We Should Design Cities For Shorter Distances, Not Faster Speeds

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by JManc

I think as people hit their mid to late 40's, cities become a little less appealing.

i turn 45 next month.

my love for the city has not diminished one bit.

even with all of the covid lockdown bullshit.

i can't imagine that it ever will.



hell, my mom and dad both turn 75 this year, and they have zero desire to leave the city.

for some of us, it's just in the blood.

[chris08876]

^^^^^

Once one has a refined Urban and Architecture crack addiction, the addiction does not merely dissipate, like the remains within a toilet bowl after one flushes... but it grows... IT GROWS... until the creeping vines of architecture and cities wrap around you... and architecture and urbanism becomes so tight as to be permanently part of you. And through this, the evil of suburban cookie cutter homes and big box stores leaves the mind. The remains in the toilet bowl that were flushed, that was the waste of suburban cookie cutter homes and big box stores.

Now if one does not like cities, well... they can go to the commie and barracks looking suburbs HELL where they can develop Type II due to the lack of walkable areas!

It is in the blood. But that blood transfusion occurs with some people at a certain age. The age of enlightenment. The age where they discovered the passion for cities and urbanism.

[Investing In Chicago]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

i turn 45 next month.

my love for the city has not diminished one bit.

even with all of the covid lockdown bullshit.

i can't imagine that it ever will.



hell, my mom and dad both turn 75 this year, and they have zero desire to leave the city.

for some of us, it's just in the blood.

I think it comes down to priorities...I love Chicago, but grew tired of the politics, corruption and general stupidity of those leading the city. Plus with 2 kids, I envision them growing up on a body of water with space to play, not a front stoop or a small patch of grass. Without kids, 100% would put up with all of the negatives of the city, as it was worth the trade off, but with kids, no way.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

i turn 45 next month.

my love for the city has not diminished one bit.

even with all of the covid lockdown bullshit.

i can't imagine that it ever will.



hell, my mom and dad both turn 75 this year, and they have zero desire to leave the city.

for some of us, it's just in the blood.

Sure, I am in same boat ( I love the city) but I know of a lot of people our age now (I'll be 48 this summer) who could take or leave it and I notice I'm not as hostile to my suburban setting as I once was. I feed the birds, tend to my plants and sit in my yard and don't really hate it. I sound like an old fart.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Investing In Chicago

I think it comes down to priorities...I love Chicago, but grew tired of the politics, corruption and general stupidity of those leading the city. Plus with 2 kids, I envision them growing up on a body of water with space to play, not a front stoop or a small patch of grass. Without kids, 100% would put up with all of the negatives of the city, as it was worth the trade off, but with kids, no way.

Of course it comes down to priorities.

I have 2 kids as well, and I'm raising them in a totally fucking classic chicago neighborhood, just like the 5 generations before me. And I really like that.

I would like to believe that we both believe that we're both doing what we think is right for our kids.

It's just different drum beats to march to, right?

As long as they have our unconditional and unstoppable love, I think our kids are all good.


That said, all I was doing was giving some push-back to j-man's contention that city living is only desired by people of a specific younger age group. my experience has been quite different, as I pointed out in my previous post.

[Investing In Chicago]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Of course it comes down to priorities.

I have 2 kids as well, and I'm raising them in a totally fucking classic chicago neighborhood, just like the 5 generations before me. And I really like that.

I would like to believe that we both believe that we're both doing what we think is right for our kids.

It's just different drum beats to march to, right?

As long as they have our unconditional and unstoppable love, I think our kids are all good.


That said, all I was doing was giving some push-back to j-man's contention that city living is only desired by people of a specific younger age group. my experience has been quite different, as I pointed out in my previous post.

I get that; I just look at the environment of my childhood (Manhattan) and want something different for my kids. Obviously, leafy chicago neighborhoods are much less intense, and pretty ideal. We didn't leave because of the built environment, we left despite the nearly perfect (IMO) built environment of Lakeview (Southport Corridor). I'm just not sure where the hell I was sending my kids for High School, among other things....

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Of course it comes down to priorities.

I have 2 kids as well, and I'm raising them in a totally fucking classic chicago neighborhood, just like the 5 generations before me. And I really like that.

I would like to believe that we both believe that we're both doing what we think is right for our kids.

It's just different drum beats to march to, right?

As long as they have our unconditional and unstoppable love, I think our kids are all good.


That said, all I was doing was giving some push-back to j-man's contention that city living is only desired by people of a specific younger age group. my experience has been quite different, as I pointed out in my previous post.

You also live in a healthy balance of 'city' and a livable residential area. You're not in a concrete jungle but in a pretty low key area based on the pictures you've posted and my general knowledge of the area. I would prefer to live where you are than most places in Manhattan. 20 years ago, I would have been all about New York.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

i turn 45 next month.

my love for the city has not diminished one bit.

even with all of the covid lockdown bullshit.

i can't imagine that it ever will.



hell, my mom and dad both turn 75 this year, and they have zero desire to leave the city.

for some of us, it's just in the blood.

My suspicion is that most of those who make claims of suburbs being the "natural" choice as one ages and/or has kids are simply those who grew up in suburbia, and for whom that's just the default, normalized lifestyle that they were raised (and are still surrounded) with. It's not a coincidence that most of those who move to cities in their 20s end up moving back to the suburbs eventually - because in most of North America, that's the normal, expected life path.

But for us city folk, that's just not the case.

Thankfully, there will always be new generations of young people to fill up our cities when the old ones leave; and hopefully enough kids growing up in them to keep on perpetuating new cycles of lifelong urbanites.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by JManc

You also live in a healthy balance of 'city' and a livable residential area. You're not in a concrete jungle but in a pretty low key area based on the pictures you've posted and my general knowledge of the area. I would prefer to live where you are than most places in Manhattan. 20 years ago, I would have been all about New York.

Oh for sure, if your only frame of reference for "city" is manhattan, then pretty much nothing in chicago, or anywhere else in the US for that matter, is "city".

Manhattan/NYC is such an extreme urban outlier in the US in oh so many different ways.

That said, my zip code still manages to get over 20,000 ppsm, which puts it in the top 0.5% of zip codes in the nation for population density.

Lincoln Square sure as shit ain't manhattan, but it's also a far cry from schaumburg and the like as well.

It's a nice creamy middle (though definitely still "city" compared to the VAST majority of our highly-suburbanized nation) and a hell of a great place to live in my extremely biased opinion. I'm middle-aged, and I'm certainly not looking to get outta here. I'm doing the exact opposite; planting some serious roots.