I’ve lived in both, and prefer big cities as long as I’m living in a walkable neighborhood.
I have lived in a tier-2 city, and I hated it. My house used to be next to the highway, the sound was so irritating, the house kept getting dusty, there were too many pigeons shitting and making that irritating noise. I would rather live in a forest farm in a remote area, but I guess small town is the closest to what I’m looking for.
My house used to be next to the highway, the sound was so irritating
You don’t dislike the city, you dislike cars. Cars in cities are often people who live outside the city imposing the cost of their life style onto the city.
This. Fuck cars
Not really. Yes, I dislike large cars, but that’s just a part of why I don’t like cities. I hate living in the city as a whole. Living in Navi Mumbai was a horrible experience. Sure, you have stores and malls nearby, and it is cheaper and more modern than Mumbai, but the vibe sucked. It was nothing like Worli, one of the many high-end parts of South Mumbai. The air was heavily polluted, there was trash thrown everywhere, and I am more of a recluse. Living next to a highway flyover with huge traffic, cars beeping everyday, even at night will make you lose your mind.
Always a small town. I like to have a big house and a semblance of nature available. Although I could do with less right wing neighbours.
Philadelphia has Fairmount park, the largest inner city park (not counting Central Park, which was manufactured). You can live in a house right up against it. I imagine other cities have plenty of nature too. And even not next to giant parks, many larger cities have home with large yards and tons of trees
UK answer: city 100% no question.
Being able to actually get places and do things and have people to do those things with, I don’t even know how a small town could ever compare. Grew up in one, currently living in another one, both crap.
US Centric Answer:
Somewhere in between.
Somewhere there is still a downtown, the arts, interesting things to do.
But also, just not to massive. I don’t want actual skyscrapers. 6 stories is tall enough for me.
There’s only a handful of US cities like this, that straddle the line between having big city amenities and small town charm where it feels like you know a bunch of the locals.
I’m always confused when I hear people say this. I’m in an actual one-watertower small town and I see people I don’t know constantly. If you go up to tens of thousands you might as well be in the city, because you’ll mostly be interacting with strangers.
Is everyone else just really great at keeping track of everyone, or something?
What are some places in the US that would fit this description? I’m guessing maybe something like Burlington, VT?
A lot of big state university towns that are not part of major metros probably fit this. They are going to have a lot of amenities due to the university.
They can definitely fit this, and are my preferred town type. I grew up and spent most my life around college towns and they’re pretty great.
To add examples about the nearby metros: Moscow/Pullman on the Idaho/Washington border are college towns in the middle of a large farming community. Never any real need to travel to a city because they’re too far away and the needs of the college keep the town in stock with everything you’d want anyway. Cheney on the other hand is close enough to Spokane that it uses Spokane’s bus system (or used to idk haven’t been there in years). Cheney is lacking a lot of essentials because people just go to Spokane for them.
Moscow/Pullman have tight knit communities while also being open and friendly. You just see so many people from different places coming in through the colleges. College towns are really the best middle ground of small town feel with city convenience I’ve been able to find.
Most cities in the 100-200k population
Asheville, North Carolina used to be one, but it’s been almost 16 years since I knew anyone out that way, so I don’t know if it still has the same vibe. Easy for that vibe to be killed by too many people moving there.
Also yes, Burlington is pretty much exactly the kind of city I’m thinking about (never been there, just looked it up on Wikipedia).
Mid-sized stand-alone city. Think 50-200K people.
If I explicitly have to choose between big city or small town, then it comes down to employment options. If that is a non-factor (e.g. remote work) then small town.
For those saying culture or whatever, I’m ok with commuting to a big city once a month or whatever for that stuff. I don’t need cultural attractions for my day-to-day life.
Agreed. You go to a small town and everyone knows your business. Big cities end of up terrible commuting experiences as everything needs a vehicle. Yeah, you get often public transportion, but spend most of the day trying to get anything done as everything gets spread out.
Mid size usually has everything reasonably nearby, public transport and cycling is generally safer/practical.
City, no doubt in my mind.
Being able to walk, bike and take transit instead of having to own a car is important for me. I’m not interested in the additional maintenance involved with owning a house, an apartment suits me a lot better. I also like having good access to plenty of things to do in the form of a great selection of restaurants and being close to international transportation options. Good access to nature without having to drive a car is also important to me.
Sounds like a city that’s not in North America. But OP didn’t specify.
Sounds like you’d enjoy Shinjuku.
I’ll have to check it out sometime, thanks for the recommendation.
Definitely small town for me. I couldn’t live with the noise, pollution, crowds and lack of nature of a big city for long. I wouldn’t want to live completely out in the sticks either though, so a decently sized city should be within at least an hours reach or so. Thankfully such places are pretty easy to find in Germany and working from home gives me the option to live pretty much anywhere I want.
So what you are saying is that you would rather be the noise and pollution for the city dwellers?
No, why? I take the train to the nearest bigger city maybe once a month, do my shopping/visit the theatre or whatever and go back. If anything, I’m doing the people there a favor, by not driving the apartment prices up even further by living there.
I’d love to live in a European styled city, but I live in the US. The best option here is a small town.
Having lived in both, I prefer the big city. Aside from numerous reasons already mentioned in this thread, I notice that big city people are more open-minded and more diverse. Being slightly different for whatever reason is more of an issue in a small community.
Having lived in both, big city no question. People stay out of your shit there.
Big city, I am an urban animal, I enjoy having a wide cultural/activity offer, having a grocery store down my stairs, and be able to do tons of stuff by walking/cycling.
big city with close to zero personal vehicles
that includes mini scooters for me, and guys on racing bikes in full spandex gear yelling “cmon!” to people
And if they’re not yelling “c’mon” at you they’ll be yelling “cheater!”. Like bro this isn’t tour de france, I’m just tryna get to work…
What’s that? Big city filled with cars, roads and useless pocket greenspaces, but with no small town community or flexibility?
- North American city planners, circa one city construction ago.
Oil industry lobbyists are a bitch, eh?
It wasn’t just them, or the auto manufacture lobbyists that were probably more powerful at the time. There was also the influence of slightly older conspicuous consumption, so suburban lots were designed to look like mini country estates, and generally the re-emphasis of connection with the outdoors and nature that came in the midcentury. Plus, if it’s a totally new neighborhood, you can keep minorities out from the start.
It seems designers thought people in suburbs would, like, be close friends with everyone on the cul-de-sac, and they’d spend all weekend chilling outdoors and having barbecues. Maybe make one giant croquet course all down the street. Instead, you barely know your immediate neighbor’s names, and anyone two doors down is under suspicion of being a violent criminal.
To be fair, they aren’t the first or last designers to fundamentally misunderstand how the public will interact with the infrastructure; that’s still a source of surprises today. I just wish we had changed course as soon as the truth became clear.
Big city for sure, I don’t want to need a car and I do want to be able to get groceries 23.40 at a Saturday night. It’s nice to have a group of 500k+ people actively trying to supply for all of the needs and wants I might have.
I might go for a city if not for the environmental challenges, people not feeling like people, and the violence. Cities seem built on quantity, villages are built on quality.