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City, Suburbs, or the Countryside?
March 19, 2009 | 51 Comments
Chicago
Let me make it perfectly clear that I have no pretension to neutrality. I’m an urbanite at heart, will always be. I grew up in a huge metro (Mumbai) and prefer a shoe-box sized apartment to a big mansion with acreage. I prefer to walk to buy my groceries than drive. I like noise, lots of bustle, cultural diversity and talking to strangers on public transport.
I currently live in a place that has all the amenities of a city (technically, it is a city), but one of my neighbours is a corn farmer who has tractors in his driveway. Where my house stands used to be a cornfield not so long ago. My neighbour owned the land which he sold to a builder. The rest of my neighbour’s cornfield is across the road and he still makes a living tending to it.
So you can say I have the best of both worlds. Actually not. There’s no public transport to speak of here, and not too many high-rise apartments either. It’s more like suburbia and that’s not what I mean by ‘city-life’.
So, growing up in a big city, I was often subjected to this romantic vision of life in the countryside and heard of how the quality of life in the city is so much worse. How city folk are meaner, more predatory and have less time for their neighbours, how the air is polluted, and people don’t really have a “life”. My mom grew up in a huge rural homestead in south India where they bathed in ponds and snacked on bananas and mangoes straight from the tree with the odd wild elephant roaming through the land. She missed it, but she also told me about how women didn’t have as much freedom as men and how everybody had their noses in other people’s business. Now, we know that life in a rural area is not all ponies and primroses, but when one hears all the eulogies to “country life”, one wonders why so many of them aspire to move to the city.
As part of the “voluntary simplicity” movement in the West, there’s now a kind of reverse migration to the countryside. Young families attempt to give up material possessions and rebuild their lives more sustainably away from the hustle and bustle.
So is country life better for you? “Country life” means vastly different things to different people. To some it means racing across the pristine Alaskan wilderness on ATVs, creating more noise and pollution that you’d find on a crowded intersection in Los Angeles. In the absence of a complete, consensual definition, it broadly denotes living in a area with a lower population density and more “natural” surroundings.
This guy lives in the “country”. Stellar Jay.
And this rat snake.
Let’s look at the evidence.
City life is bad for your brain.
After spending a few minutes on a crowded city street, the brain is less able to hold things in memory, and suffers from reduced self-control… While it’s long been recognized that city life is exhausting – that’s why Picasso left Paris – this new research suggests that cities actually dull our thinking, sometimes dramatically so …
One of the main forces at work is a stark lack of nature, which is surprisingly beneficial for the brain. Studies have demonstrated, for instance, that hospital patients recover more quickly when they can see trees from their windows, and that women living in public housing are better able to focus when their apartment overlooks a grassy courtyard. Even these fleeting glimpses of nature improve brain performance, it seems, because they provide a mental break from the urban roil.
So if someone lives in the desert (like we do) or in areas without too much greenery and no manicured green lawn, I guess it cancels out some of the advantages of country living. I’ve lived in or very close to big metros (those with public transport) as well as away from them and the only real advantage I can cite about “country life” is the lower crime rate. And sights like these.
“I could go to New York if I wanted to, but what’s the point? So I can learn how to order a capuccino? So I can get mugged by some crackhead? So I can see homeless people up close and personal?” – from the movie SubUrbia
That’s the typical suburban and rural response to life in the big city. Now, get this. Big bad New York City is the greenest city in America and perhaps the world. Way greener than many smaller towns in the mid-west, or in the high-plains deserts of Colorado, Utah, Idaho or Arizona. Or Texas. Or New Mexico.
Plus, New Yorkers, on an average, live longer than other Americans.
A New Yorker born in 2004 can now expect to live 78.6 years, nine months longer than the average American will. What’s more, our life expectancy is increasing at a rate faster than that of most of the rest of the country. Since 1990, the average American has added only about two and a half years to his life, while we in New York have added 6.2 years to ours.
Check out Greening the Ghetto: a TED talk by Majora Carter on transforming an inner-city neighbourhood in NY City from a waste dump to a green oasis.
Also check out Noiseways – a cool photo site that gives you an insight into public places in New York City and Portland, Oregon. Today’s pictorial is of places affected by government budget cuts in Portland.
