Urban vs Rural

[AND93 10]

As the starter of this post I must confess I love the city much more than rural areas. This might happen because I am still young, but the reason I prefer the city is that everything from culture to sport is avaliable in a few minutes, and that is a great part of my life. For example, when I am in Lisbon (the capital of Portugal), I can easily acess the subway or the bus system that takes me to movies and other shows, football matches or most notably to the downtown (touristic center, great to hang out). When I am in my father's house, near a village in West Portugal, I have to walk at least 15 minutes to take a bus which only stops every 30 minutes to take me to the closest town in 16 minutes (and it has almost nothing to do). Still, rural areas have some advantages like better health (in general) or the calm they provide. But this is the portuguese situation where health, security or technology are acessible to everyone, even in most small villages. So what do you tell me about cities and rural areas in your country? Which one do you prefer? I leave you with two pictures, the first one from the crowded commuter rail, subway and ferry station of Cais do Sodré (downtown Lisbon, where you have a sample from everyone in the Metropolitan Area, even though I believe this is summer time, and people taking the train to the beaches of Cascais and Oeiras) and the second from Monsanto, the most portuguese village in Portugal.

[Duke87 1,070]

I love driving through rural areas, but I could not imagine living in one.

For the purpose of living, I need there to be stuff around.

[antsel 841]

I grew up in a town of 15,000 people. When I was a kid, it was great. There was very little traffic, an there wasn't much going on, which was great for playing and exploring. But when I started to get older, into my teens, the town became quite a bore. The biggest city was more than a 2 hour drive, so it wasn't like we could escape to the city. There really isn't much to do in that town for people 13+. When I graduated, I moved to a bigger city, around 200,000. It was a much better place, with more things to do. Just last year I moved to an even bigger city, around 400,000, and it's even better here. Everything I need is within walking distance. I sold my car and I don't miss it one bit. What can I say, I love living in the city.

[GuerrilaWarfare 39]

I don't particularly dislike rural areas, i do love the beauty of the scenery and all, but after 30 minutes of ruralness, it starts to get easily boring, in a urban setting, theres always something that youve never seen before thatll pop up at you, whether it be a building, the people, or an event.

[mrbisonm 1,622]

I live in pure nature, my neighbor is 1 km from my own home. I hardly see him and I couldn't do without this anymore. I was raised in a small town in Germany (Stolberg) near Aachen (300K) on the dutch border and when we moved to Canada, we lived in Montreal for 6 years, which is quite a big city.

When I got accidently shot in a shooting between "cops and robbers" near downtown in the late seventies, I decided to move away, and I did, right into the forest and like I said, I couldn't imagine living otherwise anymore.

My mailbox is at 800 meters from the house, the next village of approx 500 population is about 12 kms from my home and the nearest town of about 200K is a 35 minutes drive from my place.

I have turkeys and deer eat on my lawn, instead of garbage and bums.

You can easily get used to this. When I go to town, I bring home whatever I need for a week or 10 days. Now I hate to go to town, see all those stressed out faces and breathe that dirty air, but I am more than glad that most people prefer citylife where everything is at their reaches, that leaves more "clean and quiet" places for people like me. ,)

mrb

[sejr99999 8,368]

I also live in a remote rural area 12 miles from the nearest town which has about 5K population. All I see from my house is mountains & river

lots of wildlife deer, racoons, mountainlions and so on\ when we take vacation we go to the city (the bigger the better) and enjoy the crowds, noise , lights and action.

[CaptCity 4,913]

I grew up on a farm where the nearest neighbor was, well, another farm. The closest town of any size was about 20 miles away. Since high school, however, I have lived in cities - any where from 20,000 to half a million people. I understand the convenience of having everything nearby, and I'm sure it would take some getting used to not having it. But, given a choice, I could see myself re-adapting back to rural life. The things I miss and enjoy stem from those earlier times. There might be truth to the saying, "You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy."

