City Living

I started skeeting about this, but I was posting enough separate times that it occurred to me that it should just be a blog post. Let’s start back at the beginning.

If I have to live this fucking close to my neighbors, I would at least like to get a walkable neighborhood out of it.

I’m currently in a townhouse. I have previously lived in apartments, in freestanding houses, in cities of varying size, in suburbs, and in a rural area. The only time I lived in a neighborhood I’d consider “walkable” was in college, when I lived off campus for a couple years. I couldn’t get good groceries without taking a car or bus, but I could get most everything else I needed. (I don’t know how to classify dorm rooms. College dorms are their own beast.)

And to be clear, I don’t have any issues with my current neighbors. My location isn’t actually bad, if you have a car. It’s medium if you take the bus, depending on where you work and prefer to socialize. The people in this complex are nice, the corporate landlord isn’t bad as corporate landlords go.

I know that denser housing is better for the environment. I know I know I know. It makes perfect sense that denser housing is better for the environment. But part of these visions of futuristic carbon-neutral urban utopic living is being able to walk to a coffee shop, a casual restaurant, a bar, maybe some retail. A community center would be nice, if it’s not too socialist for your municipality to help fund one. Maybe a local library branch.

And I grew up in the sticks, for my state. I grew up in a place where you couldn’t walk anywhere, except to a neighbor’s house. The nearest sidewalk was miles away. The street I grew up on was 55 mph. And this sucks in its own ways. I couldn’t see friends unless I could get a ride from my parents. The emergency room was further away than it is from me now. It could be pretty isolating, especially as a kid with no drivers license. But we also had 10+ acres, and we could run around and shout at each other and practice musical instruments without bothering a single soul off the property.

If the dense housing doesn’t have better walkability than the rural housing, then at least the rural housing will give me space and privacy. I’m just so irritated with the current state of things. Fix your zoning laws, municipalities of the United States!!!