Seattle
So, the average American home is 2,500 sq. ft. – double the size of the average American home in the 1950s.
Suburbia is that cluster of residential communities on the outskirts of cities where families have picket fences, lawns, 2.5 kids, a dog a cat or two, an SUV or two to cart everyone around, and maybe a boat or a recreational vehicle tucked aside.
Harvard economics professor Edward Glaeser points out that those who live in cities have a smaller ecological footprint than their rural counterparts. Suburbia is the worst of them all.
If you want to be good to the environment, stay away from it. Move to high-rise apartments surrounded by plenty of concrete. Americans who settle in leafy, low-density suburbs will leave a significantly deeper carbon footprint, it turns out, than Americans who live cheek by jowl in urban towers. And a second paradox follows from the first. When environmentalists resist new construction in their dense but environmentally friendly cities, they inadvertently ensure that it will take place somewhere else—somewhere with higher carbon emissions. Much local environmentalism, in short, is bad for the environment. ~ Green Cities, Brown Suburbs
I live in such a neighbourhood in a small city that straddles urban and rural. So I took this test to check my ecological footprint. Being vegetarian, as someone who reycles, I thought I’d fare better. It tells me it would need 4.6 Planet Earths to sustain my lifestyle and 20.6 acres of the Earth’s productive area.
“Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them.” ~ Bill Vaughn
Can’t wait to get back to a shoe-box sized apartment in a big metro. I know for sure that this is the last “house” I’ll ever live in. Not my style. If this guy can make it work, moving from a 4,000 sq. ft. home to one with just 100 sq ft., it should not be that big a deal.
My ideal home would be in a high-rise apartment in the heart of a big city where everything is within walking distance. What’s yours?
bee
Filed Under: city, country, MUSINGS, New-York-City, rural, suburbia
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51 Comments
Bee, I could have written the first paragraph and it would read the same. We live in suburbia too but I’d give it all up in a heartbeat to live in city. When we moved to the ‘burbs after living in downtown, I had withdrawal symptoms, I couldn’t sleep in the night without the background siren noise I was so used to! Everything – grocery store (regular and ethnic), library, bank, post office, bus stop, parks, restaurants – was within walking distance from our building, heck the movie theater was in the neighboring building! And I managed perfectly without a car. But now we have to drive even to get a quart of milk. Can you tell I miss the city :’( ? My ideal home too would be in a high-rise in downtown.
Your pictures are so beautiful whether they depict buildings or animals! I love towns for what they offer, but can’t live in one anymore as i find them too stressful. I prefer to live in the countryside, yet close enough to a town! I live about 9 kilometers away from the town of Geneva…
Cheers,
Rosa
I grew up in cities too but never lived in a apartment until I came to US. I do not like apartments at all, suffocates me. I need space + with my 2 gigantic kids, big and tall, little house can’t do.
Where I live here is perfect, smaller house about 2200sq ft and huge yard all around and green most of time.No neighbors peek around or bother us. Yes, I have Rabbits and black snakes to visit us too. We have 3 big cities around us within 15miles (Triad) if we want the malls and entertainment but I can come home to peace and quiet, that’s how I like it.
Arvind wants to move to a million dollar house, 3000+sq ft house and get fancy cars like other doctors(keeping up with Joneses?) but I am resisting as hard as I can. I even told him to buy that big house, get that bloody car and move out alone, because I ain’t movin’! ;D
Once kids move out, this house will be BIG for us too, but I love it here, staying put until Trisha wants to buy it from us in about 8yrs!!
Hmm…I’ve always lived in what Bangaloreans like to call an ‘independent house’ with tons of space. We even had a garden after I was 10 years old. And I love that. But when I worked, I’ve lived in an apt and love the advantages it provides. But if you ask me today (married in the US, living in an apt), I’d say I want to get back to what I did before. Living in an independent house with a garden and a dog. Sounds like an American dream? But this is what I lived like in my childhood. So, its hardly that.