[Superbacon 380]

I'd like to live in a city where I can walk to everything I need from my house. Where I live now, it's the same routine every week and weekend. With my friends, whenever we want to do something, we drive a few towns over. Saint Charles to Carol Stream. About a 20-some minute drive. Even the downtown part of my town doesn't have much going for its self. I've been to Chicago several times, but if I were to live in a urban area, I'd rather live in a city where most everything is tightly packed, public transit is abundant and I can go to bars and other places to have fun or get daily commodities, like Tokyo. Actually, I want to live in Japan. The southern half.

[gc6164 36]

i like living in the city because there are alot of people around you if you are in a rural area a person might be very far from you so if your car brakes down ur in trouble..

[MooMix1 2]

I love the dense urban cities because anything you need will likely be within walking distance or within a reasonable distance by public transit. I could never survive very long in a rural setting!

[Mikeaut1 261]

I live on Long Island, NY and it takes me about 30-35 minutes to get into Manhattan. Just about an hour east of me is farmland. I love both urban and rural areas very much. I would rather live closer to the city but I love leaving the hustle and bustle of the suburbs and travelling into the countryside. If I had to move to the countryside the only thing I'd have to get used to is the distances between towns. The area I live in is so convenient; literally everything is within a 10 minute radius of your home. Being a spoiled suburban, I'd have to adjust to driving the extra few miles for my necessities!

Here's a picture I took a few years ago from a hill by my house. <3 The Suburbs!

[AND93 10]

I really guess suburban is different from both urban and rural. It's not as calm as rural (which in my opinion is good, but I understand some might think it's not) and not as close to everything as in the city, but still pretty balanced. I used to live in a 40,000 people town called Oeiras, 12 km west of Lisbon. It has from large buldings to villas, but it's mostly composed of small buildings with 3/4/5 stories. I used to live in a nice seaside 3 stories tall building, surrounded by villas. But I was just 5 minutes from a station that took me to Lisbon in 25 minutes, 5 minutes from a small shopping mall, 5 minutes from a McDonalds, 10 minutes from a sports park, 5 minutes from the town's park and I could take the bus to the historic centre or to the largest shopping mall in the municipality in 5 minutes, just across from my house. I was lucky, especially cause the initial price was really cheap.

Also in Portugal, because we are a small country with much density in 2 Metropolitan Areas, some historic cities have been left to abandonment, so they have about 12,000 people and everything in walking distance, from cinema, to concert halls, to large groceries.

[mrbisonm 1,622]

ii like living in the city because there are alot of people around you if you are in a rural area a person might be very far from you so if your car brakes down ur in trouble..

like living in the city because there are alot of people around you if you are in a rural area a person might be very far from you so if your car brakes down ur in trouble..

Totally wrong! This was said by someone who only has a false idea of what country life "could" be without really knowing it. In the country you will have more help from people that anywhere in any city. No one in the middle of the downtown street will stop their car to help you, unless you met a fellow from or near the country.

In the country it will be probably the first or second car that passes who will help you out.

I have seen home or appartment fires in town that people only look at...., in the country, everyone will help to save whatever is savable. Big difference! Believe me. We know our neighbors for 5 miles in every direction, while in the city you probably don't even know the person that lives in the next appartment to you.

But like I said before, we need the cities to "box in" most of the people, otherwise nature would be a total mess. It is also a matter of "taste" and dependency/ independency.While most people couldn't live out in the country, some couldn't live in a city/town. City-slickers have a different view of life than Country-Boys.

Both cities and country have their advantages and disadvantages, a matter of taste and getting used to, I guess.

