What is your favorite Suburb?

[jason w 14]

I think we can all agree that suburbs are sprawling and unattractive. I agree with that, but I'm sure there's at least one suburb each of us like. Mine would have to be Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington DC. The central area (old town and old town north) is just full of beautiful late 17 and 18th century architecture. New buildings exsit here, but they fit in with the old stuff really nice. It was established in 1695, and still has its copplestone streets. It's not just the architecture I like, I also love the city planning involved, with a typical grid of blocks and an entire block in the central area dedicated to a town square complete with the town hall. Every street is lined with trees, some as old as the town. Apartments are built over shops, and nice rowhouses are everywhere. Also, I like how no street within the older areas have been expanded into four or more lane roads. Alexandria is not all this old town though. There are new subdivisions and big box stores along wide avenues. The town has somewhat of a skyline with high rise residential and offices in the new part of town. I don't like the new area, but the amazing old area completely makes up for it. Sorry about my long speech here, but when I visited that great place on my eighth grade Washington DC trip, I fell in love with it.

[Haljackey 17,398]

Revelant link:

The 10 Best Suburbs In America

http://www.businessi...ica-2012-9?op=1

  Edited September 26, 2012 by Haljackey  

[VeritaScientia 150]

It's not really suburbs, but I have a real soft spot for the South Florida metroplex of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties.

[robloxkiller 25]

my favorite is Greenwich Ct ,in case you didnt know it is the suburb of New York city

also long island is my favorite too

  Edited September 26, 2012 by robloxkiller  

[The Pennsylvania Turnpike 252]

I really Love living in the Allentown-Philidelphia metro Because In Northampton PA I'm about 50 Miles North of Philidelphia and about 80 miles west of New York City. I'm Telling you The Lehigh valley's population includes the Fastest growing city on the East Coast. Allentown PA. Pop 2000 93,000 Now around 120,000. In 2020 we will have around 1,000,000 people in the Lehigh valley and 7,000,000 in The Metro area. So being conviently close to 2 major cities is a nice deal. And we are also 40 miles south of Scranton.

Also We have 3 fire stations in a city of 15,000 people 1X3 miles in size. Also there is nearby Farms to produce food and we are home to the turkeys served in the White House in Washington D.C. which is around 4 hours away aswell as Baltimore. We are also around 90 minutes away from the shore. So living in the Allentown- Philidelphia Metro of PA,DE,NJ,NY,MD area is Great !!!

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Goderich, Ontario.

Considering commuting distances these days, you could live here and work in London, Ontario or maybe Stratford.

[GMT 389]

apart from me not agreeing with the opening statement that suburbs are sprawling and unattractive - well, sprawling maybe but in fact i'd prefer living in the suburbs many many times before even thinking of moving downtown - I guess my favorite suburb is in fact that clichee sprawling suburbia with a bazillion of same-looking single family homes in a scratchboard designed neighborhood... just like Malvina Reynolds pictures it in Little Boxes:

Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky-tacky,little boxes, little boxes,little boxes, all the same.

There's a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one and they're all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses all go to the university, and they all get put in boxes, little boxes, all the same.

And there's doctors and there's lawyers and business executives, and they're all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf-course, and drink their Martini dry, and they all have pretty children, and the children go to school.

And the children go to summer camp and then to the university, and they all get put in boxes and they all come out the same.

And the boys go into business, and marry, and raise a family, and they all get put in boxes, little boxes, all the same.

There's a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one and they're all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same.

sry, I just had to post the whole lyrics to deliver the complete feeling of the song

anyways, since you're up for some names: the Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Albuquerque metro area is full of what I'm thinking of hearing that song.

I'd prefer a nice house, most preferably in the hills with a nice view over the nightlighted metro area, so you can condense it to some hoods, but it's really hard for me to pin down exactly one...

leaving money and employment situations completely aside, I'd pick a house offering the mentioned view in the Phoenix area, Scottdale and Mesa cover a rather large area with a lot of subdivisions matching these criteria.

  Edited September 26, 2012 by GMT  

[astronelson 339]

Just moving this over to Architecture and Urban Planning.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled topic.

[cacks 41]

I'll bring a taste of Europe to this conversation,

Although I live in London, the actual suburbs that make up London aren't that nice (mostly), and it is through my travels on the continent that I have found my favourite suburbs of a city. I agree with most people here that I myself would much rather live in a nice suburb of a city than its downtown. If you lived in the downtown areas then life would be too hectic - you'd never get a good nights sleep, especially during the freshers' week of most universities! The noise and pollution associated with most urban centres will also get you down. I lived in a rather polluted area of London and I now suffer from Asthma and hayfever - even though no one else in my family ever had either (apart from my brother who also grew up in London) but I digress:

1.