Given a chance, I’d love to grow my own food and live in a huge farm. I’m going to settle for a small garden, a small house ( so I don’t have to slog over cleaning it!) and that is all I need. In a city, of course
Sorry for the long post-like comment
- N
Hmmmm. I do not like living in big cities. I grew up in the suburbs of Calcutta, travelled to schools & college taking public transport to the city, but would not want to live there. Lived for a long time in NJ, hated it.. In the suburbs of dallas now, i kinda like it.. tho texas i consider almost a countryside inspite of more highrises than in prior NJ. I like smaller houses… not highrise apartment! i cannot do that… but need lot of space & green around me. i need to have windows open to see the green & the light. i suffocate between walls.
I love that bird & I LOVE that driftwood (is that a driftwood? or just a tree with lovely lines? ). I have a thing for the patterns in woods. i wish i could get that home:-)
it’s driftwood.
I live 30 minutes west of NYC in a pretty large 100 year old house. We are lucky to have a nature reservation up the street from us and although homes in our town are set pretty close together, we have wild rabbits, an occassional deer and plenty of birds show up in our little backyard. We walk to the train station to commute into the city and walk to our little town center for dinner, a movie or groceries. I think we have the best of both worlds. What bothers me is that we spend a lot of energy on heating and cooling our home. So there is no perfect solution. I do know though that I need this green around me given the long hours I spend in the city working . It’s my escape that provides balance to my life.
Cities make me nervous. My ideal home is a 750-1000 sq ft brick house with BIG windows for plenty of sunshine and used wooden furniture. There will be a worn down table in my kitchen and on it a big vase of fresh yellow flowers. Ok, need to stop dreaming.
I live in suburbs and I love it this way. I like the quietness and the privacy I have here. I like to have a small lawn, maintain a small garden, an independent house. I have never and I never wish to move to the downtown.
I was born and grew up in a city, though in an independent house with plenty of greenery around. After I got married, I moved to two more cities, and that was when we had to live in apartments, and I can’t say that I ever liked it. I don’t need a very big house, but no apartments please ( if I can ever help it). We now live in a small town in the UK,with plenty of greenery around, but local amenities ( groceries, library etc ) are within walking distance. It also has fantastic cycle routes ( some of UK’s best). I think I feel too content here. We do seek out the buzz of city life now and then, but, like Asha, we too love to return to some peace and quiet.Yes, we mostly see the same people everywhere we go, but, luckily, haven’t found any nosy ones yet
I have lived in Bombay in an apartment and loved it and miss it deeply. At school in the US I lived on campus, never had to drive. Always used the bus or hitched a ride to the local Indian store. Now I drive around for everything big and small. Wish I live in the city again. It was interesting to see folks living in Jackson Heights, NY come back from work and walk up to the store to grab groceries for dinner. Car has made me lazier and tired.
We used to live in Kerala where we had bigger houses and lots of space in the front and a huge enough backyard and then we moved to Blore and Chennai…i agree that I like the cities for the various other amenities they provide but those tiny little 900 sqft apartments were not something i was happy about.. now here in Seattle, we currently live in an apartment, but since its just the two of us its ok for now. But we defenitely plan to buy a house and i would love a garden and a backyard and everything! But yeah, its a lot easier if the heart of the city, the “downtown” is within 15 miles radius!!
Human nature prefers the accustomed environment and I am no stranger to that. Growing up in an independent house in a serene locale of Bangalore, I’ve always preferred a similar environment. I was exposed to apartment living only after coming to US and that too, my first experience was of a basement apartment up in the busy mega cities of the north east…really, really depressing, felt like a dungeon!
Now we have left the big city for a smaller more sunnier city, live in an independent house and enjoy every bit of it. Its fun to watch the kids run about in the backyard or mingle with other kids. It was a great injustice to have them cooped up in the 4 walls especially during the winter months.
The greenery around me calms my nerves, the sound of water soothes me like a mother’s touch, the fresh air rejuvenates me… my 15 minute morning commute to work takes me along a lake before I hit the busy interstate…a great way to see the morning sun rise, salute it and prep me for my day ahead…..aaaaah! What else can I say…it’s heaven on earth….
Don’t get me wrong I am a city gal to the core(never really lived in towns or villages).I like anything that saves me some time and anything that is orderly, but Mother Nature is what I need to clear the hustle and bustle that goes in my brain and loosen my uptight city bred nature.