I prefer the clean air and peaceful sounds of nature.

mrb

[Lucario Boricua 7,049]

I'd actually say I prefer either complete urban (city center life, with the mass transit, services, work and recreation within walking distance) or the outskirts of a rural town. I would also say I wouldn't like to live in a remore rural-natural area (too inconvenient because everything is too far away) or in the suburbs (current situation as I still live in my parent's home--as I'm still a university freshman). In the suburbs, or at least in the case of Bayamón (part of the San Juan Metropolitan Area, in Puerto Rico), there is no actual peace, no sense of community, car is the only way to move around (the local roads actually have stretches lacking sidewalks), everything is too far away and there is no mass transit. I'd much better prefer to live at downtown Bayamón (at least it has mass transit, work, services and recreation within walking or mass transit distance) or in the town of Adjuntas (central Puerto Rico, north of the city of Ponce). Over there, I'd have a sense of community, peace, the services and work would be concentrated on the small town; and it has the plus of having PR-10 as a highway providing a fast connection to the city of Ponce (for whatever Adjuntas isn't able to provide me).

And back to the suburban ranting, why are controlled-access subdivisions referred to as "gated communities"!? "Community" is the least thing I'd say such a place has! Being isolated from the surroundings, no work or recreation venues inside of them and having neighbors who use sprawling houses to sleep and watch TV during the evening is no real community!

[hamsterTK 93]

All of them.

I want to live in a small bungalow or townhouse with a rear yard in a quieter city neighborhood, that is if I didn't find living in an apartment or high rise temporarily while I am young attractive. Ideally this neighborhood is adjacent to a business district along a transit line which goes to a downtown full of tall buildings. Or up the street is a greenbelt with trees and paths and a big park with open space. Also somewhere in the city there is a beach.

Hence the reason why Seattle, Santa Monica, and Vancouver are so expensive, because having it all is desirable.

  Edited April 22, 2011 by hamsterTK  

[AND93 10]

I understand. East of my neighborhood in the heart of Alvalade there are about 700 townhouses isolated from the rest of the city, yet connected to two main avenues, both close to all the metropolitan area, and they have all the business they need there. It is very expansive but it is surely a paradise to it's inhabitants who get to live a "suburban life" (the american concept, not the european one...) in the center of the city

[Timmystwin 201]

Gotta love Cornwall, There are so few people here its great. The only downside is that everything is in the county town. It only has 17,431 people in it as of the last census. There is a lot there, just it is never of any quality, and living 60 miles away from it is a bit annoying.

Still, things appear out of no-where when the tourists come

  Edited April 23, 2011 by Timmystwin  

[LivingInThePast 364]

Well, one of the things that's kind of hard to determine is what KIND of city. Are we talking about just general low-rise inner-city, skyscrapers and high-rise type city, or what?

[Builder Lauron 1]

I say Rural - Well, mind you, I live in a pretty much rural-like area, but that's not completely rural. What I am searching for when am in a rural town is something incredible in nature, something one cannot imagine at first, or easily accessed because of the nature itself.

I think this point of view mainly changed during my stay at the Cinque Terre in Italy, near Genova. The latter being an incredible metropolis with a huge port, the former being small towns, rarely accessible by car, with a coastline that you can't forget when seen. That's why I like rural grounds more than any urban zone. Gray against waves of many colors.

[hamsterTK 93]

Arent many of the small towns on the Italian coast actually compromised of multi story buildings sitting very close together, and you walk places in the village instead of driving? A place like the Cinque Terra probably has things in common with big cities just as it does small towns. Urban generally means any large population center irrespective of its shape or form. But that shape and form matters too, and sometimes urban or rural can mean this as well

[Vern 29]

I live on Long Island, NY and it takes me about 30-35 minutes to get into Manhattan. Just about an hour east of me is farmland. I love both urban and rural areas very much. I would rather live closer to the city but I love leaving the hustle and bustle of the suburbs and travelling into the countryside. If I had to move to the countryside the only thing I'd have to get used to is the distances between towns. The area I live in is so convenient; literally everything is within a 10 minute radius of your home. Being a spoiled suburban, I'd have to adjust to driving the extra few miles for my necessities!

