Comments on: Suburban Living is not appealing to Gen Y

By: Zorro

Zorro — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 20:41:41 +0000

Matt S – you are not a freak – it is those who eschew suburban life and seek to undermine it in favor of THEIR preferred way of life who are the freaks. I say – let everyone live where they want to live. There will always be people who want to live in cities and that is the same way for the suburbs and rural living. That is the beauty of America – you can choose any of those kinds of places to live – even if you are not wealthy!

The anti-sprawl Nazis are hard at work trying to convince Gen Y in our public schools that renting is good, owning is bad.. Cities are good, suburbs are bad.. That’s the same exact logic which the old Soviet Communists used and it FAILED in the end. Why do they want to resurrect a failed social model???

By: Matt. S.

Matt. S. — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 08:02:04 +0000

The more articles, and blogs that get written the more and more I’m increasingly feeling like a Gen Y freak for valuing wanting and currently actively pursuing Suburban living! I simply don’t see why my generation seems to detest it so much, it is a great way to live and has always been one of my utmost dreams. I simply can’t picture living, and starting a family in any other setting. As I have gotten older the desires to build that foundation, so that eventually when I have found a husband we can start a family of our own, in such a nurturing environment.

By: We’re not all about money, but money IS important - yworking.com

We’re not all about money, but money IS important - yworking.com — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 02:01:57 +0000

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By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:19:53 +0000

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.

By: Todd Sundsted

Todd Sundsted — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:06:46 +0000

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

By: Link Post: Steak, Suburbs, Windows 7 | david giesberg dot com

Link Post: Steak, Suburbs, Windows 7 | david giesberg dot com — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:05:37 +0000

[...] 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. [...]

By: David Giesberg

David Giesberg — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:44:11 +0000

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.

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:09:51 +0000

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…..