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I use to stay at someone's house, they lived in a housing development outsie a small town in the East Midlands it was boring but I found it very peaceful. There was a bus that connected the area to the Town city and the Northampton City centre which was a couple miles away.
Last edited by Rozenn; 03-18-2015 at 03:16 PM..
Reason: Rude
Doesn't make it a hell hole. Seriously, you grew up in a suburban area, right? What was the neighborhood like? Spread out? Or pedestrian friendly? Conservative for Finnish standards? Or full of socialists?
I grew up in both an apartment block and later in the suburbs. It wasn't that spread out, but it was a rather small suburb, maybe 4k inhabitants. Very pedestrian friendly, but I didn't enjoy that you saw the same people in the local store over and over again, met the same people walking their dogs and so on. I value a sense of anonymity, so I'm more comfortable in a city where I don't bump into the same people.
Another thing I didn't like was that some people on our street liked to watch other people, so you "had" to like show a good posture: no speeding, no drinking on the street, not make any noise on evenings and so on. I don't like it. I like the city where you can be as you well like. But generally I wouldn't say the hood was very conservative, maybe a bit.
Third, it was far away. You always had to take the bus somewhere where something actually happened. Like shopping or the movies.
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Of course there are nice suburbs in the US, I'm quite confident of that. But those in the OP looks like the worst of the worst. Well, maybe after a trailer park.
For you living in these areas, what is it like? Church-going Republican bots?
And... why? Why do you want to live in these areas?
Why are you so anti-house? Or anti suburban?
I'm not sure what isn't appealing about having your own house with your nearest neighbor being a few hundred feet away, a half acre of land with clean cut grass where you can run, play, have your kids explore, host outdoor events, etc. What is unappealing about having plenty of room inside your house and not living in cramped quarters where traffic noise outside is a common disturbance?
I'm curious to learn what separates Americans and Europeans when it comes to suburban living. Suburbia offers a lot of things the urban city doesn't, while still being close enough that one can drive or take the train to the city if they wish.
I'm not sure what isn't appealing about having your own house with your nearest neighbor being a few hundred feet away, a half acre of land with clean cut grass where you can run, play, have your kids explore, host outdoor events, etc. What is unappealing about having plenty of room inside your house and not living in cramped quarters where traffic noise outside is a common disturbance?
The houses in the OP were on small lots maybe as close together as 10 feet.
If I had a half acre, I'd keep a lot of it as trees. Many do the same here. But again, wouldn't have much interest in using my land even though I do spend time outside. I like being "in town" where you can walk around and there are people on the street.
I do hate traffic noise, though side city streets often don't have much traffic.
Check google maps. The Finnish ones I've found tend to be more spread out than the OP's examples and with more trees. Why don't Finnish suburbs have sidewalks?!
I have a number of friends that live in the Nordics in suburbs that look just like that. I've visited them (and other suburbanite friends elsewhere in Europe) and everyday life there is not significantly different than it is to suburban life in much of the U.S. (or Canada).
People still drive a lot in these areas though often they have better transit than U.S. suburbs but in the Nordics most people only use it to go to work in the city centre or if they have no choice (teens).
One main difference is that these suburbs usually have a more attractive sub-centre for shops and services as opposed to strip malls or large malls. Most people still drive there though, and often the only stuff within walking is a small corner store and the neighbourhood school. If you are lucky there might be a small local café/restaurant within walking distance.
As for trees, well the American suburbs shown that are treeless are either a) too new and the trees have not grown yet or b) in dry climates where it's difficult to grow a decent tree cover.
Most suburbs in the parts of the U.S. that have a climate conducive to growing trees and forests will be reasonably green and treed like your link (or as in mine from my city) within about 10 years of them being built.
Check google maps. The Finnish ones I've found tend to be more spread out than the OP's examples and with more trees. Why don't Finnish suburbs have sidewalks?!
Because his posts are full of misinformation and ridiculous stereotypes - and he's stated clearly that he's never actually been to the US, so that adds to his ignorance on the subject.
And that's OK - I've never been to Finland either, so I am ignorant on many aspects of Finnish life - which is why I don't voice my uninformed opinions on it or tout stereotypes about Scandinavian countries I've never been to as if they were facts.
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