Why do city people see suburbs as so bad?

[fuzzykitten99]

Personally, I would rather live where I do. I know my neighbors. I trust them. There is crime, but it is mostly from teenagers looking for a good time TP-ing people's houses. Or the criminals are intercepted from other areas.

If I lived in Minneapolis, most of my stuff would be missing from my garage and home. Why? Because I don't know how many times Tim or I have forgotten to close the garage door over night in the 2 years there, and the side door does not lock or even shut right. Our home's side door is unlocked 90% of the time. No real reason for it. I will never leave the 'burbs, let alone the house we are in. I don't ever plan on leaving a neighborhood where the kids can go play at the playground-by themselves- for hours in the summer and no one bothers them. The kids are out in full force, now that the weather has warmed a bit, playing various sports in the roads, and no one hassles them.

My grandparents lived at this house for 25 years. They almost never locked doors (cars, house, garage) unless they were leaving town for more than 2 days, and even then, the neighbors and my mom and I had the keys for feeding the cats.

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/315824.html

University of Minnesota senior Jason Stevensen, who grew up in Monticello, is the only student in his "Suburban World" class willing to admit he likes the suburbs.
"I understand why a lot of people don't," he said. "But I just like a place like Rogers -- there's still kind of that peaceful tranquility there, even though it's growing like crazy."

The paint was barely dry on the first tract homes of the 1950s when colleges starting giving suburbs the cold shoulder in classes. But now more than half the nation has embraced suburban living. Suburban voters are playing a pivotal role in elections. And many suburbs are home to cutting-edge development.

Academia, at last, is taking notice.

"Millions and millions of people live in the suburbs," said Tim Mennel, an instructor at the U. "They can't all hate it. The idea that people want their own space is not going away."

He is among a growing number of academics designing new courses that focus on suburban life.

Mennel said he created his "Suburban World" course in part to challenge stereotypical views of suburbs.

Across the country, a few dozen campuses, including Yale, Harvard and Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., are offering courses similar to the U's suburban classes. Some campuses, from New York University to the University of California, Riverside, have just launched suburban programs.

At Carleton, a course that's called "Suburbanization in America" looks at how suburbs quietly revolutionized American life and how they are continuing to influence politics and the economy, race relations, architecture -- even the nation's definition of community.

At Yale, a course that's called "Suburbs, and the Problem of Sprawl" examines the forces that have shaped suburban development in the last century and requires students to write a 20-page term paper on the suburbs.

Even the British, whose intelligentsia have long scoffed at suburban living, are acknowledging that suburbs aren't going away. In 2004, the Centre for Suburban Studies opened at London's Kingston University.

John Archer, a professor of cultural studies and comparative literature at the University of Minnesota, said suburbs have become too influential for universities to ignore.

"Academicians see themselves as keepers of the values of the culture," he said. "For generations, they've been interested in urban studies and have pretended suburbia doesn't exist. It's not a big field of study yet, but it's growing. That's who we are."

Field trips to the suburbs

Nearly all the students in the U's "Suburban World" class showed disparaging attitudes toward the suburbs when the course began, Mennel said.

"I was a little surprised at how negative they were, especially considering how many of them were from the suburbs," he said. "The venom surprised me."

Required reading for the course includes critical titles such as "The Bulldozer in the Countryside,"Residence: Inequality in Mass Suburbia," and "When City and Country Collide." Students also are assigned field work, and they have to go to Lakeville, Bloomington, Brooklyn Park or Lake Elmo to research issues such as historical development, race, class and politics.

Erica Lister, a 20-year-old sophomore from Hibbing, Minn., said she wasn't really familiar with suburban life before she took the class. Her impression was that suburbs were places "filled with big houses and rich kids."

But her research on the historical development of Brooklyn Park changed her mind. "Brooklyn Park isn't like that," Lister said. "It's more complicated than I thought."

The suburbs' growing place in modern life also means that the academic examination of them is cropping up in unexpected disciplines -- for example, wildlife and agriculture studies.

Rob Blair, an associate professor in fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology at the U, is researching how sprawl affects the native bird population.

"I'm trying to figure out why if you throw a french fry on the ground it isn't an ovenbird or hermit thrush that picks its up, it's a house sparrow," he said. "We're creating environments that allow invasive species to thrive and shut out our native species."

Disdain still exists

After exploring Brooklyn Park and doing the required reading, Lister said the city still is her first choice of where to live in the future. Young adults have been showing that strong preference for decades.

But now, she is keeping an open mind. "I could imagine conforming and moving to the suburbs," she said.

Many of the 14 students in her class sound aghast at the idea of actually living in the area they're studying.

"I like density and the country being the country," said Monica Monjeau, 28, a senior from St. Paul. "I don't like driving 45 minutes to visit somebody; I don't like box retail. I like the individuality and uniqueness of the city."

That kind of attitude befuddles Stevensen, 25, the senior from Monticello.

"It feels like a lot of people think the suburbs are evil," he said. "This course may broaden people's horizons and challenge their stereotypes, but I don't think it's going to change the stigma of the suburbs. People don't grow up saying they want to live in the suburbs, at least not in this class. They want to live in an apartment and have the 'Friends' style of life."

 

[Said1]

I like the activity and variety living down town offers. I don't live in a huge city and crime in this area is minimal. I also know all my neighbours and most of the community too. I lived in the burbs, found it kind of boring. But that's just me. Some like space, some like action, some are just snobs.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Personally, I would rather live where I do. I know my neighbors. I trust them. There is crime, but it is mostly from teenagers looking for a good time TP-ing people's houses. Or the criminals are intercepted from other areas.

