Going Urban?

[Expendable Grunt]

Having grown up in St. Mary's County, Maryland, during the 90's and 2000's, I lived in a mixed development area.

This county was the first to be settled by Englanders coming over to the "New World". As such, there are a great number of historical sites here, including St. Mary's City, one of the first European cities in what is now the United States.

I've lived my entire life in a rural (early life) and suburban upbringing. There is an important military base, called Patuxant River Naval Air Station, which houses the Navy Test Pilot School, the place that trains out guys who test new aircraft for all sorts of people. In addition, it has some of the biggest companies near by. General Dynamics, BAE, Northrup Grummin, and Dyncorp all have offices here, and a great number of the local population consists of people who transfered in here during the 90s.

The kids who transfered in are for the most part morons I want nothing to do with; their general belief is that because there is a crop field within 1,000 miles of their house (there are a few old school farms here, as some people actually like working the land), then they must live in some hokey, back-water place with nothing to do. As such, most of them either are drug abusers or are absorbed in their own social clique of "worldly" people. Some are not like this, but while growing up, most of them where.

So, having grown up in this environment, I've been part of the car-dependent culture that may very well come to die in my near future. Coming from a poor family, I've never had the opportunity to travel far. I've been to a few cities, like Alexandria, VA, and Springfield, VA, as well as DC (don't ever go there) and Baltimore. However, these have always been short trips, and only Alexandria and Springfield are particularly memorable. As I've read a bit of info on the future of transportation, communal-restructuring, etc., I've come to the conclusion that it would probably be best if I moved into a city, as opposed to living the suburban style life I've seen all my days (I currently live along a main road, not in a suburban community per-se).

So I ask you, the urbanites, what it's like growing up in a city? Naturally, I do want to have kids some day, and really have no idea how culture and upbringing changes in that environment, as opposed to mine. I've never lived in an environment where walking to something was an easy task (there is a park near my house but to be honest, it's mostly abandoned these days, despite it's upkeep). It's kind of hard to express what I want to say, as I'm not totally sure myself, but I'd like to know what the Urban experience has been like for you.

[Deadfast]

Are you sure that the view won't be biased ?

I've lived in a city (Prague, capital of Czech Republic, but it makes no difference, all the cities are generally the same) for my whole life so I can't really compare, but I'll tell you what I know.

Now, you've pretty much named the advantage. Everything is close. Shops, schools, government buildings, hospitals, etc.
The mentioning of a park brings me to this: don't count on this in the city. If there's a lack of something there, it's the nature, especially in the city center.
Yes, there are some parks, but as we all know, park surrounded with main roads from all six sides, isn't really the park you would imagine.

The people.
I'm living in a prefab (the photo of the very one I live in and yes, this is what happens if you elect communists).
It has a 3 parts, 11 floors and 3 apartments (flats for the English guys) per floor.
That means 3x3x11=99 families. I know 3 of them, including the one that lives next to us. To the rest just "Hello", "Goodbye".
What I'm getting up to is the fact that if you got used to some neighborhood's chat you can quickly forget about it.
And if you think people at your town are morons, you might as well run into the same, if not worse, in a city. Hey, somebody even stole a plant we had outside our door. A freaking plant!

What else, ah yeah, traffic.
Depending on where you want to move in you might run in a problem with a traffic. And that means both actively (you'll run into a traffic jams if you go by your own car or crowd if you use the public transport) and passively if you'll be that unlucky to live next to a frequented road, then you'll have problems with smog and noise. Thankfully I don't have problems with any of those passive problems, but I do have to get humiliated in subway in order to get in the school.

[mammikoura]

well.. having lived about 10 or so years in the city and then about 9 years in the countryside I've got a pretty good idea of both of them.

Atm I'm living in a city, I have a small apartment (30.5m2) pretty damn close to the city center and I love it. EVERYTHING is close. I can pretty much get anywhere in 10 minutes, some grocery stores are open 24/7 etc so it's a lot easier to go and buy stuff. Also I can walk to pretty much any shop I want to go to, almost everything is inside a 2km radius of my apartment.

I don't really have to make any plans since I live close to pretty much everything. When I lived in the country side (about 30km from the city) I always had to know what I was going to be doing the same day, especially when I didn't have a car. If I wanted to go and play beach volley with friends I had to know it in the morning so I could get a ride to the city etc. Now I just jump out and walk to the beach, takes about 5 minutes. Overall life just seems a lot easier in the city since everything is closer to you.

But I still do love the country side though. It has it's advantages, don't know what I really like about it since the city is pretty peacefull too (especially during the night, which is when I'm on the move :P) but there is just something so nice about the country side.

That being said I'll be happily living in the city for another few years, if everything goes according to the plan. But I do plan on moving to the country side eventually, might be in 10 years, might be in 30, but one day I'll move there. :P

But I do recommend that you try living in the city. If you don't like it then just move back. It's always worth a try.

