Urban Living as a Choice

[wendykh]

I've been reading a lot lately about how people are foregoing the suburbs as the goal model of life. Not just childfree 20somethings, but families as well. How people are choosing to live in urban centres, close to groceries and other shopping locales, within walking distance.

I used to always fantasize about the big house in the middle of nowhere, with chickens and such. Overlooking a hillside with a stream and all. And lately... I'm thinking I don't really want that. Honestly, the outrageous price of gas leads me to this conclusion. And while I could live in a nice small rural village... uh... no. Just so not my style.

How do you all feel? Anyone else leaning this way? I just... cannot imagine living out in BFE and raising kids that way at all.

That said, I do want a small cottage. Mmmm cottage.

Comments

[dzuunmod.livejournal.com]

Well, as someone who's never planned to have more people in my 'family' than the DINK lifestyle allows, and as someone who has never driven a car, I have never aspired to anything more extravagant than a 2-bedroom condo, walking distance from most of the things I need.

And that's one of the reasons I'm still in Montreal - there simply aren't a lot of cities in this country which one can make home where that's a viable possibility.

[thepersona.livejournal.com]

I really never see myself moving to the suburbs and commuting by car. The idea of spending two hours a day stuck on the highway (or on a bus on the highway) doesn't appeal to me. Like Josh, I prefer the idea of being able to walk, bike or take the metro to where I need to go.

[wendykh.livejournal.com]

bike?

[thepersona.livejournal.com]

One of these days I'll actually get one. But yes, bike.

[miesje1984.livejournal.com]

I am the opposite of the other comments. While I love the idea of being able to walk across the street for groceries - I can not stand living in the city. I do like living here in "the woods," despite the occasional bear on the deck and coyote on my front lawn. Everything is at least a 15 minute car ride though.

I have been planning my outings better though.

[sherina.livejournal.com]

Me too! I'm in suburbia right now but I really wish I could pack up and move to the country and be surrounded by trees. It would work if I did consistent meal planning so that we got all our grocery needs once a week instead of "oh, we have to pick up x,y,z today".

I'm just tired of civilization. As long as I have high speed internet access for work, I'd be happy in the country.

[miesje1984.livejournal.com]

We have high speed internet :)

I do order a lot online. A woman about 3 miles from here runs a food coop where you can get everything from salsa to canned beans to flour to mac& cheese to clothes and condoms. You got to buy a lot of it buy the case but still it works out very well.

As much as a sovial butterfly that I am I like coming home and not seeing neighbors and having total down time. YK?

[chatgoddess.livejournal.com]

We just moved from inner-city urban living to very rural. We have 2 acres and have neighbors, but I can still walk to the grocery store if I want - we live right on the edge of the village.

I so prefer living out here. The crime scene is very different and we are less vigilant and more relaxed.

The commute is an issue with fuel prices, but we combine trips.
I really hated living in the city with kids.

[wendykh.livejournal.com]

I just thought of that reading your post, crime has to make a difference. I live in a very low crime city. Very low. Even the boroughs within the city, which I suppose many would call suburbs technically, have that "urban" feel of walking right to everything.

[kdbuttongirl.livejournal.com]

Wow we could be living the same life.

Just did the same thing, from Montreal to St-Eugene Ontario. Edge of the village, 1/4 acre with a creek and corn fields behind us.

The mosquitos take some getting used to, but I love it, despite the commute.

(But I'm only on day 2).

[carrier.livejournal.com]

You know, I hope that's true. Eric would love to live in a condo in town, perhaps by the lake, but he keeps sighing and saying, "...but that wouldn't be fair to the kids." To his mind, town and condo living is for singles, childless/free families, or retired people. It would be nice to have some sort of proof for him that there are plenty of kids in those situations, too. There are some very nice condos in town within walking distance of a playground, the beach, etc. :-)

[wendykh.livejournal.com]

Most kids I know hated living in the burbs. Nothing to do. Yeah, they like until about oh age 12. Then they want to DO something. Libraries, museums, city parks (which are different than just a playground in most suburban parks I find) theatre... I'm just not finding this kind of enrichment, or private schools I can afford (I am an ardent outschooler) anywhere other than an urban centre.

[carrier.livejournal.com]

Just thinking that kids would like to be around other kids, and he thinks that no kids ever live in condos, period. O_o Well, not many, and that the condos are geared to appeal to people without kids, and the people living there don't particularly want to live around them. I say he's out of his mind, but, then, I only knew one kid growing up who lived in an apartment and not a house in the burbs.