Until 4 years back, my life was pretty much like your mom’s, except that I didn’t bathe in a pond and didn’t meet elephants that often. The plucking of mangoes and bananas directly from the trees, I can relate to that! It was good, I didn’t know I had it good until I moved to the choking traffic and unbelievable pollution in Hyderabad – and I loved it!
I had no issues living in an apartment there with a colleague-friend. It was a good 3 years.
Now that I am married and in Singapore, I find apartments too limiting. Though we live in a beautiful condo with a lovely pool and games and bbq pits, I crave for the small backyard and the fresh curry leaves and the availability of banana leaves whenever you wanted. Guess I would love an independent small house near the city, that’s what I want. Best of both worlds!
We live in the suburbs but cannot afford to try to sell our house currently. We did get rid of nearly all our lawn, grow food as we can and shop at a co-op where as much as possible we buy local/organic goods. My footprint takes 4-5 planets unfortunately. It bothers me a great deal but in the current economy we have to do our best in our current setting.
Thanks for the provocative post, Bee. I hope you get your city wish soon.
You, dear Bee, are a woman after my own heart. I love cities. The three days I spent in Manhattan were the best days of my life. What I love most about big cities is the diversity of life. The languages on the street, the samosa store standing cheek by jowl with the library, the books on the sidewalk, the metro..
I was a city gal and beach at walkable distance. But very noisy and 24 hours busy area, in India!
Before marriage, moved to Europe, seen for first time an apartm life, but everything was quiet reachable, public transp in 5 min walk, grocery, bakery, University… I was so accustomed to that City life!
But moving to US after marria, my first handicaped was the driving! I lived in heart of downtown in East coast city. I moved to an apart where all shops can be viewed by my balcony! I enjoyed the noise. But later moved to suburb, I didn’t sleep for many nights because of frogs sound… I felt like jungle, later got used. But all trouble started after having my toddler son running around created a huge mess with the people (Indian too) who lived below us. We couldn’t control my son running jumping, literally no gathering, I started hating the apart life.
Now, I am in West, I live in 1000 sq townh none below or above. I do whatever I want, my son has his liberty to jump, scream, run…. Everything is reachable, hospital, shop (walkable distance), I don’t have a huge backyard but enough for my satisfy to grow some plants!
Apartm will be toughest for those who have small kids !
ditto… Sachin wants this mansion thing… I’m very happy with a decent sized apartment. The bigger your house, the more you have to do to maintain it…:) cramps my style that!
I miss living in NYC, but with kids have gone surburban within commute distance. I’ve adjusted and there are definite perks. Part of me wants to move to the south island of new zealand and have a totally different scene
Love the Bill Vaughn quote – very true. Having said that, I love cities. High-rise apartments, big parks in the middle of traffic, blocks with restaurants and coffee shops and stores everywhere. In short, New York City. or San Francisco.
Bee…
I guess it all partly depends on what we do for profession, for a farmer, living in a tall apartment bldg would not make sense and he/she would have enough produce from their land to avoid the long drive to grocery stores etc., but if thats not the case , then city life is more comfortable for a living. But then there are people like me who are not into agri by profession, but always yearn for natural surroundings and love gardening and stuff…i guess its kind of confusing after reading your eco-print article
I have lived in small houses in suburbs all my life till I took up my job when we moved to Chennai. I had lotsa resistance to live in a city and I hate it so much now and then. But again I am now used to this life, the crowd, the pollution etc. But my long cherished wish is to live in a small house near a river, a quiet calm place as I can compromise anything for the peace and serenity.
Since my birth I have been in my old town with coconut trees and a well in our backyard..and I don’t know how life would be in a small apartment ..Now my dad is insisting me to move to a apartment in Chennai for my higher studies..I dont know how it will work for me .I agree with you that city life has its own advantages like public transport,shopping etc..But Indian city traffic is unbearable!
..imagine what living in some parts of Delhi that are bereft of greenery must do to us! No wonder we have such a short fuses on the road. We need to increase the opportunity for nature in our lives and make room for a pot of green, a rock, some sun…like in my terrace garden!
