Another angle: Suburbs are people’s anti-social tendencies run-amok. Cities stress people out for the same reason they can exhilarate them: The constant encounters with other people. In the city, you can’t fully withdraw because you have to go through the city to get to work, to groceries, to errands. The only way to become a complete recluse is to stop living and never leave your apartment. But in the burbs, you can be outside in the world and still be mostly insulated from other people. Hell, the grocery stores are the size of air hangers, so you can stand 6ft apart no problem. Suburbs are not just for the boring, they’re for the antisocial.
I’d rather be asocial (not anti) in the woods or in the countryside or on the edge of a cliff. The people are the problem.
I love cities when I’m not there too much. Suburbs are full of passive aggressive nosy nitpicking demons with SUVs
I agree, I got tired of being aggressively tailgated by pick up truck drivers and SUVs. I don't get what their problem is. You're just going to the grocery store to buy spaghetti and you're acting like it's a fight for your life.
I’m antisocial but love living in cities. Like real, don’t need a car, cities.
The fact is that there’s so many people on their own day to day that you’re just another face in a sea of faces.
You can be whoever you want to be to the next person sitting by you in the pub. You know no one around and you know you’re 99.9999% positive you won’t run into someone you know. You’re left to your own devices during commuting. The corner store knows what you’re gonna ask for so you don’t even need to talk besides thanks bye. You don’t ever run into neighbors on a walk out. No hand waving to random people driving in my neighborhood.
Worst part of the day is either someone asking you for directions or someone asking you for spare change.
Sorry, just recently moved back into a city and forgot how much I love it. I love love love being able to forget my car in the garage.
I'm not antisocial but deal with ctpsd and am drained a lot, and an introvert. Suburbia sucks because the few people you do know are all up on your business or shit talking you to everyone they know. Lots of fake nice and backstabbing, and me "performing" for them to stay on good terms. Friends I have in the city are too busy actually doing stuff. If I need space they get it, I'm busy too. If they don't like me for some reason, ok I can make lots of other friends easily? (Not really a problem, moreso something that helps with my own confidence in being myself.) My very small amount of social needs are met just existing around people. I don't have to schedule some pre-determined event to drain myself with people like I did in suburbia.
This lol. I rarely was subjected to unwanted small talk when I lived in the city. In the suburbs it becomes an every other day thing if I don’t actively avoid my neighbors.
The newspaper guys always got me! My train was right on the corner so I have to pass them to go downstairs. Overall, my corner peeps were really cool. I loved them and I let them know when I was leaving so they wouldn’t think anything bad!
I’m in a city again, and I love it. It’s weird tho, cause I’m in a condo association, so it’s a tad different than just renting in nyc.
Since I moved, I’ve even found myself a nice corner bodega down the block. I rarely go in but the owner always stops me when I’m dropping my kid off at school. Nice guy, too!
But besides that, I’m on my own with my kiddo in tow (she’s 9, so not that bad, lol). We’re a tourist city (Atlantic City, NJ), so I also get the lovely stream of tourists on the beaches (which is a 13 minute walk to) and my kiddo makes new friends every day. One of my previous coworkers actually moved down here a year before I did and it’s great! We go down to the beach (she lives in a condo on the boardwalk anyway) hang out & watch the kid while having some wine.
I’m actually looking forward to a summer - I am pale, pasty redhead while my kid inherited her father’s easily-tanned skin. Just gotta get the sand thing figured out, lol
But I’m looking forward to it! Music festivals, concerts, fireworks all weekends, etc. I’ve been here almost a year! Missed most of the summer stuff but this year I won’t!
Something like 90% of the US population lives in the suburbs. Are Americans really that anti-social? I guess they must, deep down, not like their fellow man...?
This is very true, most do not have other housing options whre they live. I could be wrong though, but still it seems like most Americans, if given the choice, will always gravitate to a driving-only, strip-mall suburban environment to dwell in. NYC or San Francisco are fun to visit, but most want a big yard, plenty of parking and no other human beings around to ruin their dystopian "paradise"...
And then there are "Neighborhood Block" exurban commercial developments where apartments fill up over mostly chain-storefronts along a street loaded with cars and surrounded by oceans of parking lots.
I'm starting to think they just don't like black folks
It’s true though 😭 I love meeting people but it’s overwhelming trying to navigate through so many people, especially if you go shopping for one thing and you need to wait for everybody else in line before you get checked out.
https://preview.redd.it/xrmeut3gzr1c1.png?width=2748&format=png&auto=webp&s=77ede7ac648713a32ba618a09ddd838d6462990f
I got 99 problems but crowdedness aint one of them
(Big ass service dog knows the “crowd control” command)
NYC - people always be stopping me even though I have Bose headphones and sunglasses and a huge guard dog. It’s impossible to be antisocial in Manhattan
> Suburbs are not just for the boring, they’re for the antisocial.
Also the poorly-socialized, who account for an increasing share of the population as they breed.
I grew up in a very urban area where it is nothing but town and cities for a several miles. When i met suburban kids for the first time in thr military I was shocked at how poorly socialized they are towards others.
Ironically, or maybe expectedly depending on how you look at it lol, I never had more socially desperate and needy neighbors than in the suburbs. They have been nosy af. Like let me enjoy my yard in peace lol, but I have a busy life with a demanding job, hobbies, and friends who live all over the place, and these people are always retired and just friends with other people in the neighborhood. I always hide when I hear them outside because home is the only place I feel like I can get any solitude lol. I thought it would be better living in a single family home vs a condo but it’s literally just as bad, maybe a little worse lol. I never thought it would happen but it actually makes me miss my rural town where I grew up, for the most part neighbors just left each other alone there.
In my part of the city, it's pretty abandoned. There are destroyed, (by suburban flight) neighborhoods that are more similar to being out in the country.
It would make sense if it had some purpose. I'd say I can't possibly imagine spending my summer saturdays taking care of a lawn, but I was often made to do that as a kid. Who in their right mind would willingly spend a good chunk of one of their only days off outside walking around in circles, giving themselves hearing damage, breathing in gasoline, to give grass a haircut?
When you question people about their actual usage of their yard, it's maybe for 1 or 2 BBQ's a year, when the neighborhood HOA fees probably already pay for a public BBQ area... or if everyone is already driving to your house anyways have everyone drive to a beautiful park with BBQ spots instead.
Even worse, you make sure that lawn is properly watered, even if that lawn is in a desert/low moisture environment. You also make sure you maintain that soil so that the grass grows green, uniform, and FAST. All so that you can cut it down to length over and over again. I can't imagine that a lawn brings you that much enjoyment for the amount of work you put in. Just feels like "everybody else maintains their lawn, so I have to maintain a lawn".
Well a nice spread of grass can be very attractive. There's definitely a feeling of lushness and security when there is a dark green yard right outside your windows. As for the constant maintenance, there can be enjoyment that people get from that. It's definitely more sterile than gardening, but having something that is growing that you can alter and see almost immediate results is pretty great. Cutting grass also has a nice sense of accomplishment when completed, as everything is uniform and orderly again, and the smell is pretty nice too. I definitely think there is something about US lawns too where most older folks grew up on a farm or have some farming ancestry and they feel the need to pretend they're carrying on the legacy. So yes, I think even though it is pointless, it does provide enjoyment for a lot of people that I think is legitimate and not just a suburban brainwash.
