Quote:
Originally Posted by mhays
I loved my years growing up in apartments through age 7 and a duplex to age 8. We didn't have a car for much of that time, but everything was close so we walked or rode the bus. This, plus the negative suburban experience at age 9-14, was the genesis of my love for cities.
The suburban period was about being trapped in the neighborhood with nothing to do other than other kids' houses. Getting to school required a school bus. Lots of waiting.
As for townhouses and other middle types, there's a market everywhere for options that mix the advantages/disadvantages of houses and apartments/condos. If these don't exist, it's somewhere between land use codes (or de facto codes) and developers not seeing a financial benefit to do these vs. other types.
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I think this has less to do with the housing type (SFH, Apartment, Rowhouse, etc) and more to do with the neighborhood. Children thrive when they have access to outdoor space - I certainly didn't have that on demand growing up in NYC, it was more of a "mom, can you take me to the park" situation. Additionally, city living is all relative...A family raising their children in a city neighborhood in Chicago, LA, Seattle, Minneapolis, Dallas etc is going to look a lot different than raising a family in Manhattan. What I called "the Country" growing up, doesn't look all that different than the typical North Side of Chicago neighborhood, and probably more urban than most other cities in the Country.