Don’t like cities. Don’t like apartments in highrises
Apartments two story high with nice big verandahs and trees around is fine, but no not in a city
The best I like is living in a township, like the ones in India that grow up around a industrial plant. Lots of trees, walkable distance to small grocery stores, good neighbors and yet you have your independence with some nosey gossip thrown in
Oh…what a lovely post! Relates to so well to everyone..regardless of where you want to live.
I always lived in an independent home in Bangalore..greenery, walking distance to school and all that. But I always yearned to live in an apartment there. I would envy my apartment friends then. Come back from school, go downstairs and a 50 some children playing in the compound…thats what I always wanted. Sigh…never did. Now in NJ, I loved my apartment life for 2 years or so. Hubby wanted to buy a “house” asap…so there it goes. The kids have that backyard, play around endlessly and bicycle inside the house. But I am still missing something even today. Is it my dream of living in an apartment in Manhattan? I dont know if my kids would have been more happier in an apartment or in their independent home now. Guess time will tell. Got to trust our own judgements.
But I am totally with you..given a chance, I will give up all this and move to a high-rise apartment in a city with walking distance to everything…travel in train to work. But that apartment must also have lot of greenery around, play park for kids, good and lots of friends for me and the kids, small balcony to bbq, and decent weather all year round.
Now, I’m waking up and off to build such a community, which I dont know exists. Does anyone know one? Please share.
- Lakshmi
Love the post.GIven a choice i would love to live in suburbs….i usually like to live near the city but not in the centre of it…..a small house with a garden..nothing fancy and all…..one thing which i would love is to have some basic amenities to walk by..hate taking car for small things….
Rashmi.
NYC does not make it to the top 15, so forget about being the greenest city in the world! If that’s something New Yorkers are telling themselves to feel good about where they live, so be it. Are they recycling again (I’d heard they had)? The city had stopped recycling as a business decision: too expensive.
Where to live? In the mountains. Almost there.
Happy Spring!
Heya,
One thing about living in the countryside is having to know how to deal with wildlife-esp snakes,scorpions and bears too.
Any tips about how to make sure there are no snakes lurking under the table at home when in the countryside?
Cheers,
India.
Anything that pertains to New York City is good…It reminds me of home and that is Mumbai. Sometimes, I really miss the hustle and bustle of a metropolis. We are by the ocean here in Halifax, in a detached house and all that crap, but even looking at the skyline of NYC photos make my day.
Hey Bee,
ENJOYED ( in capitals) the read. For me, it’s about what stage of life I’m in:) I’ve always lived in spacious places n I prefer that. Moved to the U.S. last year and it’s my first time ever in an apartment and I feel I’m living in a matchbox(forget shoe box). I like to step out of my house onto a lawn, not stand on a tiny balcony and yearn for a lawn. I like suburbia with all the conveniences of city life. But all the same, if I were single or retired. I would opt for city life. But with kids and all the stress from work, right now, my vote is for suburbia.
I guess I’ve always wanted a house.. space.. growing up in the hustle – bustle of Bombay, I always wished I could have a house or even a row house, not at the cost of leaving my fav city, of course! Wishful thinking!
now with little S, I confess, I still wish for something like that, but dread the cleaning up which is a task even with the townhouse we have now… imagine cleaning up 3-4 rooms , back and front yard… PHEW!!!
I think for many of us, what we like has do with where we lived when growing up, and I see the comments here seem to bear me out somewhat.
I have lived in single houses and apartments, Mumbai and Goa. I would prefer the house, not very large, to an apartment because it would give me a bit of garden.
We chose to live where we are now, because it means that we don’t have to spend half our lives driving (or riding) to where we are going, or breathing in exhaust fumes. Its a better place to bring up our daughter and we can find the time for all the things that matter to us. Yes, I have both the birds and the snakes!!
Sure, we miss a lot of the things only the bigger cities can offer. That’s what short vacation trips are for, but we’re always happy to be back.:)
Tough call. I’m a city gal living in the suburbs.
Obviously it’s a more dynamic environment in the city but the suburbs have more to offer as far as families with kids go. Chicago, for example, has not very impressive public schools and that’s a huge consideration.