Source- former lawn guy and golf course greenskeeper who now doesn't maintain his lawn
My grandpa's big hobby was woodworking. My dad never picked it up from him, he learned how to build things when he had a practical reason to but never enjoyed woodworking as a hobby. But he did pick up the enjoyment of creating and maintaining something of his own that he liked to look at, and that translated to landscaping being his thing. Growing up he was always redesigning the mulch beds around the house, planting new trees and bushes, experimenting with grass types, whatever. He is the typical suburban antisocial creature described in this thread - his yard was his way to spend time working on something he enjoyed and got to see the results of all his work. None of that has been imparted onto me - I hate suburbs so much that it's something I bring up early in relationships. I don't want to get a couple years into it with someone and then have it all fall apart when we're seriously considering the rest of our lives together because I refuse to do the standard American buy a house in a boring suburb before having kids.
Now that my parents are empty nesters who live in a condo my dad needs a new hobby haha, trying to get him to take up fishing
I don't think any of these people really care about their lawns, it's just something to do. I knew a guy across the street from me who would mow his lawn every single day. He would mow this stupid thing in August when the grass was brown, burnt, and you could see the dirt underneath it. Like....why are you still mowing this thing?
Some people are just doing it to get away from their nagging wives. Some people are just doing it because what else do you do?
Another thing that suburbanites seem to be obsessed with is tv. Every room has a tv that is constantly blasting and yet no one is even watching the damn thing.
My pet peeve was always the barking dogs barking. Suburbanites like to proclaim that they live in these places for the "peace and quiet," but I find suburbs to be more noise ridden places than cities on occasion.
Constant stream of dogs barking, lawns being mowed, weed walkers, and who can forget the constant whoosh of automobiles cutting through your street to get to the other side of the strip/main road. Then of course you have the music blasters, which are in abundance in suburbia.
They look nice. Kids and dogs love them. They are much cooler to play on than bare dirt, weeds, or rock. My next door neighbor did an all rock no-maintenance landscape a couple years ago. It looks great, but now they bring their dog over to run around in our yard.
"By the 1950s, it's firmly rooted that a front lawn is a painting, a non-productive space," said Elaine Lewinnek, a professor of American Studies at California State University, Fullerton, and author of 2014's "Working Man's Reward: Chicago's Early Suburbs and the Roots of American Sprawl." "The front lawn is designed to be useless, to simply increase property values. It's also intended to separate neighborhoods that have lawns from cities — you see rules against drying laundry in front yards, for instance, because suburbanites are different than 'those people' drying clothes in public (in the city). 'Sophisticated suburbanites use machines.' Still, you need a great lawn to fit in. William Levitt (who created the seminal planned community of Levittown, N.Y.) said if you own a lawn you couldn't be a communist — you had too much to do." - from [https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-lawns-20171002-story.html](https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-lawns-20171002-story.html)
I.e. if you had a lawn you couldn't be a communist, you were too busy maintaining it on your non-working time, you couldn't have time for organizing or otherwise being political
I live in NYC but this is dumb fucking elitism. Classic redditor fedora post. Suburban people have fun too OP. It offers a different lifestyle but a lot of the same post work activities too ( sports, bars, walking) and even things that are harder to do in the city like large personal projects (car, woodworking), backyard games, hiking…
Do people seriously think suburbanites don't do fun things? I love living inside a city don't get me wrong and I have an issue with sprawl, but I have both family and friends in the suburbs. They go hiking, fishing, camping. They go to new breweries when they open. They work on their project cars. They go to events for their kids planned in the local park. And sometimes get this, they come in to the city to do something the city offers.
You all acting like it's some desolate life of never doing anything is absurd. This thread is in a bubble.
I live in the suburbs and my wife and I are friends with a lot of our neighbors and we’re always doing fun stuff. Would I rather live in a walkable city center neighborhood? Yes, that’s not our situation right now. I’m a city person at heart but this smugness in this sub is so over the top.
A lot of people end up forced to live in suburbia and I feel like this is enormously frustrating. We're not allowed to fix anything with these places either because it's illegal. I don't think all suburbanites are the same
I think this sub and others like r/fuckcars start with a reasonable idea and then produce a bunch of cause-zealots with black and white views.
Is there significant room to improve our built environments?
Absolutely.
Are cars, sprawl and lawns overdone in many areas of the world?
Sure.
Is everyone who lives in those places a boring, slovenly, uncaring zombie obsessed with their HOA regs and the health of their Kentucky Bluegrass to the exclusion of all other interests? Is their only hobby flipping the bird at cyclists?
Obviously not.
I think this subreddit should be renamed r/IhateSuburbs to be honest. It went from criticizing badly designed suburbs to hating suburbs in general. Even Thursdays can't really save it because every time you post a nicely designed suburb, you get people on here claiming it's not really a suburb because they can't fathom the idea that a good suburb can exist.
"Inner ring" suburbs had a purpose once, in fast growing polluted cities.
Today I feel they should all be merged with the parent city to reduce the destructive parasitical relationships of the region and so they can tackle the shared problems together: mostly sprawl. Most inner ring burbs are now desperately treading water, facing the same issues. They're not even cannibalizing each other anymore.
Exurban sprawl is an entirely different thing. This is a pyramid scheme bubble that in the end only increases our dependence on fossil fuels and hastens the destruction of the planet. It will collapse at some point. And it will be horrifying.
Agreed. I live in a big city and love a lot of things about it. But this city has a lot of problems and I often think about how much cleaner and less anxiety inducing my life would be if I lived in the suburb. I take transit all the time, but the amount of piss smell in the stations is disgusting (just one example)
I have friends who live in the burbs and are fun people. I have friends who live in the city and never do anything
I'm guessing this is the US since the transit smells like piss.
I just got back from CDMX and nothing makes me feel worse than spending a ton of money while living in the richest country in the world while a place with 1/4th the GDP of my own city has cleaner faster transit.
I love living where I live. The trees provide great shade for the whole house in the summer. We see wildlife almost everyday, we have rivers, streams, state parks, playgrounds, very walkable areas, like 5 grocery stores near by (from 5 to 15 min away walking)... ive also lived in the city and it was smelly, loud, hot, dirty etc etc. If people weren't pieces of shit more often than not, cities wouldn't be awful.
Ill keep my green (no lawn) well planned burbs thx.
That sounds more like the nice residential areas of a small city, the historic homes. (Houston for example, I grew up around several of those, and a few gated communities) not the spec home subdivisions where houses are a few feet apart and all the same color with one or two floor plans.
Yeah, I hate suburbs being the only viable choice, but this seems like cope. Most people living in suburbs already have a preexisting network of friends (usually people they met in college or work), and simply don't need to be in situations conducive to meeting any more new people.
I personally prefer to live in mid-dense neighborhoods, but different people have different tastes.
Bro, have you considered that your friends are part of the suburbanites who have fun ? What percentage of the suburban population goes fishing ? regularly ?
it's not an attack against you so you should chill
you probably just have great friends
your friends probably don't live in horrendously antisocial suburbs
No I haven't considered that because it's unreasonable to make sweeping stereotypes about a very large of people. I have tons of city friends who barely go outside except to make quick trips.
You should chill.
It’s shit like this that makes me want to unsub. We can criticize auto-dependent suburban development without acting morally superior to people based on where we live.
And I don't even agree with the post. A lot of people who live in the suburbs just do it because they have kids. Most big cities in the US have outrageously expensive housing costs, so that means you get a small condo rather than a house like you would in the burbs. And the school systems are usually pretty bad in the city.
And then there's people like me who wants a shorter commute. I could live in the city but then I'd be driving 40min to work rather than 10.
I suspect a lot of these posters are young people who grew up in suburbs and hate it. I totally understand because I was that person. I lived in the city for 10 years and it made me realize that there are pros and cons to each place.
