Is rural living always better than urban?

[Blobfish]

I wonder if there is a safe spot on the whole continent....

Maybe on top of Uluru you are safe from all things trying to kill you?

No you may be struck by lightning high up on Uluru

[Puupi]

No you may be struck by lightning high up on Uluru

Note to self: when on Uluru, wear rubber boots.

[StationaryHawk]

Why does there even need to be an article to state that people have different opinions? Of course it's not always better.

[Halyon]

Lol, no. Not always. Absolutes are a horrible currency to deal in.

[Z-Man]

There's more to life than guns and meth. There's a lot of rural areas around here where you couldn't pay me to stop for gas, much less stick around after dark.

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I wonder if there is a safe spot on the whole continent....

Maybe on top of Uluru you are safe from all things trying to kill you?

Uluru is the Arrernte word for "frying pan". About noontime you'll be looking to take your chances with the snakes...

[Ghostpanther]

It is my opinion so there is that. Also I do not know of a single reason one would prefer rural living. Every reason I have been given or read of falls right in line with the concept I laid out above.

You can not like living in rural settings, which is fine and you certainly are entitled to your opinion. But your way of expressing it, is wrong in my opinion. I live on 14 acres, 3 bedroom house, central Air, gas heat, all paid for. Before I retired, I made what today would be considered 6 figures and live now on a comfortable income. So poverty does not fit your description. :P

Not everyone likes to be around a lot of people, yet they do have friends and are very respectful citizens who contribute to society.

Ignorance? I grew up in large cities and know the many short comings they can bring. So once again, it is not a lack of knowing what the large cities offer.

I can give you several reasons I prefer rural living, which you may not like, but they are still reasons. :P

[Jakexe]

I live in the city and I fucking hate it. Too much traffic, too many people, too much noise.
I've lived on a farm. I fucking hated it. Nothing to do, nowhere to shop, shitty internet.

Can't wait till I move down the coast and live in a beach town. Good infrastructure, not many people, easy access to amazing roads.

[Seirith]

Some people would like a greater degree of self-sufficiency that's impossible in suburbia due to space and local government regs. Not to mention the busybody HOAs.

I live in the suburbs and I don't have an HOA. Most of the suburbs around here don't, in fact I don't know of any HOA's around here at all.

[judgementofantonidas]

Interesting article on rural America which contradicts the conventional wisdom that rural is always better than urban.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/marke...cid=spartandhp

I saw a lot of this when our firm provided engineering design and construction observation services for a CA wind farm company with facilities in Illinois and Tennessee. Their facilities are generally located in rural areas in close vicinity to small- to medium-size cities like Fithian or Danville. I still recall all the boarded up retail businesses, empty factories, barely occupied office complex’s parking lots, and beautiful Victorian houses that looked like trash because of lack of care & maintenance.

there is absolutely nothing attractive (to me) about living with all those people. where I live at least I know that if you are on my yard you don't belong there and I can do something about it. not as clearly defined jammed all in next to people in row housing.

[Thetruth1400]

So is living in buttfuck nowhere with no decent access to anything metropolitan.

Rural =/= suburban. You can live quite a ways out of a city, and well away from the core (which you never need to visit), and still not be in a rural area. There are huge lots with either homesteads, farms, or just giant houses in suburban areas. Many people who think they live "out in the country" are just on big lots in the suburbs.

You're forgetting Commuter Towns or Exurban, which is what you're describing. Places with decent sized properties, but neighborhoods, shops and the like.

- Suburbs are areas that have lower population densities, but have houses with little to no yards and many neighbors.
- Rural is much less, usually farms or extremely small towns.

[Fencers]

But your way of expressing it, is wrong in my opinion.

I was speaking broadly. Perhaps too broadly, in retrospect. While I meant to sum up a lot of things I maybe did so too glibly.

I apologize if it came off that way.

<snip>I can give you several reasons I prefer rural living, which you may not like, but they are still reasons.<snip> :P

Fair enough. Though I suspect all these reasons likely fall into the broad brackets I mentioned; education, wealth and social.

'"Not liking people" is a lack of social ability. Even if a person is otherwise a respectful citizen.

"Big house/cheaper housing" is a factor of wealth/poverty. I live in a house larger than the one you described. It is my third. We own it. I am not even retired yet. We'll probably have two homes by the time we do retire; east and west coast.

You personally having lived in a city and having an education does not absolve the many that live in rural areas and lack robust education and knowledge of the world. Many people in small towns or rural areas just have very poor education and lack modern skills.

This is not some stereotype I referencing; I have been to rural areas of America, China, India, Puerto Rico, Yugoslavia and Mexico to tutor, work and visit. Poverty, ignorance and lack of social ability. Those are the big three brackets.

Bureaucracy does contribute to some rural peoples remaining ignorant, poor and at a standstill socially such as when I was in the Philippines. Some local governments are inept- India, Mexico, Puerto Rico. Sure.

But really, it's those three brackets I mentioned most of the time, for most rural peoples.

