• IDontHavePantsOn@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I grew up in a rural town of mostly farmland. The biggest store was a gas station owned by my grandfather’s half brother.

    For college and a few years afterwards I lived in a city. I really liked being able to go do something at any point, but I hated the roommates, neighbors, city noise, ordinances, light pollution, traffic, cost of living, high crime rates, and low job prospects.

    I moved back to an adjacent town and while there isn’t much to do, I pay less for my mortgage now than I would have for a studio apartment back in the city. I can see the stars, my neighbors don’t give a shit about me, traffic only exists to slow me down a few minutes a day, I can leave my doors unlocked, and since the pandemic I could change careers at any point.

    It’s all about what people want. The grass is always greener, and the green is always green.

    • Tachanka [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      city noise, ordinances, light pollution, traffic, cost of living, high crime rates, and low job prospects.

      Caused by capitalism, not urbanization

      • raven [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        Hate to be the typical 🗾 soypoint-2 guy, however Japan does manage to have far less of these problems in some of the densest cities in the world. You can probably thank an actual commitment to public transit for 80% of it.

      • SpiderFarmer [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        Hex, yeah. Truthfully I still like denser-style suburbs. Having a small garden plot while still being able to bike/bus most places is a dream of mine. Now many I know went with the extreme of McMansions, large tracts of boring lawn, and pricing out the local farmers. Hell, I wouldn’t even mind an apartment if it didn’t cost so damn much, but collective arrangements are near impossible with how capitalists have written the laws to favor landlords.

            • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]@hexbear.net
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              1 year ago

              Also what if the buildings connected all the way around the block and closed in an area the size of a small park? And were strawbale-insulated so you couldn’t hear through the walls? And had each level staggered back for privacy and for those roof/balcony yards? And had continuous porches or awnings that would stretch around the outside?

              It would be totally within our capacity to build.

    • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      City noise and traffic are a direct product of the suburbs too, because if it weren’t for the suburbs you could actually have everyone commute by mass transit which solves those issues. Or just walk tbh

      • IDontHavePantsOn@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Although I’m not anti urbanization, in my experience, people were always the disruptive factor. Cars didn’t ever bother me, nor did mass transit. People though, people are loud assholes. They think that just because they don’t see other people that they can’t bother people, but they do.