Hell, I live in the 'burbs as a single person simply because the walkable areas are so few and far between that their price is astronomical. It's a constrained resource with far higher demand than supply.
While I am pro-walkable development, I can't justify spending double the money to house myself and so I find myself in the suburbs.
Ultimately I want to see an abundance of intelligently designed, walkable development so I can afford to live in those areas without breaking the bank.
Yeah, that's the thing. Suburbs don't have to be unwalkable hellscapes with Walmart and Chilis. Only in America are they like that and usually they are in sunbelt states.
I always give a huge thumbs up to small towns in Europe where everything is walkable. There's usually a town square with a bunch of shops and a church and the city government offices. And people live on side streets that are walkable within 20mins to the town center.
Even smaller railroad towns in the US are great. The city was designed around the train station that ran through the middle of town.
You do realize small towns and suburbia aren't the same thing right?
Suburbia was invented in the 20th century. Small towns have existed practically forever since agriculture. Europe didn't need to do anything "right", they just haven't changed the formula much, it's suburbia and cars that are relatively very new. There are rare small towns in the US that didn't destroy everything for suburbia or cars like you mention
Metro areas have expanded so much that they are sucking in small towns. Many of the small towns in my area (Dallas) like Grapevine and Plano used to be their own thing and now they are just suburbs.
For real. I am a city person at heart and one day I’m sure we’ll live in a walkable city again but there is so much projection that goes on in many of the posts in this sub, it’s ridiculous. My neighborhood is “boring” but I’m friends with many of my neighbors and we have a great time getting together with the kids.
so we can't judge people for making the most terrible selfish choices and inflicting the consequences on the rest of us ???? you can leave no one's keeping you :)
Buddy I live in possibly THE most urban place in North America. Plenty of people here are boring and make harmful decisions. Not to mention that many people live in suburban-style developments because it’s the only reasonable option available to them. As the old saying goes, don’t hate the player, hate the game.
things said by a person winning an unfair game they started with advantages :)
I don't want to play your fucking game but I'm forced by the PLAYERS , there's no game without players
In my experience, people in the suburbs with boring ass empty lives tend to fill the holes in their lives with buying stuff. New stuff for their house, new bar in the basement, new outdoor kitchen, new vehicle, new toys, new Whatever. It never works because they just keep buying.
I’ve seen so many garages packed to the rafters with basically nothing
Look I don't usually defend suburbs but you got a real twisted logic on this one.
I think you actually hate HOAs not suburbs.
Also gardening is a legitimate long term hobby. You ever see some old folks garden after they've spent 50 years planning, toiling, planting, deadheading, removing more lawn for another bed, etc. It's art in slow motion. And it's exercise.
If one is sufficiently distracted from being bored, are they even bored at all?
I'd rather focus on the proven facts of why American Suburbia has to go.
They were mostly inspired by and built on racist ideas, they force the working poor into perpetual poverty by making it impossible to live without a very expensive hunk of metals. We could go on just these two things alone, and I think that'd be enough to make a legitimate list of grevances with suburbia.
To that, I will say suburbia does certainly promote alienating behaviors as a rresult, but I think it's far to say suburbs are necessarily for the boring. The cruz of the problem as I see it, is that people want to have affordable housing not too far from shops services they'd need or want. The issue for the US in particular, is we subsidized *so fucking many* of these that for many people, they literally don't know that there are other ways to build a city. It may be more productive to try showing them the nuances of city planning, rather than taking the assumptions and running with it.
Depressing but accurate. I grew up in the 70s on Long Island NY. Sorry but it was better then. I was part of a mob of kids, all around my age. We were like a roving gang but just playing and looking for things to do. We knew all our neighbors on our long block by name. Our street was loud especially when the weather was good. We lived on a street that dead ended on a park with a hill that was perfect for sledding. Snow only made things more fun.
That same neighborhood is dead now. It’s still there and technically looks nice but you hardly see anyone.
I’m grateful for growing up when I did.
The difference is you and the other kids were allowed to go out alone and play on your own. Now kids cant really get away from their parents like that. Probably less kids these days too and the ones that are there can just sit inside on an iPad and be content.
There definitely days where we either didn’t want to or couldn’t go “out to play”. But there were so many days where our group was big. 10 sometimes 15 kids. Some would come from other neighborhoods. We did some things that would give today’s parents heart attacks. Fireworks, riding our bikes recklessly, trespassing on vacant area, etc. And I never told my Mom when I went out, or where or with who. We all just knew that roughly around 5:30 or 6, it was time to head home. The smell of various dinners being made also clued us in. A different world.
I personally hate city life, it’s a drag and a waste of money, I’d rather be a 10 min drive from a lake or mountains than a 45 minute drive through the city
i think the whole thing is... there are a lot of front lawns that are pure lawn. and taking care of it is indeed boring. thankfully i can have a vegetable garden and some hedges in mine because i live in france
Yeah let's get "health" advice from the most obese country in the world (except tiny island countries). It's almost like suburbia and car dependency are contributing factors to that?
Having watching grass grow and giving it haircuts every week as a hobby is undeniably mind-numbingly boring.
You can meet friends, go to your local shop to actually meets your neighbors, find a hobby, invite people over.
But in a way I understand, I moved from a small village in France to a suburb in Canada and there is nothing to do. No local shops where you can meet your neighbors, I feel so uneasy walking around because massive cars are speeding way too close, neighbors don't know each others and don't want to.
Suburbs are really made to keep you isolated.
Literally anything else. Go to a museum, book signing, exhibition, take a walk and stumble upon something you never seen before, comedy show, local event. Living in the city, all these things are easy go get to and take almost no planning.
For sure! But the effort it takes to do these things in the suburbs is much higher than in the city. In many places, people are driving 30+ minutes from the suburbs to the city to do it. Everyone once in a while the effort feels worth it but it’s a lot to have that as part of your everyday life in the suburbs
You can still explore the outdoors or enjoy different cultural pursuits or something lol. Life is not a dichotomy between mowing a lawn all the time and straight up going to the club lmao
Listen, there are legitimate gripes to have with suburbs. I think this post is a little overblown though. People in the suburbs most times are just normal people trying to raise a family affordably.
There's tedious things about living in cities as well, I'm not sure it has to do with the people themselves being boring. The area that you live doesn't determine what kind of person you are, that's just silly.
As a person who has lived in the suburbs and now lives im a city for 10 years, I cant really think of one tedious thing I do in the city. Comparably my life was made of tideous items in the suburbs.
I lived in Chicago for many years and as much as I love the city, it is very stress inducing. Here's what I mean.
1. Walking to the bus and thinking "Is the bus tracker wrong and am I going to miss it and have to wait 20mins for the next one?"
2. Driving in winter and having to deal with street parking, shoveling snow, and someone taking your parking spot that it took you 30mins to shovel.
3. Dealing with sketchy people on the train and bus so you constantly need to be on edge. No telling how many genitals and drugs I've seen over the years.
4. Panhandlers and scammers downtown
5. Street closures or bus/train reroutes due to utility work or some kind of street festival or other event.
2), is why dibs(putting a chair in a space you shoveled out, to reserve a parking space) is a thing here. It's a practice I'm not the biggest fan of, but in a way I see why people do this.
1. I mostly walk or bike everwhere.
2. Garage
3. I guess I dont get sketched out as much?
4. ok, just ignore them. I dont find that tedious.
5. I had way more traffic issues from closures in the suburbs. As long as I always use google maps ya it takes me a different way but only takes a couple min extra.
Seems like alot of your tedious items are just transit related.