[Bamboo]

I think I can offer something to this topic.
I am actually living in Alexandria, VA right now, and can look from my APT complex and see the DC betway 495/Interstate 95. But I grew up out in the country, where most people had 4 wheelers, lots of woods around them, and it was a 20 min. trip to the nearest grocery store.
Went to college in Wilmington, North Carolina, which is a pretty decent sized city, with like 100,000 in the area. But it still feels small, and you actually see people you know when driving around or at the mall, etc.
Got to say I pretty much hate it here in DC/Alexandria area. Traffic sucks ass, and even though there is a park right down the street and a cool little waterway called Cameron Run, it is usually full of trash and runoff. Everything feels dirty. Luckly I work at a park about 45 mins. out of town and it is my little oasis.
My wife is not happy here either, and we went back to Wilmington to visit late last year, and she realized how much she missed it, and how laid back everyone is, and decided to work on getting a new job back there. The reason we moved here in the 1st place is she got a good job here right out off college, and I am here with her.
One of the sickest things about this place is the cost of living. We are paying $1900/month for a 2 bedroom apt., which we would be getting for $700 in Wilmington. And Wilmington is actually expensive because it is both a beach and college town. I know that is not a lot compared to like New York and other places, but is still just ridiculous to pay for what we have. We would be living in a fat house in a gated community in walking distance to the beach for that much in Wilmington.
The wife also brought up the fact that if we ever decide to have kids, she doesn't want them growing up here, and I wouldn't even consider it.
The only plus I would say about this place is the public transportation, like the Metro (the subway). It isn't that great compared to other big cities, but has allowed us to keep only 1 car, and the wife hopes the Metro for a 15 min. ride to work, which has a stop right underneath her office building near the Pentagon. They do have a bus service in Wilmington, but I never road it. I have heard they are expanding it since we moved here 3 years ago, since the price of gas is actually getting people to ride more and leave the car at home.
And in the country where I grew up, of course there is no such thing as public transportation, let alone a pizza place that delivers.

[Ironcomatose]

Ok i grew up in a city all my life so i think i can help you here. The main thing i think needs to be said first is that it depends on what part of the city. Because they are some areas which are really bad and there are some school which are really bad(in terms of violence). I could tell you some but you wouldnt know so the best thing to say is when you move to a city the best way to find the bad hoods is to take a bus ride or drive. If you see a lot of thugs(by thugs i mean thugs because you will almost always see teens/kids hanging outside so they dont count) hanging outside on the corners then you know you have a problem. As for schools its the same thing.

On the note of schools i think most cities suffer from bad education conditions with things like social promotion(Bushes no child left behind act), kids just not caring, under funding and teachers not caring so if you or your kid are smart then its VERY EASY to do REALLY well in most public city schools, trust me i know from experience. And thats not a bad thing because really good colleges still get kids from these schools. I know a few kids who are going to Penn state, Harvard and all that good stuff(and honestly they really are not ready). These schools do this to meet their quota of "inner-city" students(Bush's no child left behind strikes again). So of course they will have the hardest time in the beginning but they will adapt and grad with a freaking degree from havard. On top of that your kid will be tougher by default than any other kid in his/her class because you dont go through the school system in my city without having a few scraps and beefs along the way. So its worth it.

In NYC you can always find something to do so long as you have some friends and a little money. Sometimes i just grab a bill($100 for you n00bs) or 2 and hit time square. To do this day i never get bored of that.

Well there you go, i touched on some real subjects and i hope it helps you.

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

Ahh social promotion is not the policy in NYC schools at the moment and Bush's plan is no worse than what we had before.
As a matter of fact social promotion exists outside of NYC and has been a quasi-national policy for several decades ( thank the Democrats and Teacher's Unions )

Everything you have in the 'burbs you have in the city only in larger numbers and variety.

I have read that Baltimore is quite dangerous, especially compared to NYC today.
If you have the opportunity to move and want to live in a city I would try NYC as your 1900/month would get you a nice but small 2 bedroom in many areas of the city.

I would not reccomend raising a child in an urban enviroment unless the money you are making by living in the city is enough to afford private schools.

The public transport in NYC varies but if you live in Manhattan you really don't need a car at all but once you move to the outerboroughs you really do need at least one vehicle.

Traffic can be horrible in the city and worse if you have to cross a bridge to get to work ( ie: Long Island, Staten Island or Rockland County and points north) so be ready to surrender 2-6 hours of your day for the commute unless you live near your job.

But in all honesty, unless you really like the nightlife cities aren't any better than the 'burbs and in many ways are much worse.

I have tried to go back to my country/rural roots but at heart I'm a city boy and I need smog and lots of noise to feel comfortable.

[[R-COM]Outlawz]

Living in suburbs, never gone further than NW Italy (Milan)

[georgehu2007]

I've lived in a couple of big cities before such as Beijing, China and Dallas, Texas.
Everything's fine there except for all the people and traffic. but if you want to raise a family, a small town is the best, I think.

[jackal22]

sorry cities ftw, I normally spend my summers with family in touscany and parma in the country side and after a few days its so dead.

However london on the other hand, where I actually 'live' Is just a million time better entertainment wise.

thats how I see it anyway, yes the country side is nice but I dont think I could live there for good unless I was rich enough to purchase entertainment like build a mansion with pools and arcade rooms etc. race course in the back garden... yeh a little ott but thats my minimum I would need to not go crazy.