The apartments also have very tiny kitchens..and I think I would be very frustrated with a small kitchen now
Well, for me, living in Barbados, where it is just 166 square miles sometimes it is impossible to talk of living in the city though there is a country area but really in many ways it is not because it takes 1/2 an hour (depending on traffic) to get across the island so for me, living here, if I had to compare it to a US state, I guess I’d have to say that I am living in the city (though I have to drive to get to a supermarket, none are within walking distance in my area). However, my bank is a 15-minute walk, my pharmacy is 5-minute walk as is my internet service provider. My optician is a stone’s throw away. I am surrounded my doctors of all sorts (my dentist is 3 avenues away from me). There are play schools in my street, a car wash around the corner, yep, I’m pretty much in the heart of everything.
While there are lots of activities during the day, it is quiet at night and I really like that.
Now, coming from Guyana (83,000 square miles) where the population only occupies a single-digit fraction of the country, there is a definite city and country life. I grew up and lived only in the city but thoroughly enjoyed my vacations in the country.
In an ideal setting I would prefer to work in a city and then take a long drive or ride home away from the hustle and bustle of it all. I like quiet, I like being alone. While I enjoy the hustle and bustle, it’s not for me in long doses. I like to retreat.
I am totally a suburb girl and was one as a child. I will never survive in city like Mumbai
I have lived the life of eating mangoes, guavas fresh off the tree and as your mom says, lived the life where everyone ‘thinks’ that other person’s business s theirs own 
But here I drive at least 45 min each way to work, 10 min to the grocery store but still think its a good
I am a city girl( while growing up in another city, we had a wonderful house with big backyard where we can get fresh fruits right there ) , and liked every hustle-bustle of it and even like travelling in taxi,bus and small autos.Kolkata is the most crowded place in eastern India and I just love anything about it …but sometimes when I need that fresh air ,I do like to go to our in-laws old village house …surrounded with nature and lots of greenery ..So I enjoy the benefits of both the world now !!
But Bee, if you lived in a shoebox in the city, how would you grow all the things that you DO grow? Wouldnt that be an awful loss?
not really, if we have a good farmer’s market. in california, we had a great farmer’s market all year round and didn’t miss growing much stuff.
What a thought provoking post…well for me ,knowing how greedy i am, i will love to have best of both the worlds.
I cannot bear the mad public and crazy honking traffic, but cannot live without some GOOD shops and people around.I am not comfortable in the infrastructure where one is supposed to stock every food stuff ,or drive (or walk) crazy if something is missing from you pantry
Those so called Residential areas with no commercial places(read malls,grocery shops,etc) at stone throw distance is a big no no for me.The current place where we live ,i can even send my 7 yr to fetch a loaf of bread or some potatoes,since the shop is bang outside the gate of our Apartment.This luxury is a necessity for me,and i would not ever ever agree to live at a place where i have to bother about stocking right or else drive(i absolutely hate it)
I can happily enjoy my vacation at some GREEN SPOT, but then it has to be short one,since i cannot live without basic comforts of life ,no matter how much i crib about the city life
So its like IN BETWEEN thing for me,that works best
Btw i am so glad that u prefer MATCH BOX SIZED homes than mansions(How on earth could people maintain them sparkling clean),so i would be very very glad to have you as my Guest(I don’t like this word though),in my Match box size home,when next time you are in Mumbai
I am very much a city girl too. A Mumbai girl through and through. There is nothing I like more than a crowded city warts and all. I live in a city here as well and it is better than living in the boonies but it is definitely the same lifestyle as back home. The one thing that bothers me about cities here (as in the US) is the lack of good, safe public transport. While cities like NYC and Boston, for example are decent enough, there are many like Philly where public transport is sadly lacking – both in connectivity and safety.
I would definitely like to live in a city, just like you Bee. Right in the middle of where the action is. My dream house would be a nice little townhouse in the city but sadly I’m never going to make enough money to afford that ever so I would happily settle for an apartment. But would like to have a big dog (or two) someday so it maybe not that small of an apartment….
I meant NOT the same lifestyle as back home in the previous post. This is what happens when your fingers can’t keep with your brain *sigh*
I must confess:
I would be most happy if I could live in the Grand Canyon, in a cave during the winter and out amongst the critters during the summer.
I wouldn’t miss the traffic, the noise, or the grocery store.
I would sincerely miss people, though….I guess I won’t be moving soon.