Zhelendorf, south-western suburbs of Berlin, Germany

The tree lined streets and the very green nature of this suburb make this my number one choice of places to live, as a plus it is in Germany so the public transport networks to the centre of town will have to be excellent too! There are many paks and public spaces in this nice sleepy-yet-active area of Berlin.

must dash to lectures, will update this post when i get back

[jason w 14]

Okay, I lied. There is an avenue of six lanes going through old town. However, it does not encourage sprawl and the area is still very walkable with it. I feel we should make all suburbs like this, walkable, treelined streets, apartments over shops. I don't understand why we even stopped making apartments over shops. It's a great concept and not sprawling.

[fredrik001 9]

I think we can all agree that suburbs are sprawling and unattractive. I agree with that, but I'm sure there's at least one suburb each of us like. Mine would have to be Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington DC. The central area (old town and old town north) is just full of beautiful late 17 and 18th century architecture. New buildings exsit here, but they fit in with the old stuff really nice. It was established in 1695, and still has its copplestone streets. It's not just the architecture I like, I also love the city planning involved, with a typical grid of blocks and an entire block in the central area dedicated to a town square complete with the town hall. Every street is lined with trees, some as old as the town. Apartments are built over shops, and nice rowhouses are everywhere. Also, I like how no street within the older areas have been expanded into four or more lane roads. Alexandria is not all this old town though. There are new subdivisions and big box stores along wide avenues. The town has somewhat of a skyline with high rise residential and offices in the new part of town. I don't like the new area, but the amazing old area completely makes up for it. Sorry about my long speech here, but when I visited that great place on my eighth grade Washington DC trip, I fell in love with it.

Don't speak for us all

Personally I love the american sprawling suburbs with 12 lane freeways. I live in sweden, but my dream is to move to for example Los Angeles or San Diego.

Favorite suburb: Santa Clarita.

[jason w 14]

Why?! Low density is bad! 12 lane highways are a waste of space!!! Probably 30 acres of land in LA is gone because of absolutly unnecessary pavement! They even tell you on SC4 that you should build more medium and high density if you build all low density!

[robloxkiller 25]

speaking of an LA suburbs my favorite suburb in that area is encino

[GMT 389]

Why?! Low density is bad! 12 lane highways are a waste of space!!! Probably 30 acres of land in LA is gone because of absolutly unnecessary pavement! They even tell you on SC4 that you should build more medium and high density if you build all low density!

because it feels too clogged up, both with buildings and cars. the more ppl you condense on a small area of land, the worse problems you get, especially with traffic. even worse with roadside parking. everyone has a car nowadays, necessity or luxury. either way, the more you turn into medium/high density, the more cars are parked roadside because you very rarely have enough dedicated parking space, surface or garages.

in turn, with the small european roads (in my town of 250k, you can literally count roads having more than one lane per direction with one hand, no other picture in the surrounding suburbs; the burb I live in counts 35k inhabitants and sports exactly one such road at the very outskirts where it's not at all needed) sick traffic jams are programmed. For instance, in non-rushour traffic it takes me 7-10min to drive the way from my house to downtown, in rushour traffic the same way easily ends up at 25-30 mins. and we're talking a 3 mile travel. why? hell because almost all arterial roads are 1 lane per direction...

for LA, 12 lane highways are a blessing. ever followed rushour traffic reports from LA? stop and go in the entire basin.

Like I said already, I like the american surburbia, especially southwestern usa, because it's the complete opposite of what I am used to here in Germany when it comes to urban planning.

I spent a couple of months living and working in Mesa, AZ during my training, so I can compare both the clogged up european and the space-wasting us-american concepts pretty much side by side and I must say the latter has much much more appeal to me.

Of course, you're screwed without a car because you won't get anywhere since public transport is not as sophisticated as I am used to from Germany. And especially with shrinking oil reserves worldwide and a lack of suitable - and payable - alternatives, condensing everything so the need for transportation becomes less has a certain positive idea.

But bear in mind that this is a twist.

Here in europe, with the starting rapid growth of cities a couple 100s of years back in the medieval time, people were desperate to live in the cities because there was work. with the rise of the industrialization and effective transport, people literally fled the cities because they became too clogged up, dirty and expensive. Today, with everrising transportation costs (especially in europe, we are already well beyond $10 per gallon!) people start to leave the beautiful suburbs and countryside to live in the cities again. already now you can see how prices for property skyrocket because the demand far outweights the offer.

Granted, we are not yet in a situation like asian metropoles where people live like hens in laying batteries and give their selfresperct and last shirt to pay the rents, and with the decaying population I doubt we'll ever get there. But still, affordable property in the city is either in areas you wouldn't wanna live unless you're carrying, or a very very lucky catch.

  Edited September 30, 2012 by GMT  

[jason w 14]

I understand where you're coming from. I'm in a German language class and we watch a lot of stuff about German cities. It seems to me that, yeah midievil cities are beautiful and a great place to visit, but it gets old when every city is midievil and they all look the same. That's Europe for you.