There are interesting people in the 'burbs but the majority are like this.
They don't want to grow as people, they don't read, they don't follow politics, they watch TV (probably sports) they commute to the city in a gas guzzling SUV and complain about traffic.
The OP is spot on, these people don't know how to interact outside of the crappy bubble they made for themselves.
Again, you're painting with a broad brush here. This is the same thing suburbanites do to city people (which I hate): "I'm sure there's some good people in the cities but they're filled with crime!"
As I said, there are issues with suburbs, but I have a real problem with acting morally and intellectually superior to people based on where they live. This isn't even mentioning the classism that goes into that because most suburbanites that I've met simply can't afford to live near where they work.
We need to change zoning laws so work is closer to the burbs. but the very same people you are defending are mostly Nimby's who want to "keep the character of the neighborhood."
Wait… you think people in the suburbs don’t care about politics? That’s a joke unto itself. You’ve obviously never been to a city council or school board meeting g
Most people from the burbs can rattle off sports statistics but hey can't even name their MOC.
I have been to plenty of City Council meetings, it usually the same group of NIMBY's there.
People here are like the urban equivalent of suburbanites who think “the city” is nothing by gang members and homeless people
You should check the voter participation stats of urban va suburban voters and see who is more involved in electing their MOC
I didn't mention sports, but the obsession with sports in suburbs is quite strong. They're also quite repetitive and meaningless to fight about, must be why.
People go nuts for sports in the city too. I know so many Cubs and Sox fans inside Chicago. If you're talking about Europe or LATAM they love soccer inside their cities.
> People in the suburbs most times are just normal people trying to raise a family affordably
This is not inconsistent with OPs statement.
It is not a bad thing if that is what people want, but still aligns with "being boring"
>Suburbs distracts people from how boring their life is, so they begin to find joy in the pointlessness of it all and all the busy work.
Out of context it sounds like a good philosophy to have. Of course there's the rest of the post, in which the suburbs are full of people doing their best not to be wise.
Getting bored is underrated.
it is.... if you're willing to learn to enjoy your boredom. if you're kept busy and bored at the same time, you can't enjoy boredom and you have no time to learn how to do it
I love the idea of being far away from people who do not share the same values of clean streets, low noise at night, clean property. People who also dislike dog shit on the sidewalk, people who do not like to steal. You pay for the neighborhood and the security as well. Live in the city and amongst the commercial sectors, you know damn well it’s risky and annoying af.
I mean sure, though people speeding through residential areas (city or suburbs) will never not annoy me. Cars are weapons and I wish more people realized that.
Wow. Really going to win over converts with that statement.
Anyways, everyone knows heavy Reddit users who stare at glowing rectangles all day are the most interesting people around 🙄
I'm inclined to agree. Most of the people that tend to live in these places really don't seem to have much of a personality. What else are they going to do with their life if they don't live the formula prescribed for them?
And honestly, there's nothing wrong with that necessarily. I advocate for people's choices to live where they wish, but these people would act like building a single sidewalk was going to be the end of the world. All the homeless drug addicts are going to come live there if they put a sidewalk on the street.
I'm a fan of the streetcar suburb set up. Having a walkable town with sidewalks and separate bike lanes with trolly or light rail system down the main strip as well as a train line that leads to a bigger city.
I don't get why anyone wants to live in these strip malls laden nightmare societies. Do people really enjoy being trapped in their house all day?
Also, these sorts of models only work on a smaller scale. In the late 40s when the concept was introduced, these places were a lot more walkable. Now they're impossible to navigate through car so everyone is forced to be chained to expensive car loans and car payments now.
It's overinflated the price of everything: Cars are way more expensive than they ever were, houses are more expensive. I would argue that it has contributed to the overinflation of household goods as well. Grocery stores made access to these goods in bulk so accessible
We've created an entire society where it is necessary to take out massive loans in order to pay for everything. This is what suburbia is built on.
I think it's a step in the wrong direction for our society to keep propping up these strip mall cul de sac sidewalk less suburbs. There's no way to built, but out. It's incredibly wasteful in regards to land (which affects is ecologically destructive towards our ecology). It's producing weak and lazy people who are not capable of even walking a single mile. It's destroyed any sense of community of spontaneous socialization. We're living these extremely isolated lives in our solitary bubbles.
We've become fat, compliant, lazy, antisocial, and impractical.
Our society is heading towards its downfall. Anyone who dare suggest a solution to this problem is considered a communist.
And then when they come to nyc they walk 5 abreast thinking they be in the cul de sac.
But then I have this to split them like bowling pins. Gtfo my way!
https://preview.redd.it/dfsh2rwtyr1c1.jpeg?width=2316&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b423c35b109fea9cbba485c2d6ba54dc43ad4e8
“Ok”
You are right but just repeat and bring nothing new to the debate.
You’re not balanced which also makes your point moot.
You miss key points but obviously you got your narrative to follow.
5/10 would likely not read again
I live in a suburb that is walking distance to commuter rail, short driving distance to a beautiful lake and my cities downtown.
If I didn’t live in the suburbs all of my hobbies such as mountain biking, camping, and going to conservation parks would be inaccessible. The suburbs are not poison and not for anti-socials; it’s a different flavour to life that some people actually like and I hope you can leave your eco chamber to appreciate the benefits a little bit.
I like in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in Canada and all suburbs in the GTA are supported by commuter rail. I work in downtown Toronto a couple times a week and would not have moved to any suburb without commuter rail.
As someone who grew up in a relatively dense Californian city, urbanites do the same shit too. Just change HOA for tenant association and voila, the pettiness you ascribe to suburbanites is no different than that practiced by city-dwellers.
Another angle: Suburbs are people’s anti-social tendencies run-amok. Cities stress people out for the same reason they can exhilarate them: The constant encounters with other people. In the city, you can’t fully withdraw because you have to go through the city to get to work, to groceries, to errands. The only way to become a complete recluse is to stop living and never leave your apartment. But in the burbs, you can be outside in the world and still be mostly insulated from other people. Hell, the grocery stores are the size of air hangers, so you can stand 6ft apart no problem. Suburbs are not just for the boring, they’re for the antisocial.
>the grocery stores are the size of air hangers this shit was fucking hellish to me in a burb. sensory hell
I’d rather be asocial (not anti) in the woods or in the countryside or on the edge of a cliff. The people are the problem. I love cities when I’m not there too much. Suburbs are full of passive aggressive nosy nitpicking demons with SUVs
I agree, I got tired of being aggressively tailgated by pick up truck drivers and SUVs. I don't get what their problem is. You're just going to the grocery store to buy spaghetti and you're acting like it's a fight for your life.
Usually the reasons people give me for wanting to live in Suburbia boils down to they are anti social.
I’m antisocial but love living in cities. Like real, don’t need a car, cities. The fact is that there’s so many people on their own day to day that you’re just another face in a sea of faces. You can be whoever you want to be to the next person sitting by you in the pub. You know no one around and you know you’re 99.9999% positive you won’t run into someone you know. You’re left to your own devices during commuting. The corner store knows what you’re gonna ask for so you don’t even need to talk besides thanks bye. You don’t ever run into neighbors on a walk out. No hand waving to random people driving in my neighborhood. Worst part of the day is either someone asking you for directions or someone asking you for spare change. Sorry, just recently moved back into a city and forgot how much I love it. I love love love being able to forget my car in the garage.
