Quote:
Originally Posted by milomilo
In theory you should pay less in transportation and servicing fees in a higher density city. In practise it never works out that way though as it always seems to be more expensive to live in the denser areas of large cities.
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Depends how you do the math in practice. In sprawl, you are likely going to be forced to have a car; in the heart of a big city, you can be car-free. That's probably several grand a year right there for most people. In sprawl, you have a big back yard with trees (that you have to mow/maintain), in the city, you don't but instead you can enjoy the closest public parks, which are likely nicer than anything you'd have in your sprawly neighborhood; etc.
Sure, if you want equal material luxury on all counts, and don't factor in the intangibles (commuting time saved, access to nice restaurants, etc.) then yeah, living in sprawl is cheaper. But that's not an apples to apples comparison at all - a given house with a pool and large private backyard in the middle of nowhere and that exact same house in the heart of Toronto, that's not comparable; the latter has lots of extra advantages and basically no drawbacks, it's normal that you'd have to pay a lot more.
At the end of the year, you can live for $x a year in sprawl or for the same $x a year in the heart of downtown of a big city, and it should be comparable in pros and cons. Sure, you'll have less square feet of living space in the latter case, but you'll have other things to make up for it.