If I lived in Minneapolis, most of my stuff would be missing from my garage and home. Why? Because I don't know how many times Tim or I have forgotten to close the garage door over night in the 2 years there, and the side door does not lock or even shut right. Our home's side door is unlocked 90% of the time. No real reason for it. I will never leave the 'burbs, let alone the house we are in. I don't ever plan on leaving a neighborhood where the kids can go play at the playground-by themselves- for hours in the summer and no one bothers them. The kids are out in full force, now that the weather has warmed a bit, playing various sports in the roads, and no one hassles them.

My grandparents lived at this house for 25 years. They almost never locked doors (cars, house, garage) unless they were leaving town for more than 2 days, and even then, the neighbors and my mom and I had the keys for feeding the cats.

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/315824.html

People hate the suburbs because everything is more spread out, you need a car, and the pace of life is typically much slower and residential. Living in the city can be exciting for some and stressful for others; conversely, living in the burbs can be boring for some and relaxing/reassuring for others. All a matter of personal preference, and probably personality.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Liberals hate to see people move to the burbs, because it shifts the balance of power to the reps for those areas, who are filthy republicans, and do not worship squalor and crime.

 

[Trigg]

I've lived in big cities (New Orleans and Tampa FL.)and I don't care to go back.

Right now I live 30 min. from the outskirts of a fairly large city. No crime out here, good schools and I don't live right on top of my neighbors. But close enough to good colleges for my kids so they don't have to live on campus when they decide to go.

 

[dmp]

Yeah...the city is great....

 

[GotZoom]

Here in Memphis and the surrounding towns, it's a race thing.

"White Flight" - the city becomes more crime-ridden, people who have the ability (translate money=white) head to the burbs.

Black politicians here have even, publicly, used the phrase "those eastern white devils" when referring to the people who have moved east to the suburbs.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

Yeah...the city is great....

Actually, some people find urban decay quite beautiful. I'm not sure if beautiful is the word I'd use, but definitely interesting.

 

[Mr. P]

Here in Memphis and the surrounding towns, it's a race thing.

"White Flight" - the city becomes more crime-ridden, people who have the ability (translate money=white) head to the burbs.

....

Typical in the Southeast. Then I've seen this all over the USA.
Birds of a feather, ya know.

 

[Nienna]

I hate the suburbs, too. Too crowded. Give me a cabin in the woods where you can't see any neighbors, and all you can hear is the wind in the trees.

But cities are exciting to visit.

 

[Avatar4321]

I like the suburbs. Mainly because the space. I mean there is space enough so you have your own property and can do things outside without much problem. But its still close to stuff like the city etc. You don't have to drive forever to get a store. And you don't have people on top of each other. And you can drive! I like driving.

 

[insein]

I hate the suburbs, too. Too crowded. Give me a cabin in the woods where you can't see any neighbors, and all you can hear is the wind in the trees.

But cities are exciting to visit.

thats what im talking about, lol. Suburbs will look like the cities do now in about 20 years. Urban decay, crime, welfare housing, the whole works. Inner cities will look like something out of futuristic movie like Judge Dredd or Fifth Element. Wall to wall people with no where to go.

I can't stand being confined. I hate traffic with a passion. I hate ignorant people. So the suburbs are better by comparison then the city but still not as good as living in the mountains.

 

[Abbey Normal]

Actually, some people find urban decay quite beautiful. I'm not sure if beautiful is the word I'd use, but definitely interesting.

The perfect setting for dumping those pesky bodies you've whacked.

 

[The ClayTaurus]

The perfect setting for dumping those pesky bodies you've whacked.

Naw I prefer the Hudson for that.

 

[Abbey Normal]

Naw I prefer the Hudson for that.

Good to know. :fifty:

 

[Nienna]

Liberals hate to see people move to the burbs, because it shifts the balance of power to the reps for those areas, who are filthy republicans, and do not worship squalor and crime.

So, where would YOU pick to live?

 

[dmp]

So, where would YOU pick to live?

don't knock a place in the city, near a marina and a museum and quick access to freeways...at least until you've tried it.

 

[fuzzykitten99]

thats what im talking about, lol. Suburbs will look like the cities do now in about 20 years. Urban decay, crime, welfare housing, the whole works. Inner cities will look like something out of futuristic movie like Judge Dredd or Fifth Element. Wall to wall people with no where to go.

I can't stand being confined. I hate traffic with a passion. I hate ignorant people. So the suburbs are better by comparison then the city but still not as good as living in the mountains.

I know the people that choose to live in my area (including our kick-ass mayor) don't want to see any buildings higher than the Anoka County Courthouse, which is the largest building in the area. Anoka County is pretty large anyway. There is traffic, but it is to be expected because we have one of the state's major freeways go right through. It is only a mile or so to the nearest store, and we have a large shopping center (ourdoor mall) that has nearly every major retail store that communities have. I bike it in the summer, if I don't have much to get.

I would live our farther where we could have horses and such, but when my grandparents announced they would be moving after retirement, rather than staying here, we decided to buy the house.

My kids will be able to walk to school (elementary at least) literally only 2 blocks.

 

[misterblu]

So, where would YOU pick to live?

Oh, give me a home where the Buffalo roam
Where the Deer and the Antelope play;
Where never is heard a discouraging word,
And the sky is not clouded all day.

 

[Nienna]

Oh, give me a home where the Buffalo roam
Where the Deer and the Antelope play;
Where never is heard a discouraging word,
And the sky is not clouded all day.

:sigh: HEAVEN!