Urban Living still a novelty?

New to downtown life? Have questions? Urban living expert, come share your thoughts.
mean
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Re: Urban Living still a novelty?

Post by mean »

aknowledgeableperson wrote: Yes, but that person probably takes a car trip to get to the train station.  And that train ride may be his only "urban" experience.  The rest of his life is a suburban life - shopping, entertainment, etc done by car.  A job commute via public trans does not make an urbanite.
You should bear in mind that the suburban built environment in metro NYC would be considered dense and urban by midwest standards. Lots of people can and do live in the suburbs and have no need for personal vehicles. Someone moving from eastern New Jersey to eastern Johnson County would surely find it amusing that we compare the one to the other.
"It is not to my good friend's heresy that I impute his honesty. On the contrary, 'tis his honesty that has brought upon him the character of heretic." -- Ben Franklin
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bahua
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Re: Urban Living still a novelty?

Post by bahua »

Amusing, or quite possibly downright ridiculous.
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kucer
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Re: Urban Living still a novelty?

Post by kucer »

When we moved to Madison, NJ from Greece, my rents specifically bought a house that was close to the train station so we could get there by foot.  It was just down the street a few hundred yards.  My dad would walk to the station and take the train into Hoboken everyday then jump on the PATH to NYC.  We kids had the ability to walk to Madison's downtown district which was right next to the train station.  Lots of things could be done by foot. However, we were using cars quite a bit on the weekends.  Dense yes, but not necessarily easy to just to walk eveywhere to get the things you needed. 

Anyway, yes, midwest burbs are completely different than east coast burbs simply due to density, age, available land for development, architecture, etc.... no mcmansion developments going up where i grew up.  Builders try to find lots where they can maybe throw up a couple homes, but that's it.

Little trivia..Madison's town hall & train station have been in a few movies.  "The World According to Garp" when the mom gets assasinated was filmed right in front of the town hall.  It's a beautiful builiding. The train station has been in couple movies as well.  "Guess Who" with Bernie Mac is probably the most recent.  They show it towards the end of the movie. 
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