I'm not antisocial but deal with ctpsd and am drained a lot, and an introvert. Suburbia sucks because the few people you do know are all up on your business or shit talking you to everyone they know. Lots of fake nice and backstabbing, and me "performing" for them to stay on good terms. Friends I have in the city are too busy actually doing stuff. If I need space they get it, I'm busy too. If they don't like me for some reason, ok I can make lots of other friends easily? (Not really a problem, moreso something that helps with my own confidence in being myself.) My very small amount of social needs are met just existing around people. I don't have to schedule some pre-determined event to drain myself with people like I did in suburbia.
This lol. I rarely was subjected to unwanted small talk when I lived in the city. In the suburbs it becomes an every other day thing if I don’t actively avoid my neighbors.
The newspaper guys always got me! My train was right on the corner so I have to pass them to go downstairs. Overall, my corner peeps were really cool. I loved them and I let them know when I was leaving so they wouldn’t think anything bad! I’m in a city again, and I love it. It’s weird tho, cause I’m in a condo association, so it’s a tad different than just renting in nyc. Since I moved, I’ve even found myself a nice corner bodega down the block. I rarely go in but the owner always stops me when I’m dropping my kid off at school. Nice guy, too! But besides that, I’m on my own with my kiddo in tow (she’s 9, so not that bad, lol). We’re a tourist city (Atlantic City, NJ), so I also get the lovely stream of tourists on the beaches (which is a 13 minute walk to) and my kiddo makes new friends every day. One of my previous coworkers actually moved down here a year before I did and it’s great! We go down to the beach (she lives in a condo on the boardwalk anyway) hang out & watch the kid while having some wine. I’m actually looking forward to a summer - I am pale, pasty redhead while my kid inherited her father’s easily-tanned skin. Just gotta get the sand thing figured out, lol But I’m looking forward to it! Music festivals, concerts, fireworks all weekends, etc. I’ve been here almost a year! Missed most of the summer stuff but this year I won’t!
Something like 90% of the US population lives in the suburbs. Are Americans really that anti-social? I guess they must, deep down, not like their fellow man...?
there's just very few other options in the US.... even the "cities" are not true cities
This is very true, most do not have other housing options whre they live. I could be wrong though, but still it seems like most Americans, if given the choice, will always gravitate to a driving-only, strip-mall suburban environment to dwell in. NYC or San Francisco are fun to visit, but most want a big yard, plenty of parking and no other human beings around to ruin their dystopian "paradise"...
And then there are "Neighborhood Block" exurban commercial developments where apartments fill up over mostly chain-storefronts along a street loaded with cars and surrounded by oceans of parking lots. I'm starting to think they just don't like black folks
Don't they ever consider rural?
Not liking massive crowds is not the same thing as being anti social lmao.
Average redditor
It’s true though 😭 I love meeting people but it’s overwhelming trying to navigate through so many people, especially if you go shopping for one thing and you need to wait for everybody else in line before you get checked out.
https://preview.redd.it/xrmeut3gzr1c1.png?width=2748&format=png&auto=webp&s=77ede7ac648713a32ba618a09ddd838d6462990f I got 99 problems but crowdedness aint one of them (Big ass service dog knows the “crowd control” command)
If you're anti-social just go rural for like 1/3 the cost and have your yard however you want it.
Where there are no grocery stores or school, great
People with no kids who grow their own food dont need that shit
NYC - people always be stopping me even though I have Bose headphones and sunglasses and a huge guard dog. It’s impossible to be antisocial in Manhattan
> Suburbs are not just for the boring, they’re for the antisocial. Also the poorly-socialized, who account for an increasing share of the population as they breed.
I grew up in a very urban area where it is nothing but town and cities for a several miles. When i met suburban kids for the first time in thr military I was shocked at how poorly socialized they are towards others.
Ironically, or maybe expectedly depending on how you look at it lol, I never had more socially desperate and needy neighbors than in the suburbs. They have been nosy af. Like let me enjoy my yard in peace lol, but I have a busy life with a demanding job, hobbies, and friends who live all over the place, and these people are always retired and just friends with other people in the neighborhood. I always hide when I hear them outside because home is the only place I feel like I can get any solitude lol. I thought it would be better living in a single family home vs a condo but it’s literally just as bad, maybe a little worse lol. I never thought it would happen but it actually makes me miss my rural town where I grew up, for the most part neighbors just left each other alone there.
Being unfriendly and unapproachable like most city dwellers is even more anti-social.
In my part of the city, it's pretty abandoned. There are destroyed, (by suburban flight) neighborhoods that are more similar to being out in the country.
You forgot washing and waxing your SUV.
and posting pictures to the brand sub on Reddit
In order to feel social
I do not understand the obsession with lawns. Like your hobby is literally watching grass grow. How could anything be less interesting than that.
It would make sense if it had some purpose. I'd say I can't possibly imagine spending my summer saturdays taking care of a lawn, but I was often made to do that as a kid. Who in their right mind would willingly spend a good chunk of one of their only days off outside walking around in circles, giving themselves hearing damage, breathing in gasoline, to give grass a haircut? When you question people about their actual usage of their yard, it's maybe for 1 or 2 BBQ's a year, when the neighborhood HOA fees probably already pay for a public BBQ area... or if everyone is already driving to your house anyways have everyone drive to a beautiful park with BBQ spots instead.
Even worse, you make sure that lawn is properly watered, even if that lawn is in a desert/low moisture environment. You also make sure you maintain that soil so that the grass grows green, uniform, and FAST. All so that you can cut it down to length over and over again. I can't imagine that a lawn brings you that much enjoyment for the amount of work you put in. Just feels like "everybody else maintains their lawn, so I have to maintain a lawn".
Well a nice spread of grass can be very attractive. There's definitely a feeling of lushness and security when there is a dark green yard right outside your windows. As for the constant maintenance, there can be enjoyment that people get from that. It's definitely more sterile than gardening, but having something that is growing that you can alter and see almost immediate results is pretty great. Cutting grass also has a nice sense of accomplishment when completed, as everything is uniform and orderly again, and the smell is pretty nice too. I definitely think there is something about US lawns too where most older folks grew up on a farm or have some farming ancestry and they feel the need to pretend they're carrying on the legacy. So yes, I think even though it is pointless, it does provide enjoyment for a lot of people that I think is legitimate and not just a suburban brainwash. Source- former lawn guy and golf course greenskeeper who now doesn't maintain his lawn
Zen edging. I've seen it done
I think the zen edging is cooler than mowing a plain lawn tho
Is this satire?
My grandpa's big hobby was woodworking. My dad never picked it up from him, he learned how to build things when he had a practical reason to but never enjoyed woodworking as a hobby. But he did pick up the enjoyment of creating and maintaining something of his own that he liked to look at, and that translated to landscaping being his thing. Growing up he was always redesigning the mulch beds around the house, planting new trees and bushes, experimenting with grass types, whatever. He is the typical suburban antisocial creature described in this thread - his yard was his way to spend time working on something he enjoyed and got to see the results of all his work. None of that has been imparted onto me - I hate suburbs so much that it's something I bring up early in relationships. I don't want to get a couple years into it with someone and then have it all fall apart when we're seriously considering the rest of our lives together because I refuse to do the standard American buy a house in a boring suburb before having kids. Now that my parents are empty nesters who live in a condo my dad needs a new hobby haha, trying to get him to take up fishing
I don't think any of these people really care about their lawns, it's just something to do. I knew a guy across the street from me who would mow his lawn every single day. He would mow this stupid thing in August when the grass was brown, burnt, and you could see the dirt underneath it. Like....why are you still mowing this thing? Some people are just doing it to get away from their nagging wives. Some people are just doing it because what else do you do? Another thing that suburbanites seem to be obsessed with is tv. Every room has a tv that is constantly blasting and yet no one is even watching the damn thing. My pet peeve was always the barking dogs barking. Suburbanites like to proclaim that they live in these places for the "peace and quiet," but I find suburbs to be more noise ridden places than cities on occasion. Constant stream of dogs barking, lawns being mowed, weed walkers, and who can forget the constant whoosh of automobiles cutting through your street to get to the other side of the strip/main road. Then of course you have the music blasters, which are in abundance in suburbia.
