It should be packed - economics of housing aside. Spread out everywhere is incredibly inefficient in terms of transportation and infrastructure. Look at the San Joaquin valley in California. 1/6th of the land since 1990 after the initial gold rush has been urbanized and they lose 40k acres a year more to urbanization. CA has some of the best farmland in the country and it’s being paved over with housing and the associated businesses.
The American stereotype of the ‘burbs with a standalone house on a piece of land is destructive and inefficient, especially with the shitty way we build homes for max profit and minimum energy efficiency. The unfortunate downside of everyone living in one area is that housing developers and landlords drive rent and sale prices to the extreme.
huginn@feddit.it 2 months ago
It should be packed but it isn’t was my point - not sure if it came through there.
You also get such a degradation of the fabric of society when every family lives in their little isolated burb, away from all the consequences of their callous indifference, socially isolated and slowly losing all empathy for their fellow man.
Not to mention the torturous effect on kids and parents - being forced to be an Uber for your child or let them rot in boredom in your basement away from all in person socialization.
And I say that as one who grew up rotting. Suburban Atlanta is hell on earth and you can’t convince me otherwise.
Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 2 months ago
As someone who prefers living in actual rural areas, the suburbs are the worst of both worlds. You’ve got a tiny plot of land you can’t do anything with except grow grass, you’re as surrounded by people as you are in a city, you have no public amenities and no space for good private ones, and you still have to drive everywhere.
huginn@feddit.it 2 months ago
Absolutely - I have farmers in my family. They also hate suburbs. It’s neither rural nor urban.