Here's a picture I took a few years ago from a hill by my house. <3 The Suburbs!

This shot somewhere between Lawrence and Valley Stream?

[Mikeaut1 261]

I live on Long Island, NY and it takes me about 30-35 minutes to get into Manhattan. Just about an hour east of me is farmland. I love both urban and rural areas very much. I would rather live closer to the city but I love leaving the hustle and bustle of the suburbs and travelling into the countryside. If I had to move to the countryside the only thing I'd have to get used to is the distances between towns. The area I live in is so convenient; literally everything is within a 10 minute radius of your home. Being a spoiled suburban, I'd have to adjust to driving the extra few miles for my necessities!

Here's a picture I took a few years ago from a hill by my house. <3 The Suburbs!

This shot somewhere between Lawrence and Valley Stream?

Actually, it was taken on the Merrick-Freeport border. At Meadowbrook.

[Madri 3]

And back to the suburban ranting, why are controlled-access subdivisions referred to as "gated communities"!? "Community" is the least thing I'd say such a place has! Being isolated from the surroundings, no work or recreation venues inside of them and having neighbors who use sprawling houses to sleep and watch TV during the evening is no real community!

I am from Suburbia...beach front suburbia to be exact. They build gated communities because they are safer than typical subdivisions. Being settled between Mobile,Al (200k pop, 600k metro) and Pensacola,FL(56k pop, 470k metro) and an hour from Panama City and half that from Destin suburban sprawl is typical life for me. Because of crime rates they have numerous gated communities around the metro areas, generally located water-front, all they do basically is give a risen sense of security.

[EyeofMobius 27]

Hmm I am undecided on this topic as I enjoy the most insane of cities as far as having freinds, and social gatherings available at almost anytime. However I could never give up the time I spend in the deepest and most remote parts of wilderness I can get my hands on for weeks at a time.

I think however if I could live anywhere right now my ideal spot would be in Cassis in the South of France where I would have a tiny apartment and just be able to hop on a train to get to a major metropolis with an international airport and fly to any corner of the globe and get lost in nature.

[Jezus53 18]

I'd have to say I love the rural life. I am not a people person, so naturally, I hate being around people! That's why rural life seems great. I'd love to be secluded from the world, surrounded by people are actually friendly and are aware of other people. See that's problem. Here, no one cares about other people. Hell, I say hello to people and they don't say anything back. What's up with that? Is it so hard to even give me a smile and a nod? Either way, my parents and I are moving to a more rural area soon so I guess I'll get to see how it's like! That being said, I do hate how there is no internet out there. Best we'll be able to get is 256K down/upload. Oh well...

On the topic of suburbia, it sucks. There's nothing like living where the nearest bus stop is 15 minutes, nearest subway/ground level rail is 20 minutes, and the train is an hour walk away. Then to even get to the highway is another 10 minutes and at least another 10 to get to the nearest place to do anything. And even then there isn't much to do, and I live in one of the 10 largest cities in the US! I guess you could say I have the worst of both worlds. I have the rural secludedness and the urban congestion.

[Vern 29]

Actually, it was taken on the Merrick-Freeport border. At Meadowbrook.

Ahh, I wasn't too far off then. Not a bad view at all. I'm originally from the Bronx and the wifey is from Oakdale area.

Having said that and getting back to the topic, I like living within 30 minutes of a city. So, suburbia for me. I like working in a major city and going home away from the hustle and the bustle. But I don't want to be too far away from the hustle and the bustle. I just need a daily respite from it. LOL.

  Edited May 4, 2011 by Vern  

[Zeck180 18]

Well since I am currently living in a rural area town of 985, I like it though nothing really to do largest metro area near me is the Waterloo/Ceader Falls metro(102,000).

[LastTrueChamp 196]

Currently I live in a suburb albeit an extremely large one with some urban areas. I prefer urban to rural currently although when I retire I will most definitely move to a smaller rural town.