I love seeing where people would like to live if money and logistics were no object. I definitely need to be in a high population density community, but my parents were urbophobic and wished they could live out in the country (we lived in busy Cleveland Heights, OH). After the divorce my father somehow managed to build himself an isolationist home that was within the city limits of Harrisburg, PA. It was therefore technically in an urban area, but he had no neighbors for 3 miles (it was up at the top of a mountain road). I hated visiting there!
The house itself was actually pretty cool, if you like secluded living. It was a luxury A-frame with 4 bedrooms, a sauna, pool, wrap-around deck, and a nine car garage (he collected cars). It was way up at the top of a mountain road (called a "holler" in some areas) but nobody else lived on it except way down at the bottom. It was 3 miles to the nearest house down there, and the 50 or so acres at the top were all my dad's. But as remote as it was, it was still only a 20 minute drive to the heart of downtown Harrisburg.
I didn't like visiting there because there were no other kids around to play with and I missed my mom so much. But it was his dream house, and now that he's passed away, I imagine it must be someone else's dream house.
Well, "if money and logistics were no object" is stretching it. I mean, among the reasons I don't want to live "in the city" is that I don't want to share walls with people, I want enough yard for my dog to run around in, I don't want to be constantly pressed in by people and card. If we can eliminate all that and still be in the city, that's fine. OTOH, if I can live in the suburbs and have commute time not be an issue, that's cool too. Logistics matter.
So do you consider Somerville an "Inner Suburb" or a "smaller urban hub city"? Maybe you could give examples for what you consider each category because different people would have different views of the categories...
I think Somerville is a city, but clearly it can't be a hub when Boston, *the* Hub, is right there. :) I think plenty of cities are neither hubs nor suburbs, unless there are definitions here I just don't know about. I also think the population density of Somerville is probably inconsistent with it being a real suburb. But then, I put down "Major city" for my upbringing in Brooklyn, but I could see the Manhattan folk arguing over that, too.
Looking at answers, knowing where a lot of people live and where some grew up, I also see a ton of disagreement and inconsistency regarding these terms. I think the result of this poll say more about perception than they do about where anyone grew up/lives. :)
But for the last question, my Other is "On the beach".
I guess it's pretty subjective. It's hard to classify places like Somerville, which are indeed cities, but because of their proximity to a much bigger city they function as suburbs. I used to correct people when they called Somerville a suburb, but I finally had to accept that, city or not, being a suburb to Boston is Somerville's "job" in many ways.
Here's a question: why do New Yorkers call Manhattan "the city?" I've only been to a few neighborhoods in Brooklyn, but it sure felt like city to me. That's always puzzled me.
I'd call Somerville a suburb of both Boston and Cambridge. Cambridge itself is hard to classify. It some ways it's the metro area's "second city" in the same manner that Oakland or Fort Worth or St. Paul are.
Interesting...I'm seeing Somerville described as a mid-distance suburb, an inner suburb, a medium-sized urban hub city and a major city. With it's 77K residents it's a city in its own right, but it functions as a suburb to Boston.
I guess off the top of my head and counting only places I've been or know a lot about, these could be examples of what I mean by the sizes:
wilderness/isolationist home -- a secluded house in the desert, deep woods, etc with no neighbors
a farm -- a farm, possibly with other farms around it but not really a village
a small rural community/town -- Wasilla, AK
a not-exactly-small but remote town -- Macomb, IL (my sweetie will correct me if I'm wrong)
an outer suburb/exburb -- Hopkinton, MA
a mid-distance suburb -- Concord, MA
an inner suburb -- Somerville, MA
a smaller urban hub city -- Omaha, NE, Rochester NY
a medium-sized urban hub city -- Boston, MA, Seattle, WA
a major city -- New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA
My numbers might not be quite right on all of those, but that's the basic idea.
Whereas I replied to the poll assuming that Boston was "a major city", figuring that "medium-sized urban hub" meant places like Indianapolis or Charlotte or Columbus.
a not-exactly-small but remote town -- Macomb, IL (my sweetie will correct me if I'm wrong)
That’s what I chose for it, although I wasn’t sure I was reading your categories right.
By “varying locations/ I'd like to move around” (only one of my choices for that question) I basically mean that I’d enjoy having more than one home base, like if I lived some of the time in Boston and part of the year in Honolulu or Amsterdam or Montréal or New York City. Or, you know, I might even enjoy Wasilla, AK, if it were only three non-contiguous months out of the year.
