Quote:
Originally Posted by 1487
yes and people fail to realize that the US is really only major industrialized country that allowed most of it's cities to decline for 30-40 years. Urban living didn't go out of vogue in Europe and other places just because the car became more commonplace.[/U][/U] People are used to doing more with less space in other parts of the world, even in rich countries.
|
For Europe, the difference is that they have an awesome rail system that people actually use not just for work but leisure, and the historical cost-prohibitive price of petrol was really a luxury to have a car, so many didn't have them. So, you could get all your services living in the city and not be dependent on getting services with the use of a car outside of the city.
Recently, I heard that because of the lower price of gasoline in the US, people are willing to live and commute from the farther reaches of the suburbs and the big SUVs are back in vogue. East and West Coasts will continue to rise in population and density. All trends point to this, but I don't think the suburbs are going anywhere anytime soon. Different folks/different strokes, I guess. There will always be a cycle of people transitioning from city to suburbs to city for whatever reasons or people that will always live in the city or people that will always live in the suburbs.