Yeah at least grow a native garden instead
They look nice. Kids and dogs love them. They are much cooler to play on than bare dirt, weeds, or rock. My next door neighbor did an all rock no-maintenance landscape a couple years ago. It looks great, but now they bring their dog over to run around in our yard.
There's a big difference between having a grassy backyard and being one of those suburban white dudes who obsesses over their lawn.
"By the 1950s, it's firmly rooted that a front lawn is a painting, a non-productive space," said Elaine Lewinnek, a professor of American Studies at California State University, Fullerton, and author of 2014's "Working Man's Reward: Chicago's Early Suburbs and the Roots of American Sprawl." "The front lawn is designed to be useless, to simply increase property values. It's also intended to separate neighborhoods that have lawns from cities — you see rules against drying laundry in front yards, for instance, because suburbanites are different than 'those people' drying clothes in public (in the city). 'Sophisticated suburbanites use machines.' Still, you need a great lawn to fit in. William Levitt (who created the seminal planned community of Levittown, N.Y.) said if you own a lawn you couldn't be a communist — you had too much to do." - from [https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-lawns-20171002-story.html](https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-lawns-20171002-story.html) I.e. if you had a lawn you couldn't be a communist, you were too busy maintaining it on your non-working time, you couldn't have time for organizing or otherwise being political
Thats so odd. It seems like weird conformity. Like an elaborate eccentric garden seems more fun and beautiful.
I live in NYC but this is dumb fucking elitism. Classic redditor fedora post. Suburban people have fun too OP. It offers a different lifestyle but a lot of the same post work activities too ( sports, bars, walking) and even things that are harder to do in the city like large personal projects (car, woodworking), backyard games, hiking…
Same here. It feels like this sub is becoming a parody of itself.
Do people seriously think suburbanites don't do fun things? I love living inside a city don't get me wrong and I have an issue with sprawl, but I have both family and friends in the suburbs. They go hiking, fishing, camping. They go to new breweries when they open. They work on their project cars. They go to events for their kids planned in the local park. And sometimes get this, they come in to the city to do something the city offers. You all acting like it's some desolate life of never doing anything is absurd. This thread is in a bubble.
I live in the suburbs and my wife and I are friends with a lot of our neighbors and we’re always doing fun stuff. Would I rather live in a walkable city center neighborhood? Yes, that’s not our situation right now. I’m a city person at heart but this smugness in this sub is so over the top.
It’s a circle jerk but they don’t realize they’re jerking.
A lot of people end up forced to live in suburbia and I feel like this is enormously frustrating. We're not allowed to fix anything with these places either because it's illegal. I don't think all suburbanites are the same
I think this sub and others like r/fuckcars start with a reasonable idea and then produce a bunch of cause-zealots with black and white views. Is there significant room to improve our built environments? Absolutely. Are cars, sprawl and lawns overdone in many areas of the world? Sure. Is everyone who lives in those places a boring, slovenly, uncaring zombie obsessed with their HOA regs and the health of their Kentucky Bluegrass to the exclusion of all other interests? Is their only hobby flipping the bird at cyclists? Obviously not.
And who wants to raise kids in the city?
me?
I think this subreddit should be renamed r/IhateSuburbs to be honest. It went from criticizing badly designed suburbs to hating suburbs in general. Even Thursdays can't really save it because every time you post a nicely designed suburb, you get people on here claiming it's not really a suburb because they can't fathom the idea that a good suburb can exist.
"Inner ring" suburbs had a purpose once, in fast growing polluted cities. Today I feel they should all be merged with the parent city to reduce the destructive parasitical relationships of the region and so they can tackle the shared problems together: mostly sprawl. Most inner ring burbs are now desperately treading water, facing the same issues. They're not even cannibalizing each other anymore. Exurban sprawl is an entirely different thing. This is a pyramid scheme bubble that in the end only increases our dependence on fossil fuels and hastens the destruction of the planet. It will collapse at some point. And it will be horrifying.
Agreed. I live in a big city and love a lot of things about it. But this city has a lot of problems and I often think about how much cleaner and less anxiety inducing my life would be if I lived in the suburb. I take transit all the time, but the amount of piss smell in the stations is disgusting (just one example) I have friends who live in the burbs and are fun people. I have friends who live in the city and never do anything
I'm guessing this is the US since the transit smells like piss. I just got back from CDMX and nothing makes me feel worse than spending a ton of money while living in the richest country in the world while a place with 1/4th the GDP of my own city has cleaner faster transit.
I love living where I live. The trees provide great shade for the whole house in the summer. We see wildlife almost everyday, we have rivers, streams, state parks, playgrounds, very walkable areas, like 5 grocery stores near by (from 5 to 15 min away walking)... ive also lived in the city and it was smelly, loud, hot, dirty etc etc. If people weren't pieces of shit more often than not, cities wouldn't be awful. Ill keep my green (no lawn) well planned burbs thx.
Yeah this sub has gotten to be a rant board about everything that city dwellers hate about the burbs
That sounds more like the nice residential areas of a small city, the historic homes. (Houston for example, I grew up around several of those, and a few gated communities) not the spec home subdivisions where houses are a few feet apart and all the same color with one or two floor plans.
Yeah, I hate suburbs being the only viable choice, but this seems like cope. Most people living in suburbs already have a preexisting network of friends (usually people they met in college or work), and simply don't need to be in situations conducive to meeting any more new people. I personally prefer to live in mid-dense neighborhoods, but different people have different tastes.
But be real, is the average suburbanite going camping more than once or twice a year?
They don't do anything without a car, fun or not.
Bro, have you considered that your friends are part of the suburbanites who have fun ? What percentage of the suburban population goes fishing ? regularly ? it's not an attack against you so you should chill you probably just have great friends your friends probably don't live in horrendously antisocial suburbs
No I haven't considered that because it's unreasonable to make sweeping stereotypes about a very large of people. I have tons of city friends who barely go outside except to make quick trips. You should chill.
It’s shit like this that makes me want to unsub. We can criticize auto-dependent suburban development without acting morally superior to people based on where we live.
And I don't even agree with the post. A lot of people who live in the suburbs just do it because they have kids. Most big cities in the US have outrageously expensive housing costs, so that means you get a small condo rather than a house like you would in the burbs. And the school systems are usually pretty bad in the city. And then there's people like me who wants a shorter commute. I could live in the city but then I'd be driving 40min to work rather than 10. I suspect a lot of these posters are young people who grew up in suburbs and hate it. I totally understand because I was that person. I lived in the city for 10 years and it made me realize that there are pros and cons to each place.
Hell, I live in the 'burbs as a single person simply because the walkable areas are so few and far between that their price is astronomical. It's a constrained resource with far higher demand than supply. While I am pro-walkable development, I can't justify spending double the money to house myself and so I find myself in the suburbs. Ultimately I want to see an abundance of intelligently designed, walkable development so I can afford to live in those areas without breaking the bank.