I think that they need more 1800's and up American planning, instead of all cities being 500+ years old. The reason is because of street layout. At that time, we platted cities in blocks with something like a central square in the middle. With a plan like that, traffic flows a lot easier, and it's easier to get around. The problem with this is gridlock, but you can fix that by having a set of blocks tilted. Most American towns and cities are planned this way. I could name hundreds of examples, like Brooklyn New York, my hometown, even older parts of Los Angeles.

Midievil German cities, and other European cities are a maze of alleys, narrow streets, and occasional boulevards. It no wonder why traffis is a nightmare. Not all European cities are like this, however. Paris is a great example of midievil planning. Also, I love Frankfurt Germany, because it's so American. All of the bombed out German cities should have done. If we can combine American street layouts with midievil planning, architecture and charm, you would have an awesome Euopean city.

Now, suburbs on the other hand, were built heavily after World War II, and their street layout is a cross between 1800's America, and midievil Europe. They are confusing, and harm traffic flow. That's one reason why I don't like them. But, that's is just my oppinion.

[Aaron Graham 4,417]

I like the suburbs, but I love the way the urban areas better. I love the way they organize most of there stuff, the residential apartments is over the commercial, I think it would be cool to walk to work. Living in the suburbs of course you have to worry about gas, something you have to buy every other day if your job is 20 to 30 minutes away. Then your car will need insurance and the maintenance on the car if the car breaks down. If you have a car that breaks down and you only have one car that's a very bad part of been on the suburbs, remember this is all bill even the gas. It's really sucks to drive every where you want or need to go, if you need to buy some toilet tissue or some tooth paste you have to drive drive and burn gas for some small amount items. I kinda of hate driving where I live there are some dumb people that drive and you can get in a wreck very easy, it does not take long to get in a wreck. I do not like the road layout, it's so curvy and if you think about it your wasting gas, and not just that it's easy to get lost now thing about it what if you have some family coming over and they do not have a GPS or did not thinking about using one it can be hard to help them because in the neighborhoods, the streets are like a maze with a lots of the streets being dead ends. The road layout is wasting valuable land, some people seem to forget about forestry and farming this is very important to all societies. Farming to feed the population and forestry to help building the buildings in your cities. I see a lot of people want to have a yard for the children to play, but I think your wrong, I think the children would be happier to play with other children in the park that's what I liked better, who in the hell want their child to be isolated, later in life that child may have some problems in life for not interacting with others children, and that the hell I'm going to do, play with my little sister all day, that's stupid as hell, if you are the only boy and you have a sister. The yards why on earth some people want so much yard, unless you love to wake up early in the morning and mow the lawn, or unless you love paying $40.00 to $100.00 on the grass to be cut in the spring and the summer every other or two weeks.The Suburbs should be more urban I do not mean the buildings have to be 30 and 40 stories high, they can be apartment building with parks on the roof with stores on the ground floor.

At the End I love the urban, but not a fan of the high cost of living but I think that's for right now, but urban down not mean the buildings have to be 30 and 40 stories high, just need to use a urban style of planning out the cities.

  Edited October 2, 2012 by Aaron Graham  

[jason w 14]

I agree with everything you said. I actually read a year or two ago that in a survey, people in the suburbs prefered straight tree-lined roads with row houses along it over the curvy subdivision roads with two story houses on massive barren lawns. Why they still live in the suburbs I don't know.

[iowndiscti 141]

i'd like to jump in this conversation.

I live near the number 10 spot on the list that haljackey posted (Huntington Woods, MI) and i must say it's not a bad place to live. there are however much better places to live in the metro detroit area. if you really have the money and want to be in the suburbs try the bloonfields ( west bloomfield, bloomfield hills, Bloomfield charter township..... hell i might as well include Keego harbor [ formerly west bloomfield township] in here). it's really expensive, but you get that bang for your buck

but i was born in redondo beach california, and thats definitely the best suburb ever!

[Jack³ 291]

I used to live in South Elgin, a suburb of Elgin, Illinois.

" In July 2007, Money magazine named South Elgin as 82 of 100 entries in its "America's Best Places To Live" edition."

It's pretty nice here, but probably not nearly as nice as some of the suburbs mentioned before.

[Fatherted 129]

Charlton Kings, Cheltenham, UK. A lovely place.

[sirdanilot 8]

I don't like what is the Dutch equivalent of suburbs. Endless and endless rows of houses right next to each other (unlike in the US, free-standing houses are relatively rare) which all look the same, or maze-like street layouts with dead ends. Example: Zoetermeer, a suburb of Den Haag/The Hague. Though I must say that this is a particularly large suburb by Dutch standards (122.000 inhabitants).

An example of an upperclass suburb is Oegstgeest: http://maps.google.n...2,74.24,,0,8.43, a suburb of Leiden. If I had the money, I'd love to live there.

However, I'd much prefer to live in a village that happens to be close to a large city, but still holds its rural character. For example Voorburg , which used to be a separate little village but is now attached to Den Haag/The Hague.

  Edited October 9, 2012 by sirdanilot