While I have always stayed in Metros, we did have the annual vacation to the village and spent 1-2 months there. My parents, specially my dad would say ‘this is life!’ Fresh air, fresh veggies etc, chutneys made on the grinding stone, roaming around in the fields, plucking anything you would fancy, washing them in the nearby river/well & devouring them, sleeping under the stars on the terrace or the verandah of the huge mansion like house and so on.
I must say I absolutely loved all those things, still do but I would always tell him that all of that seems good only because we know that we are going back to the city life after some time. In short all that was good for a vacation/trip or a change in the routine. But to settle down & actually start living there, there were far more practical considerations. The major one being the avialability of electricity. I would definitely prefer staying in the city with access to a nice village with all those natural elements, I could go to every once in a while
Hi there,
We made the move a couple of years back – from suburbia to the big city. Initially we thought we’d not last in a small space for more than 6 months but its been 2 years now and we just bought a small “almost shoe-box sized” apartment in the same block!! And we love it.
It makes us live a much more minimalist lifestyle than we used to. We buy in smaller quantities and accumulate much less junk than people with larger apartments. We only take our car out once a month or so to visit some friends. We walk or take public transportation almost everywhere. The lack of driving does not tie me down – quite the opposite in fact!!
If you’re considering the move, I’d highly recommend it!!.
- Aruna
As I am for the first time actually planning and enjoying planning a garden, in my house in the US; if you were to wake me in the middle of the night and ask me where are you from – I’ll say Bombay!
For whatever it’s ills, I love it as a friend and would not give up the kind of social confidence that that upbringing brought me.
So while I enjoy watching the seasons change on my drive to work from wildflowers to bright sun to gold leaves to frost, I’d move back into a city apartment in a flash.
I think a city with public transport is a great boon and I would prefer to live there than the absolute countryside where only a ‘town bus’ is the available transport. Plus, if you want a career, and depending on what career it is, cities are preferable to the smaller towns I grew up in. A country house is a dream, of course, I’d certainly like one to escape to.
I’ve lived in houses with gardens and great big trees most of my life, only the last 8 years I’ve been in an apt – the only one in the building without a balcony!!! I really miss a house, and greenery, but despite the concrete all around me, I hear birds chirping in the morning and have squirrels running around my windows. I see that as a small miracle. And while I still yearn for a house, I am coming to believe an apt is safer and relatively hassle-free. I don’t even think about leaving this building and going to a greener one because trees can get cut down anywhere – too much hassle and I’ve just resigned myself to enjoying the greenery wherever I see it!
Having lived in all three environments I can see why there is a debate to be had. When I lived in London, I missed the greenery. Now that I live in a rural village I miss the hustle and bustle of the big city. Perhaps we are destined to be creatures of flux.
Thanks for that very well written post….it really made me think. I think where we are now – a two storied “kothi” as they call it here in Delhi – is what I like best. Its not an independent house with all its attendant issues of security and isolation. Its not a multi storied apartment with noisy neighbours and crowded spaces. BUT I have two neighbours and a park right across the house, a really spacious sunlit apartment and lots of greenery around. Market is right next door and everything in walking distance.
I am definitely an urbanite
This has been the maximum revisted post for me. I check this post atleast 3-4 times a day for the Comments section about every persons view. Everybody has dreams of their own and its amazing how you can talk your true honest mind and/or dream without being judged and happy to let it out. Thanks again for such a wonderful post!!
- Lakshmi
Nice post Bee, you come up with interesting topics.
I prefer smaller cities not too far from the action. I dont care much for the mansion, and want just what we would need to be comfy, but would feel cooped up if I had to live in an apartment or a flat.
I’m a city girl – that’s what I realized about myself and it has taken me about 30 yrs to come to this conclusion.
I thought I’d love country… or suburbs… but after living in Toronto, for a while, I now cannot see myself in suburbs. and definitely not in the country. But then, I don’t like apartments/condos too. I don’t mind living there for a while, but just until I can find my house. I need a tiny detached house and some place to garden and to put some tables out to have a nice outdoor lunch or dinner. Luckily Toronto does have many houses inside the city, like this.
Now if only I can do something about the noise associated with living inside the city.