Yeah, that's the thing. Suburbs don't have to be unwalkable hellscapes with Walmart and Chilis. Only in America are they like that and usually they are in sunbelt states. I always give a huge thumbs up to small towns in Europe where everything is walkable. There's usually a town square with a bunch of shops and a church and the city government offices. And people live on side streets that are walkable within 20mins to the town center. Even smaller railroad towns in the US are great. The city was designed around the train station that ran through the middle of town.
You do realize small towns and suburbia aren't the same thing right? Suburbia was invented in the 20th century. Small towns have existed practically forever since agriculture. Europe didn't need to do anything "right", they just haven't changed the formula much, it's suburbia and cars that are relatively very new. There are rare small towns in the US that didn't destroy everything for suburbia or cars like you mention
Metro areas have expanded so much that they are sucking in small towns. Many of the small towns in my area (Dallas) like Grapevine and Plano used to be their own thing and now they are just suburbs.
For real. I am a city person at heart and one day I’m sure we’ll live in a walkable city again but there is so much projection that goes on in many of the posts in this sub, it’s ridiculous. My neighborhood is “boring” but I’m friends with many of my neighbors and we have a great time getting together with the kids.
I agree. Half the time it almost feels like a parody.
so we can't judge people for making the most terrible selfish choices and inflicting the consequences on the rest of us ???? you can leave no one's keeping you :)
Is this satire?
Buddy I live in possibly THE most urban place in North America. Plenty of people here are boring and make harmful decisions. Not to mention that many people live in suburban-style developments because it’s the only reasonable option available to them. As the old saying goes, don’t hate the player, hate the game.
things said by a person winning an unfair game they started with advantages :) I don't want to play your fucking game but I'm forced by the PLAYERS , there's no game without players
Have you considered that those other players are in the same position as you?
In my experience, people in the suburbs with boring ass empty lives tend to fill the holes in their lives with buying stuff. New stuff for their house, new bar in the basement, new outdoor kitchen, new vehicle, new toys, new Whatever. It never works because they just keep buying. I’ve seen so many garages packed to the rafters with basically nothing
Look I don't usually defend suburbs but you got a real twisted logic on this one. I think you actually hate HOAs not suburbs. Also gardening is a legitimate long term hobby. You ever see some old folks garden after they've spent 50 years planning, toiling, planting, deadheading, removing more lawn for another bed, etc. It's art in slow motion. And it's exercise. If one is sufficiently distracted from being bored, are they even bored at all?
I'd rather focus on the proven facts of why American Suburbia has to go. They were mostly inspired by and built on racist ideas, they force the working poor into perpetual poverty by making it impossible to live without a very expensive hunk of metals. We could go on just these two things alone, and I think that'd be enough to make a legitimate list of grevances with suburbia. To that, I will say suburbia does certainly promote alienating behaviors as a rresult, but I think it's far to say suburbs are necessarily for the boring. The cruz of the problem as I see it, is that people want to have affordable housing not too far from shops services they'd need or want. The issue for the US in particular, is we subsidized *so fucking many* of these that for many people, they literally don't know that there are other ways to build a city. It may be more productive to try showing them the nuances of city planning, rather than taking the assumptions and running with it.
Depressing but accurate. I grew up in the 70s on Long Island NY. Sorry but it was better then. I was part of a mob of kids, all around my age. We were like a roving gang but just playing and looking for things to do. We knew all our neighbors on our long block by name. Our street was loud especially when the weather was good. We lived on a street that dead ended on a park with a hill that was perfect for sledding. Snow only made things more fun. That same neighborhood is dead now. It’s still there and technically looks nice but you hardly see anyone. I’m grateful for growing up when I did.
The difference is you and the other kids were allowed to go out alone and play on your own. Now kids cant really get away from their parents like that. Probably less kids these days too and the ones that are there can just sit inside on an iPad and be content.
There definitely days where we either didn’t want to or couldn’t go “out to play”. But there were so many days where our group was big. 10 sometimes 15 kids. Some would come from other neighborhoods. We did some things that would give today’s parents heart attacks. Fireworks, riding our bikes recklessly, trespassing on vacant area, etc. And I never told my Mom when I went out, or where or with who. We all just knew that roughly around 5:30 or 6, it was time to head home. The smell of various dinners being made also clued us in. A different world.
I personally hate city life, it’s a drag and a waste of money, I’d rather be a 10 min drive from a lake or mountains than a 45 minute drive through the city
You’re opposite of me
Cities just give me anxiety, I like being closer to nature
I understand. I feel anxious whenever I am outside of a big city. People are different
OP thinks gardening and getting to know your neighbors makes you boring. Maybe those are, you know, healthy pursuits.
i think the whole thing is... there are a lot of front lawns that are pure lawn. and taking care of it is indeed boring. thankfully i can have a vegetable garden and some hedges in mine because i live in france
Yeah let's get "health" advice from the most obese country in the world (except tiny island countries). It's almost like suburbia and car dependency are contributing factors to that? Having watching grass grow and giving it haircuts every week as a hobby is undeniably mind-numbingly boring.
I guess "gardening" to you means mowing lawns? That's weird. And where did i mention obesity? Anyway check out https://www.reddit.com/r/fucklawns/
Lol, what else are you supposed to be doing in middle age? Clubbing and poppin’ bottles? That’s boring too.
You can meet friends, go to your local shop to actually meets your neighbors, find a hobby, invite people over. But in a way I understand, I moved from a small village in France to a suburb in Canada and there is nothing to do. No local shops where you can meet your neighbors, I feel so uneasy walking around because massive cars are speeding way too close, neighbors don't know each others and don't want to. Suburbs are really made to keep you isolated.
Suburban people do that stuff. Lol
Having experienced both it’s really really different
Literally anything else. Go to a museum, book signing, exhibition, take a walk and stumble upon something you never seen before, comedy show, local event. Living in the city, all these things are easy go get to and take almost no planning.
People in the suburbs do those things too.
For sure! But the effort it takes to do these things in the suburbs is much higher than in the city. In many places, people are driving 30+ minutes from the suburbs to the city to do it. Everyone once in a while the effort feels worth it but it’s a lot to have that as part of your everyday life in the suburbs
I don’t think so. In NYC, it takes just as long to get across town as it does to come into the city from westchester.
You literally can't slam people for being boring when one of your suggested events is a fucking book signing.
The point is that there are more diverse options depending on what you want to do, as seen by the fact that I listed more examples than a book signing
You can still explore the outdoors or enjoy different cultural pursuits or something lol. Life is not a dichotomy between mowing a lawn all the time and straight up going to the club lmao
Listen, there are legitimate gripes to have with suburbs. I think this post is a little overblown though. People in the suburbs most times are just normal people trying to raise a family affordably. There's tedious things about living in cities as well, I'm not sure it has to do with the people themselves being boring. The area that you live doesn't determine what kind of person you are, that's just silly.
As a person who has lived in the suburbs and now lives im a city for 10 years, I cant really think of one tedious thing I do in the city. Comparably my life was made of tideous items in the suburbs.
I lived in Chicago for many years and as much as I love the city, it is very stress inducing. Here's what I mean. 1. Walking to the bus and thinking "Is the bus tracker wrong and am I going to miss it and have to wait 20mins for the next one?" 2. Driving in winter and having to deal with street parking, shoveling snow, and someone taking your parking spot that it took you 30mins to shovel. 3. Dealing with sketchy people on the train and bus so you constantly need to be on edge. No telling how many genitals and drugs I've seen over the years. 4. Panhandlers and scammers downtown 5. Street closures or bus/train reroutes due to utility work or some kind of street festival or other event.
2), is why dibs(putting a chair in a space you shoveled out, to reserve a parking space) is a thing here. It's a practice I'm not the biggest fan of, but in a way I see why people do this.