[anna-lise-a.livejournal.com]

We are really lucky - I think we have the best of both worlds where we are. We can walk to work, the grocery store, the library, the doctor, the train station etc, and we're 40 minutes from London by train, but we're also two minutes cycle ride from farmland and woods.

[wendykh.livejournal.com]

see that's a big difference too I think. A lot of people consider where I live now, about say, 5km from downtown, to be way out in the middle of nowhere LOL. But I'm right next to a metro station. Across the street. I'm downtown in 25 minutes. I'd be more inclined to live further out if there was reliable transit. As is now, most trains further out come every other hour at best, barely on the weekends at all, and last one leaves around 9pm from downtown. :-/

[marybethorama.livejournal.com]

If I had a choice I'd chose a large small town.

Waterloo, Ontario (nice university town) was perfect. Small town feel but enough people to be interesting and to offer lots of opportunities for socializing, etc.

Lovely people too.

Before kids we lived in the city and loved it. Went to galleries and museums every weekend, ate out, the whole 9 yards. I would not want to raise kids there. Crime aside, I could not for one minute tolerate all the yuppie parents.

[saltwatersound.livejournal.com]

I grew up in the suburbs, but have lived in Toronto most of my adult life, and to be honest - I've had enough of city life. You're right in that as a teeneager, I hated the suburbs, and always wanted to live in the city cause I thought it was the cool and hip place to be. I romanticized being able to walk to the store for milk, living my days on sunny patios on Queen Street, and shopping all the obscure shops.

Now that I'm older, and been there done that, I just want QUIET. Peace. I want to stop being accosted by the same crazy homeless guy on my walk into work. I want to stop fearing for my life walking through certain neighbourhoods. I want more than 680 square feet for $1400/month. I want grass and a bbq. I want neighbours who are in bed by 11pm most nights too. I'm tired as all hell of traffic. I'm tired of that low level buzz noise that never stops. I hate the constant layer of black soot. I reeeeally fucking hate paying to park anywhere you go. I'm tired of stuffing myself into the sardine can that is a busy streetcar (nevermind the $2.75 trip). And I'm tired of condo life. The stupid elevator 1000001 times a day. The guy we had to tell to stop dropping the hand weights at the gym cause the sound reverberates across my floor. My 2 feet by 6 feet of outdoors that I call my balcony. All the goddamn rules (can't put your bike on your balcony, can't put your bike in your parking spot, can't accept packages bigger than X at the concierge, can't this can't that. Yeesh).

Yah, I guess it's clear that I'm done. Lately all I feel is that this city provides me with a constant layer of STRESS that I don't need in my life. I want to go home and relax at the end of the day. And all this aggravation prevents me from ever doing that.

So we're actually looking at buying a house basically on the border of suburbs and rural. Outskirts of Oakville, Bronte & QEW. One side of Bronte, cute starter houses, the other side, farm. GO Train 5 minutes away. I can handle that.

[alohamelly.livejournal.com]

I would die in the country. I miss urban living. I miss living in Waikiki SO much it hurts sometimes. I loved being able to walk everywhere. I would much rather raise my kids in the city than the suburbs. My second choice though, is on the beach. :p

[rehenazelreyhan.livejournal.com]

I've done big cities (Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver) and very small (Qualicum Beach, BC) and places in between. Montréal is pretty much the perfect city as far as I am concerned.

I did the remote remote thing, on Vancouver Island, in an 800 square foot cabin by the Pacific Ocean. Idyllic? Nah. I homeschooled, went nuts, and spent lost days building driftwood inukshuks by the water whilst humming tuneless tunes. And at the time I had the mantra that it was all so therapeutic and esoteric and shat.

But, hey, different strokes for different folks, and at different times for a variety of people, right?

I *love* Montréal, and I love not driving.

[laurabz.livejournal.com]

i live in the 'burbs and it sucks to have to drive everywhere. i guess it is very "country"-ish where i am with lots of yards and wildlife. but, i can't imagine living in NYC with kids. maybe SF, though.
i think the best of both worlds is a town with a walking distance village - i looked to move to a place like that for years but it is very expensive; even the small houses are expensive and the property taxes are astronomical. i do agree that the teens i knew who grew up very rurally hated it and often turned to drugs for entertainment, especially in the winter. i would hate living remotely. anyway - suburb-village-town is ideal for me barring cost.