citysuburbscountry
From a discussion between Brandon and I during our last ride up into the hills of central North Carolina...
We both agree that there are many things we find attractive and comfortable about the city and the country, but the suburbs always seem to be lacking in the things we find sustaining, enjoyable, and pleasant.
to cite an extreme quote of an experience from a person is is also a guest of our current host: (DC suburban area Bethesda, Maryland...) "the streets are clogged at noon with trophy wives dressed to the nines, in SUVs and luxury sedans, shuttling around designer boutiques - it took 45 minutes to get 1.5 mile down the road just to get to a simple thai restaurant"
...Not that I really disagree with what it says about these strange inter-areas known as suburbs.
What does each have as an advantage?
City - critical mass of people for sharing culture and intelligence, efficient means of sustaining many people.
Suburbs - um I'm not sure, A great place to watch TV?
County - wide, open, beautiful landscapes, close to nature, starry nights, free from the consensus of other people so you can live your own way.
This conception of suburbs doesn't count the small town feel where life is sweet and you can walk to the supermarket, school, or bar - we're talking about places with tract housing, 6 bedroom houses on 1 acre lots, no sidewalks, plenty of auto-strip developments, franchise architecture, and the could-be-anywhere USA feel. The small town seems to have some sense of a community, while the suburban as we are thinking of them here just seem to me to be cold. Big difference.
We were trying to think of a snappy, glib bumper sticker etc to capture this feeling (that seems to be pretty widespread) we have about these areas The closest we've been able to get is:
plow the suburbs...
What can we do about these places? Is there any option besides the current form to moderate between the extremes of urban community and rural freedom?
Maybe we're giving the suburbs a bad rap or defining them too narrowly... what do you all think?
We both agree that there are many things we find attractive and comfortable about the city and the country, but the suburbs always seem to be lacking in the things we find sustaining, enjoyable, and pleasant.
to cite an extreme quote of an experience from a person is is also a guest of our current host: (DC suburban area Bethesda, Maryland...) "the streets are clogged at noon with trophy wives dressed to the nines, in SUVs and luxury sedans, shuttling around designer boutiques - it took 45 minutes to get 1.5 mile down the road just to get to a simple thai restaurant"
...Not that I really disagree with what it says about these strange inter-areas known as suburbs.
What does each have as an advantage?
City - critical mass of people for sharing culture and intelligence, efficient means of sustaining many people.
Suburbs - um I'm not sure, A great place to watch TV?
County - wide, open, beautiful landscapes, close to nature, starry nights, free from the consensus of other people so you can live your own way.
This conception of suburbs doesn't count the small town feel where life is sweet and you can walk to the supermarket, school, or bar - we're talking about places with tract housing, 6 bedroom houses on 1 acre lots, no sidewalks, plenty of auto-strip developments, franchise architecture, and the could-be-anywhere USA feel. The small town seems to have some sense of a community, while the suburban as we are thinking of them here just seem to me to be cold. Big difference.
We were trying to think of a snappy, glib bumper sticker etc to capture this feeling (that seems to be pretty widespread) we have about these areas The closest we've been able to get is:
plow the suburbs...
What can we do about these places? Is there any option besides the current form to moderate between the extremes of urban community and rural freedom?
Maybe we're giving the suburbs a bad rap or defining them too narrowly... what do you all think?
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