The third question is complicated for me. There are things I miss about living in a small town - the stars, the quiet, knowing your neighbors, the lack of urban smells. But I'm not sure I could get used to a lack of public transportation, good variety of restaurants, and an interesting pool of new people to have sex with after having, hmm, such abundance here in Boston. :)
I guess the solution to that would be to have a vacation home or timeshare out in the country. Then you could go out there when you wanted some rural time, but still have the city base.
Well, if logistics and money were really no object, I would just have someone drive or fly me wherever I wanted to go.
If the houses were just a little bit further apart in my neighborhood (the way they were when I moved here seven or eight years ago, for example, before all the family homes were torn down for condos) and the main drag wasn't quite so close, I'd be more content.
i moved around as a kid and again as an adult; there's a pattern to be found :) -- from the chicago 'burbs, to a very small town in the middle-of-nowhere (mercersburg, PA -- if you lived near harrisburg, you'll actually have a chance of knowing it!), to springfield, MA (this was a drastic change, from the little town to a city where i wasn't allowed to walk to the corner store at the age of 8 because of the violence), and then back to the chicago 'burbs. i went to college in chicago, and since then have lived, in order: boston-ish (various places), philadelphiaish (grad school), new haven, long island, and back to bostonish.
the longest i've lived in one place has been 9 years, in my parents' house in chicagoish the second time around.
i find myself alternately wanting to *Settle*, somewhere -- (but where? a condo in cambridge (where i live now)? or a house in the T-accessible near suburbs?) -- and wanting to continue the nomadicism, and pick up and try something else. other cities call out to me -- seattle, SF, new york, london. i don't see myself ever wanting to be a full-time rural resident; but for all i know, that is what my mercurial nature (at least, in terms of living situations! :) ) is actually seeking, and what will actually make me happy for surroundings.
this was interesting to put together; thanks for the questions. :)
I grew up in two places, really: One was Camden, NJ - directly across the river from Philadelphia. When I lived there, our neighborhood was very safe, family friendly and clean. I could walk a few blocks and get to the little Mom and Pop grocer with its penny candy and hand dipped ice cream or walk a few more blocks and take in a movie at a small theatre. I still remember the butcher shop with the sawdust floor and the gray haired ladies in black dresses and high heels who waited on us at the "ladies shop." That same neighborhood today is quite the opposite--inundated by violent crime and filth, it is the poster picture for "You Can't Go Home Again." But I also grew up in Pennsville, NJ - directly across the river from Wilmington, DEL. Of the two locations, this was my favorite. My dog and I used to delight in walking along the beach. At that time, you could still swim in the Delaware River and the open, semi-country atmosphere was a great place to explore. As I grew older, I thought Philly was the greatest city on earth and I wanted desperately to live there. So much to do-- the hustle and bustle, the night life. I craved the whole city atmosphere. Now? You wouldn't catch me living there if someone GAVE me a condo! Now I'm a grandmother, living in Florida. While I do wish we had a bit more land around our little home I've never been one to want to be bumped right up against my neighbor I love the semi-rural aspect of it, including the dirt roads and the wildness of our overgrown backyard on the marsh.
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Date: 2008-11-10 07:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 07:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 07:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 08:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 08:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 08:22 pm (UTC)I didn't like visiting there because there were no other kids around to play with and I missed my mom so much. But it was his dream house, and now that he's passed away, I imagine it must be someone else's dream house.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 09:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 09:42 pm (UTC)I mean, among the reasons I don't want to live "in the city" is that I don't want to share walls with people, I want enough yard for my dog to run around in, I don't want to be constantly pressed in by people and card. If we can eliminate all that and still be in the city, that's fine. OTOH, if I can live in the suburbs and have commute time not be an issue, that's cool too. Logistics matter.
(no subject)
-Dee
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Date: 2008-11-10 09:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 08:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 09:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 09:29 pm (UTC)If you picked it up and dropped it in Wyoming, it would be the biggest city in Wyoming by nearly 25K people.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 09:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 09:44 pm (UTC)Looking at answers, knowing where a lot of people live and where some grew up, I also see a ton of disagreement and inconsistency regarding these terms. I think the result of this poll say more about perception than they do about where anyone grew up/lives. :)
But for the last question, my Other is "On the beach".