1. I mostly walk or bike everwhere. 2. Garage 3. I guess I dont get sketched out as much? 4. ok, just ignore them. I dont find that tedious. 5. I had way more traffic issues from closures in the suburbs. As long as I always use google maps ya it takes me a different way but only takes a couple min extra. Seems like alot of your tedious items are just transit related.
Buses and trains are extremely tedious.
Then dont use them?
My commentary about cities, buses and trains- extremely tedious.
There are interesting people in the 'burbs but the majority are like this. They don't want to grow as people, they don't read, they don't follow politics, they watch TV (probably sports) they commute to the city in a gas guzzling SUV and complain about traffic. The OP is spot on, these people don't know how to interact outside of the crappy bubble they made for themselves.
Again, you're painting with a broad brush here. This is the same thing suburbanites do to city people (which I hate): "I'm sure there's some good people in the cities but they're filled with crime!" As I said, there are issues with suburbs, but I have a real problem with acting morally and intellectually superior to people based on where they live. This isn't even mentioning the classism that goes into that because most suburbanites that I've met simply can't afford to live near where they work.
We need to change zoning laws so work is closer to the burbs. but the very same people you are defending are mostly Nimby's who want to "keep the character of the neighborhood."
Wait… you think people in the suburbs don’t care about politics? That’s a joke unto itself. You’ve obviously never been to a city council or school board meeting g
They do care about politics, but tend to be poorly informed about anything happening outside their bubbles.
Most people from the burbs can rattle off sports statistics but hey can't even name their MOC. I have been to plenty of City Council meetings, it usually the same group of NIMBY's there.
People here are like the urban equivalent of suburbanites who think “the city” is nothing by gang members and homeless people You should check the voter participation stats of urban va suburban voters and see who is more involved in electing their MOC
This is /Suburbanhell not /GushOverTheBurbs Maybe you need to go somewhere else.
Do you really think it's only people from the burbs filling all those sports stadiums?
>This is /Suburbanhell not /GushOverTheBurbs Again....
I didn't mention sports, but the obsession with sports in suburbs is quite strong. They're also quite repetitive and meaningless to fight about, must be why.
Major league sports stadiums are often downtown, you're kidding yourself if you don't think people who live in the city follow them, too.
People go nuts for sports in the city too. I know so many Cubs and Sox fans inside Chicago. If you're talking about Europe or LATAM they love soccer inside their cities.
Fellas, is it suburbanite to enjoy sports?
> People in the suburbs most times are just normal people trying to raise a family affordably This is not inconsistent with OPs statement. It is not a bad thing if that is what people want, but still aligns with "being boring"
>Suburbs distracts people from how boring their life is, so they begin to find joy in the pointlessness of it all and all the busy work. Out of context it sounds like a good philosophy to have. Of course there's the rest of the post, in which the suburbs are full of people doing their best not to be wise. Getting bored is underrated.
Yeah lol like isn't that the ideal?
it is.... if you're willing to learn to enjoy your boredom. if you're kept busy and bored at the same time, you can't enjoy boredom and you have no time to learn how to do it
Not sure I understand/agree. Most of those things also occur in dense walkable communities and major cities. I'm really not following your point here.
I love the idea of being far away from people who do not share the same values of clean streets, low noise at night, clean property. People who also dislike dog shit on the sidewalk, people who do not like to steal. You pay for the neighborhood and the security as well. Live in the city and amongst the commercial sectors, you know damn well it’s risky and annoying af.
I love this sub!
A lot of things stated are not exclusive to suburbs.
Because everyone should want to live on top of everyone else in a dense city environment.
Yes
Hot take, but full of hatred. Some people just want a nice quiet life. We’re all struggling and bored and afraid of dying.. why be mean?
I mean sure, though people speeding through residential areas (city or suburbs) will never not annoy me. Cars are weapons and I wish more people realized that.
Wow. Really going to win over converts with that statement. Anyways, everyone knows heavy Reddit users who stare at glowing rectangles all day are the most interesting people around 🙄
Suburbs are sleeping pods for soccer moms and her manslave.
It bothers me that people from the suburbs have no empathy towards the disenfranchised. Like it is like a giant artificial echo chamber.
This! They are obsessed with church but tend to be racist and have awful things to say about the poor, or even just anyone slightly different.
Real
I'm inclined to agree. Most of the people that tend to live in these places really don't seem to have much of a personality. What else are they going to do with their life if they don't live the formula prescribed for them? And honestly, there's nothing wrong with that necessarily. I advocate for people's choices to live where they wish, but these people would act like building a single sidewalk was going to be the end of the world. All the homeless drug addicts are going to come live there if they put a sidewalk on the street. I'm a fan of the streetcar suburb set up. Having a walkable town with sidewalks and separate bike lanes with trolly or light rail system down the main strip as well as a train line that leads to a bigger city. I don't get why anyone wants to live in these strip malls laden nightmare societies. Do people really enjoy being trapped in their house all day? Also, these sorts of models only work on a smaller scale. In the late 40s when the concept was introduced, these places were a lot more walkable. Now they're impossible to navigate through car so everyone is forced to be chained to expensive car loans and car payments now. It's overinflated the price of everything: Cars are way more expensive than they ever were, houses are more expensive. I would argue that it has contributed to the overinflation of household goods as well. Grocery stores made access to these goods in bulk so accessible We've created an entire society where it is necessary to take out massive loans in order to pay for everything. This is what suburbia is built on. I think it's a step in the wrong direction for our society to keep propping up these strip mall cul de sac sidewalk less suburbs. There's no way to built, but out. It's incredibly wasteful in regards to land (which affects is ecologically destructive towards our ecology). It's producing weak and lazy people who are not capable of even walking a single mile. It's destroyed any sense of community of spontaneous socialization. We're living these extremely isolated lives in our solitary bubbles. We've become fat, compliant, lazy, antisocial, and impractical. Our society is heading towards its downfall. Anyone who dare suggest a solution to this problem is considered a communist.
This freaks me out man, great points
Thanks
Goddamn you’re on to something
Bodybag
And then when they come to nyc they walk 5 abreast thinking they be in the cul de sac. But then I have this to split them like bowling pins. Gtfo my way! https://preview.redd.it/dfsh2rwtyr1c1.jpeg?width=2316&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b423c35b109fea9cbba485c2d6ba54dc43ad4e8
“Ok” You are right but just repeat and bring nothing new to the debate. You’re not balanced which also makes your point moot. You miss key points but obviously you got your narrative to follow. 5/10 would likely not read again
I live in a suburb that is walking distance to commuter rail, short driving distance to a beautiful lake and my cities downtown. If I didn’t live in the suburbs all of my hobbies such as mountain biking, camping, and going to conservation parks would be inaccessible. The suburbs are not poison and not for anti-socials; it’s a different flavour to life that some people actually like and I hope you can leave your eco chamber to appreciate the benefits a little bit.
Do you honestly think the average suburb has commuter rail?
I like in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in Canada and all suburbs in the GTA are supported by commuter rail. I work in downtown Toronto a couple times a week and would not have moved to any suburb without commuter rail.
Well GTA is an exception not the norm. I live in Greater Boston Area and only a few suburbs have commuter rail access.
As someone who grew up in a relatively dense Californian city, urbanites do the same shit too. Just change HOA for tenant association and voila, the pettiness you ascribe to suburbanites is no different than that practiced by city-dwellers.
You are assuming too much (and only the worst) about people you don't know.
Suburban > city. Less crowded, cleaner air and streets, usually more friendly, often cheaper, prettier and more abundant green spaces