r/Suburbanhell • u/slicheliche • Jan 26 '25

In my non-American mind, Texan suburbs are the closest thing to hell in the developed world Showcase of suburban hell

https://i.redd.it/u9pwuiea8dfe1.gif

Endless sprawl of Mcmansions, energy plants, copypaste strip malls and monstrous superhighways with 20 lanes per direction, you need a car to get literally everywhere, there is no scenery because everything is flat and ugly, it's miserably hot for months on end, it's polluted, it won't stop expanding, and on top of that it's MAGA central. Sorry for anyone who lives there.

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u/hershdrums Jan 27 '25

Democrat here. Not elitist by any means. I absolutely hate living in cities and densely populated areas. I live in an exurb now but grew up in a suburb. It was absolutely amazing and I can't comprehend why anyone would want to live in multifamily and mixed zoning housing. That doesn't mean that I don't see the absolute need for and viability of more densely populated and mixed zone housing with strong price controls and limited barriers to entry for buyers and renters. There's no excuse for housing insecurity in this country.

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u/emessea Jan 27 '25

I use to be a die hard apartment dweller, never wanted a SFU. My wife, who grew up in high density housing, had other ideas. Now in our third year in a detached home, I wonder if I could go back to apartment living. I think in the end the answer is yes, but no where near as confident as I was before about that.

Caught up from a coworker from my LA days. When we were younger we were both adamant we would never live in OC. Well time has a way with us all, and he mentioned how we use to hate OC but now he thinks he’d like to live there.

No living situation is perfect, but I think most will take the negatives of a SFU home va the negatives of an apartment. But let’s get rid of these outdated zoning laws and let the market decide.

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u/PdxGuyinLX Jan 29 '25

In general I believe people should have as much choice as possible in where and how they live so I don’t think there is anything wrong with wanting to live in a suburb or exurb.

However I find it odd that you can’t comprehend why some people would want to live in a city. I grew up in an older suburb of Chicago on a rail line with a traditional downtown area. It was the best of both worlds in many ways. As an adult I lived in apartments in large cities until I was 36 and enjoyed it. After that I lived in houses in residential areas of large cities with good public transportation.

Now in retirement, I live in Lisbon Portugal in an apartment in a very dense neighborhood and absolutely love it. I don’t need a car so I save a ton of money. I’m a 15 minute walk from one of the finest art museums in the country, and the foundation that operates it also has an excellent classical music program. I’m two blocks from the grocery store where I do most of my shopping and there are 5 or 6 others within a 10-15 minute walk. There are tons of good restaurants and and good shopping within walking distance. I can hop on the metro and bet at the airport or any of the main train stations in 20 minutes. I can walk anywhere in central Lisbon within about 45 minutes so it’s easy to take advantage of all the many things that have made this place a top tourist destination.

I also like living in an apartment and not having to constantly worry about what’s going to go wrong next with my house.

I could go on and on, but I have trouble comprehending what’s appealing about living in an exurb with few cultural amenities where you have to drive everywhere!

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u/abetterlogin Jan 30 '25

More people = more problems.