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 10:04 pm (UTC)Here's a question: why do New Yorkers call Manhattan "the city?" I've only been to a few neighborhoods in Brooklyn, but it sure felt like city to me. That's always puzzled me.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-11 12:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 09:15 pm (UTC)I guess off the top of my head and counting only places I've been or know a lot about, these could be examples of what I mean by the sizes:
wilderness/isolationist home -- a secluded house in the desert, deep woods, etc with no neighbors
a farm -- a farm, possibly with other farms around it but not really a village
a small rural community/town -- Wasilla, AK
a not-exactly-small but remote town -- Macomb, IL (my sweetie will correct me if I'm wrong)
an outer suburb/exburb -- Hopkinton, MA
a mid-distance suburb -- Concord, MA
an inner suburb -- Somerville, MA
a smaller urban hub city -- Omaha, NE, Rochester NY
a medium-sized urban hub city -- Boston, MA, Seattle, WA
a major city -- New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA
My numbers might not be quite right on all of those, but that's the basic idea.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 09:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-11 03:24 am (UTC)By “varying locations/ I'd like to move around” (only one of my choices for that question) I basically mean that I’d enjoy having more than one home base, like if I lived some of the time in Boston and part of the year in Honolulu or Amsterdam or Montréal or New York City. Or, you know, I might even enjoy Wasilla, AK, if it were only three non-contiguous months out of the year.
PS — Love my honeywuzzle!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-11 12:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 10:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 10:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-10 10:42 pm (UTC)If the houses were just a little bit further apart in my neighborhood (the way they were when I moved here seven or eight years ago, for example, before all the family homes were torn down for condos) and the main drag wasn't quite so close, I'd be more content.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-11 03:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-11 03:32 am (UTC)Did I mention the novel way I’ve designed our EVA suits, so they can interlock? Best billion dollars I’ve ever spent!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-11 10:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-11 12:33 pm (UTC)i moved around as a kid and again as an adult; there's a pattern to be found :) -- from the chicago 'burbs, to a very small town in the middle-of-nowhere (mercersburg, PA -- if you lived near harrisburg, you'll actually have a chance of knowing it!), to springfield, MA (this was a drastic change, from the little town to a city where i wasn't allowed to walk to the corner store at the age of 8 because of the violence), and then back to the chicago 'burbs. i went to college in chicago, and since then have lived, in order: boston-ish (various places), philadelphiaish (grad school), new haven, long island, and back to bostonish.
the longest i've lived in one place has been 9 years, in my parents' house in chicagoish the second time around.
i find myself alternately wanting to *Settle*, somewhere -- (but where? a condo in cambridge (where i live now)? or a house in the T-accessible near suburbs?) -- and wanting to continue the nomadicism, and pick up and try something else. other cities call out to me -- seattle, SF, new york, london. i don't see myself ever wanting to be a full-time rural resident; but for all i know, that is what my mercurial nature (at least, in terms of living situations! :) ) is actually seeking, and what will actually make me happy for surroundings.
this was interesting to put together; thanks for the questions. :)
difficult to answer
Date: 2008-11-11 07:22 pm (UTC)One was Camden, NJ - directly across the river from Philadelphia.
When I lived there, our neighborhood was very safe, family friendly and clean. I could walk a few blocks and get to the little Mom and Pop grocer with its penny candy and hand dipped ice cream or walk a few more blocks and take in a movie at a small theatre. I still remember the butcher shop with the sawdust floor and the gray haired ladies in black dresses and high heels who waited on us at the "ladies shop."
That same neighborhood today is quite the opposite--inundated by violent crime and filth, it is the poster picture for "You Can't Go Home Again."
But I also grew up in Pennsville, NJ - directly across the river from Wilmington, DEL.
Of the two locations, this was my favorite. My dog and I used to delight in walking along the beach. At that time, you could still swim in the Delaware River and the open, semi-country atmosphere was a great place to explore.
As I grew older, I thought Philly was the greatest city on earth and I wanted desperately to live there. So much to do-- the hustle and bustle, the night life. I craved the whole city atmosphere. Now? You wouldn't catch me living there if someone GAVE me a condo!
Now I'm a grandmother, living in Florida. While I do wish we had a bit more land around our little home I've never been one to want to be bumped right up against my neighbor I love the semi-rural aspect of it, including the dirt roads and the wildness of our overgrown backyard on the marsh.