[Boricha]

I've lived on a farm in a rural area where the closest store of any kind was a 20 minute drive away, and I've lived in a nice 30k people town 15 minutes outside a city. Thus far I have enjoyed the latter waaaaay more. I love having everything within a five minute drive from my house, including a wide variety of restaurants. I also enjoy the people and culture more--it's less conservative, more community based and there's a higher average level of education. I'd still like to try living in the real city as well.

[Shadowferal]

This is what I used to see whenever I thought of the word "city:"

Image One

Image Two

Image Three

Image Four

Image Five

this was what comprised urban life to me...
Now I do understand that there is a lot of poverty in rural areas, but I'm damn sure that there's a happy medium somewhere.

[Osmeric]

There's less chemicals in the water,

Aside from the nitrates, atrazine, etc.

[Ghostpanther]

I was speaking broadly. Perhaps too broadly, in retrospect. While I meant to sum up a lot of things I maybe did so too glibly.

I apologize if it came off that way.

Fair enough. Though I suspect all these reasons likely fall into the broad brackets I mentioned; education, wealth and social.

'"Not liking people" is a lack of social ability. Even if a person is otherwise a respectful citizen.

"Big house/cheaper housing" is a factor of wealth/poverty. I live in a house larger than the one you described. It is my third. We own it. I am not even retired yet. We'll probably have two homes by the time we do retire; east and west coast.

You personally having lived in a city and having an education does not absolve the many that live in rural areas and lack robust education and knowledge of the world. Many people in small towns or rural areas just have very poor education and lack modern skills.

This is not some stereotype I referencing; I have been to rural areas of America, China, India, Puerto Rico, Yugoslavia and Mexico to tutor, work and visit. Poverty, ignorance and lack of social ability. Those are the big three brackets.

Bureaucracy does contribute to some rural peoples remaining ignorant, poor and at a standstill socially such as when I was in the Philippines. Some local governments are inept- India, Mexico, Puerto Rico. Sure.

But really, it's those three brackets I mentioned most of the time, for most rural peoples.

Thanks for the clarification.

I do not agree with people who do not want to be around a lot of people are always lacking social skills. Some simply prefer not being around a lot of people because they enjoy a more relaxed, quiet, hassle free environment. They can still function fine when they are in situations where it is needed. People with social skills issues, have problems adjusting to being around a lot of people. There is a difference.

The house we have is plenty large enough for us. And a larger home around here does not necessarily mean a more expensive one. :P However, trying to find acres which has blacktop paved road access and 700+ foot of road frontage and the land layed out nicely in terms of a nice yard and woods for nature trails and such, can be hard and expensive.
We have everything I could want in a town living when it comes to modern conveniences. High speed cable and TV, natural gas and central ac. And if we lose power, we can actually get along fine and better than most of those in towns.

I can show you many places in large cities here in Ohio, which also have a lot of poverty , drug issues and violence. Actually from my experience here, more so than in the rural areas. Not disputing your experiences, esp when visiting other countries and it may be true in some areas here, in some states. Esp. in the deep South or Appalachian zones.

[Seirith]

I was speaking broadly. Perhaps too broadly, in retrospect. While I meant to sum up a lot of things I maybe did so too glibly.

I apologize if it came off that way.

Fair enough. Though I suspect all these reasons likely fall into the broad brackets I mentioned; education, wealth and social.

'"Not liking people" is a lack of social ability. Even if a person is otherwise a respectful citizen.

"Big house/cheaper housing" is a factor of wealth/poverty. I live in a house larger than the one you described. It is my third. We own it. I am not even retired yet. We'll probably have two homes by the time we do retire; east and west coast.

You personally having lived in a city and having an education does not absolve the many that live in rural areas and lack robust education and knowledge of the world. Many people in small towns or rural areas just have very poor education and lack modern skills.

This is not some stereotype I referencing; I have been to rural areas of America, China, India, Puerto Rico, Yugoslavia and Mexico to tutor, work and visit. Poverty, ignorance and lack of social ability. Those are the big three brackets.

Bureaucracy does contribute to some rural peoples remaining ignorant, poor and at a standstill socially such as when I was in the Philippines. Some local governments are inept- India, Mexico, Puerto Rico. Sure.

But really, it's those three brackets I mentioned most of the time, for most rural peoples.

Personally, one of the reasons I would hate to live in a city is the number of people in them. I do not dislike people, I do not have any social anxieties and I am fine in social situations, I just do not like living where there is people all over the place at every moment. I do not like trying to turn and having to wait 5 red/green lights because there is so many people walking I can't turn. I don't like everything being so crowded that every store, restaurant etc is so filled with people you can barely buy something because there is people all over. I don't like city living, which is usually in small condos or semi detached houses because I like that I can listen to music without bothering someone else. I like not sharing walls. I like my back yard and garden. Not because I "lack social ability" it is because I like it more than being crowded with people.

Also, "bigger cheaper housing" is not always about wealth/poverty. If I moved to say NYC I would get paid a ton more to do any job I am qualified and then could afford the housing, but my housing would cost much more and probably be much smaller (new condos being built in Toronto, 2400sq feet, 4.2 million, my 1900 sq ft house in NY was $150k and includes a basement,attic, 2 car garage and yard).

A city to me offers me nothing I can't get in the suburbs.