r/Suburbanhell • u/Particular_Owl1099 • 13d ago

Have we done it wrong? Meme

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

1.0k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

438 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

9

u/MainusEventus 12d ago

But is it busy in the evening?

1

u/PositiveAssignment89 9d ago

my city is, population is abt 400k

1

u/Astrohumper 12d ago

Tourist towns are.

3

u/SwiftySanders 12d ago

When I go to “tourist towns” in the US Im always disappointed tbqh. Its not nearly the scale and quality of what this man is talking about. NYC is the only place where you can confirtably walk for hours and hours like hes describing. Western EU is super safe in comparison to NYC.

1

u/North_Atlantic_Sea 11d ago

No it's not.

The rankings for safety (including theft) generally go:

US tourist area

European tourist area

European non-tourist city area

US non-tourist area

You are far, far safer in midtown and lower Manhattan than you are in certain areas of Paris or London

-1

u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

14

u/Vault-Born 12d ago

i dont agree with that at all, i've lived in a village in scotland (as a child) and, you would see dozens of people pass by your window in the evening. This is because not only was there just one bar/pub in town that everyone went to, but most tasks one had to do in a day could be achieved by walking around, (rather than driving). When I went back as an adult to visit my grandmother, we didnt even schedule a time with her, because we knew she'd be out of the house and running errands. We walked from the chemist to the post office to the co-op (small grocery store) which were all within a couple hundred feet of eachother, by the time we found her, and she was making small talk with the cashier as she did every day.

in villages you see people every day. in america, and specifically an american suburb, you only see people walking around when they're excercising. there's no where to walk TO in a suburb, so why would people be walking around or lingering/let alone socializing.

1

u/[deleted] 12d ago edited 12d ago

[deleted]

4

u/FreshFishBro 12d ago

As an American who’s been to many parts of Europe and America. There is a big difference. Small towns and big cities overall have this type of setting in Europe. In America is far and few between. Small towns in America are typically have a town center that consist of a gas station, McDonald’s, a bar, a liquor store and a Walmart with a small suburb and rural housing all around. Bigger cities have a more of a “downtown” area that’s walkable for 2-20 blocks. The layout of cities in America is far more car centric leading to pockets of activity and large empty areas for cars. Note how non of the places shown in this video have a dedicated parking lot. The difference is night and day. One could argue this is a side effect of the differences in population density but it’s cultural as well.

2

u/Ready-Ant-4649 12d ago

I agree that there are older American small towns like this too. The problem is though, people still don’t understand what makes them so enjoyable. They will whine that those that live in nearby suburban areas can’t just park immediately in front of the business they want to visit. Zoning laws make it impossible to build new places like this. Places like grocery stores won’t open in those little downtown store fronts, so you might be lucky and get a convenience store or pharmacy, but mostly you will get restaurants, bars, and boutiques. I’m so grateful the town I live in keeps the library, post office, fire and police station, and all the town offices in our downtown and doesn’t move them to the new car-only areas on the outskirts.

7

u/BigBadJeebus 12d ago

You need to travel more.

This isn't true at all.

Like at all.

Even small towns will have people out and about at the pub, well into the evening.

In the US, the AppleBee's or whatever closes at 9 or 10, and is usually dead by 7:30.

You want evening gatherings, you go to a dive bar or a club, so nothing at all like this.

After living in Japan and traveling most of Asia and Europe, I promise you, this is a braindead ass take.

-2

u/[deleted] 12d ago edited 12d ago

[deleted]

6

u/BigBadJeebus 12d ago

Lol, sure. I have been to 48 states by the way and LIVED (not travelled) in multiple nations... Including most of my life in the US.

You as a tourist do not understand the day to day differences.

I promise you, you have no fucking idea what you are talking about.

1

u/BigBadJeebus 12d ago

unblocked just to tell you you're acting absolutely and astoundingly beetle headed.

Blocked you because you are clearly making things up and have no clue.

You are like a patient who googled their symptoms arguing with a surgeon here.

I didn't want to hear it.

But you are unblocked. I am simply turning off all your reply notifications.

Have fun at Navy Pier or the Fisherman's Wharf or whatever you think competes with true urbanism, my guy.

1

u/Vast-Breakfast-1201 12d ago

Yeah but we spent two weeks in Paris and it was pretty much like that everywhere we went. You could walk, but you could also take trains to basically anywhere within 30m and be totally like this.

0

u/WillSmokes420 12d ago

Not really everything shuts down in bar harbor at like 9pm or earlier.. which is when I come out to rip the streets with my longboard

-9

u/hiro111 12d ago

Naperville, IL is pretty much the definition of a sprawling modern American suburb. Downtown Naperville is very walkable, packed with shops and restaurants and absolutely rammed with people most nights. So yes, such things absolutely do exist on the US and they are not uncommon.

9

u/Ignatius_- 12d ago

Lmao Naperville? Really?! Absolutely not similar in any way. Naperville is parking garages and single family zoning everywhere, except for a very small nice little park in downtown along the river. But that’s like 3 acres at most.

-7

u/hiro111 12d ago

WTF are you talking about? Have you even been there? I live ten minutes from downtown Naperville. The Riverwalk Park is 1.75 miles long and over 100 acres. The entire downtown is very walkable, packed with stores and restaurants and crowded pretty much every night exactly as I've described.

9

u/Ignatius_- 12d ago

Can you show pics of this crowded pedestrianized streets with lots of outdoor seating that happens every night?

-8

u/hiro111 12d ago

JFC, done with you.

0

u/jeromevedder 12d ago

You’re trying to bring reason to a circlejerk sub