is one of the safest parts of town.
Bottom line is people are stupid. If they read online about the virtues of the suburb, cars, and sprawl, they're probably going to think that's the way to go. The best way to counteract that is preach the virtues of city living, not to around, arms flailing in the air say, "Bahhhh! America hates cities, bahhh!" Not that anyone's doing that, it's just a comical image in my head.
Anyways, I say combat all their stupidity with talk about what's good about cities. They're safer, more efficient, less stressful, culturally rich, and offer more recreational opportunities. Most people don't know those things, and it's because most people are senselessly convinced that cities are awful, dirty places.