Suburban Living is not appealing to Gen Y
From The Atlantic comes The Next Slum an article about the movement in North America away from suburbia and toward a new kind of urban living, characterized by high density, high culture and high society.
For 60 years, Americans have pushed steadily into the suburbs, transforming the landscape and (until recently) leaving cities behind. But today the pendulum is swinging back toward urban living, and there are many reasons to believe this swing will continue. As it does, many low-density suburbs and McMansion subdivisions, including some that are lovely and affluent today, may become what inner cities became in the 1960s and ’70s—slums characterized by poverty, crime, and decay.
Gen Y is obviously playing a major role in this.
Cities, of course, have made a long climb back since then. Just nine years after Russell escaped from the wreck of New York, Seinfeld—followed by Friends, then Sex and the City—began advertising the city’s renewed urban allure to Gen-Xers and Millennials. Many Americans, meanwhile, became disillusioned with the sprawl and stupor that sometimes characterize suburban life. These days, when Hollywood wants to portray soullessness, despair, or moral decay, it often looks to the suburbs—as The Sopranos and Desperate Housewives attest—for inspiration.
The pop culture point is a good one. We haven’t seen suburbia portrayed as ‘cool’ in mass media in years. Even sitcoms, which for a good decade were generally set in tree-lined suburbs, have now given way to single-camera comedies set in more urban areas. (There are still some, like The Office and My Name is Earl with more suburban settings, but the suburban nature is always played for laughs.)
Generally, though, the article rings true to me. I cannot, at this point in my life, see myself setting goals that take me toward suburbia. At this moment, I’m a reverse-commuter, living in the city and working in the suburbs. I could live closer to work and spend far less on rent (I might even be able to buy) but that holds no appeal to me — I need the city.
Demographic changes in the United States also are working against conventional suburban growth, and are likely to further weaken preferences for car-based suburban living. When the Baby Boomers were young, families with children made up more than half of all households; by 2000, they were only a third of households; and by 2025, they will be closer to a quarter. Young people are starting families later than earlier generations did, and having fewer children. The Boomers themselves are becoming empty-nesters, and many have voiced a preference for urban living. By 2025, the U.S. will contain about as many single-person households as families with children.
It comes down to goals with Gen Y. That ten year period between your 20th birthday and the time you hit 30 is incredibly critical and, for Y, our goals are markedly different than the goals the boomers held when they were the same age. The biggest difference-maker is the family thing: I am not looking for things like good schools, big backyards or “safe” streets. I have no interest in expanding my family anytime soon. (Except that maybe I might get a cat.)
The moves you make in your 20s tend to trickle down and inform the decisions you make for the rest of your life, so these choices Gen Y is making — to eschew suburbia, to embrace urbanism, to value culture — are not simply some passing phase. As the article shows, our attitude has the capability of revolutionizing the entire housing market.
Photo by jdwag40. Licensed under Creative Commons
Tags: family, suburbia, urbanism
Related: January 30, 2008: Transit City in Toronto: Getting Y to work in 2013? | June 22, 2008: Tearing down commuter infrastructure | June 8, 2008: We’re not all about money, but money IS important |
Some good points….
I’d like to add that when we (Y’s) do decide to settle down with family life, we probably still won’t want to give up the culture-rich connectedness that we’ve grown accustomed to. I think that in our 30’s we’ll still want some suburb-type freedom (yards, safe streets) but will probably prefer to experience more things beyond our neighbourhoods with our families (like other countries). Perhaps a topic for my own blog…..
I am finishing up my undergrad right now, and I can say that I feel caught between both of these spaces. I grew up in suburbia and in some ways, I like the space (great for having a big dog) and the freedom that comes with that space, but yet I don’t like how unsustainable the suburban lifestyle is, with its long commutes and artificiality. Everything seems to be the same in suburbs, no matter where you are, with the same strip malls and cookie cutter homes - I want some sort of character and culture.
[...] Suburban Living is not appealing to Gen Y: YWorking.com Matt Elliott (a fellow Brazen Careerist) has a story on the movement from suburbia to urban living that hits on a lot of the points about why Generation Y is making (and leading) this transition. I agree with most of what he is saying and I am getting close the point in my life where I need to be thinking about these sorts things and making decisions. The pop culture point is a good one. We haven’t seen suburbia portrayed as ‘cool’ in mass media in years. Even sitcoms, which for a good decade were generally set in tree-lined suburbs, have now given way to single-camera comedies set in more urban areas. [...]
After living for the last 15 years in a very suburban setting, I’m ready to move back into the city, so I definitely understand the feeling. For me, cities currently offer most of what I want out of life.
The trick is figuring out how to side-step the deterioration of cities–the best of which currently have blossoming neighborhoods of character with unique stores and businesses–back into the state of disarray that characterized them in the first half of the 20th century and from which everyone was escaping to the suburbs.
I’m seriously concerned about this. There are some great examples out there of urban neighborhoods taking an active role in shaping things in a planned, sustainable way.
If we can learn to do this, then both the urban and suburban environments can be places where people want to live.
AKA Bandit
Thanks for the comments!
I definitely think there’s a lot of ‘bad urbanism’ out there — cases where, if given the choice, I’d likely still choose suburbs over the city. Places like Detroit, Kansas City and Houston come to mind. (No offense to any of those residents!) Generally the cities that have crossed over and become appealing to would-be suburbanites in their 20s and 30s are those that have embraced things like widespread public transit, mixed-use development (how cool is it when you’re just a short walk away from a grocery store, coffee shop or neighbourhood bar?) and neighbourhood events. Some gentrification, as much as it might be scoffed at, tends to be necessary as well.
Some cities are clearly missing the mark, though, which does not bode well.
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