how urban of a guy are you?

[TickTockMan]

I like my town of about 300,000.


To be honest I think people that like big city life are nuts.

 

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

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thankyou

 

[bankside]

I hate the suburbs, I want to live either in the big city or in the deep countryside. To my mind the Dutch suburbs of the 2010s combine the worst of both worlds; nothing to do yet still completely unaffordable and also not enough room to park your car.
I'd rather live underneath a fence in Madrid, than in a house in Hoofddorp (a suburb of Amsterdam), and have...

I flew over Hoofddorp recently.

Along with 24 million other people - I think I see your point.

What's Almere like?

 

[nycguydowntown]

I like my town of about 300,000.


To be honest I think people that like big city life are nuts.

Funny you say that because we think that more nutty weird scandalous things are going on in the burbs and the country than ever go on here.

 

[bankside]

I'm very suburban. I like trees. The dog likes trees. I like not hearing my neighbour's stereo.

 

[cgymike]

I hate suburbs and have either lived in the heart of the city (or very close to downtown) or in the woods 100's of km's from anywhere important. But I'm not sure what an urban gay guy is. One who is attached to the city and can't live without it? One who dresses a certain way? Or....

 

[cgymike]

On night check out the drive through window of your local fast food joint in the suburbs and park in the back while you eat your burger watching the dumpster area. You find that rats are very prolific and common in the burbs just like the City. EWWW YUK.

Plus where you live gigantic roaches.....

 

[JayHawk]

I have lived in all flavors big and small...

I plan on moving into the urban core here soon because KC has a really vibrant arts district and a maze of interesting nightlife and restaurants... however my eventual goal is travel in an airstream... so I will probably keep the city place for when I am road weary while traveling the roads in mostly secluded but not necessarily always rural areas (think a long stretch of beach) ....

Everything has its points. There is an old saying "If you're bored then you're boring." That can easily be applied here to plenty of the situations but if I were absolutely forced to choose a location then it would be isolated beauty. Generally speaking people suck.

 

[eastofeden]

I like both equally as well. I have lived all over the San Francisco Bay Area. I loved living in San Francisco but way too many ghosts for me now so I keep her at a distance.

 

[darden]

I hate suburbs and have either lived in the heart of the city (or very close to downtown) or in the woods 100's of km's from anywhere important. But I'm not sure what an urban gay guy is. One who is attached to the city and can't live without it? One who dresses a certain way? Or....

an urban [STRIKE]gay[/STRIKE] guy is one who feels more at home in urban settings than others?

not really a gay thing, although I understand the appeal of a big city to a gay guy who's coming from a backwater town where there might be 2 other out guys in a 100 mile radius.

 

[Rickrock]

I grew up in the suburbs and haven't really lived elsewhere so it's hard for me to say. Sometimes I think that I would like to live in the city, but I think that I would miss some of the green and quiet. I think that I would like to live where I had options, certainly close to a big city but with mobility and options to suit my changing moods.

 

[bankside]

I really love living downtown in Atlanta. It's very green. There are so many trees. If you look down from a skyscraper or a tall building you'll see trees stretched out for miles with beautiful structures just shooting out from beneath them. I've always loved that. We have the tall buildings and the festivals and the museums right along with the forest feel with parks and the running trails. It's just so alive during the Summer. An evening in Atlanta is warm and breezy, and there are people driving and walking, there's food, and there's music playing on Peachtree. I just can't not feel so inspired to do something.

I grew up in the suburbs, though. I sometimes miss being able to sit out on my driveway and feel a bit more isolated.

Okay your description of Atlanta sounds wonderful. But it also doesn't sound urban, it sounds more like what I'd think of as suburbs. How do you explain the difference? To me, urban is apartments, walk-ups, towers, and pavement, not tree-lined streets and houses...

 

[MoufOfKhaos]

^Atlanta and it's surrounding(the perimeter) is full of that juxtaposition - the urban sprawl mixed in with the feel of the relaxing country. You get the old, nearly Victorian(I lack a better word) homes standing out from the condos, the parks and recreation across the street from the bars and the "top" eateries, the view of the skyscrapers and big business from the bike trails... in short, it's a hodgepodge. A bit of everything next to everything.

 

[RaKroma]

I could do suburbs for summer-camp, vacation experience, other than that, I think it would feel like a confined prison cell with restricted mental stimulation. I visit my friends in New Rochelle and it's horrible: besides driving to malls, diners and movie theater there is not much to do. The only plus side to suburbs is even the poor family can afford to squeeze in a backyard deck and a swimming pool.

 

[cgymike]

an urban [STRIKE]gay[/STRIKE] guy is one who feels more at home in urban settings than others?

not really a gay thing, although I understand the appeal of a big city to a gay guy who's coming from a backwater town where there might be 2 other out guys in a 100 mile radius.

But are there times you would rather actually live in the city where it's the centre of the action compared to jersey city?

 

[rareboy]

I hate the burbs. We moved from the centre of the city to our weekend farm near a small village in 1998 and love being in the country. But I see myself moving back to the inner city at some point if I were on my own.

 

[darden]

But are there times you would rather actually live in the city where it's the centre of the action compared to jersey city?

nope.

I don't really consider where I live now to be the suburbs (I live in a row house neighborhood that would fit in alongside a residential section of Brooklyn or Queens), but when I'm ready to buy a house in a couple years, I'll be looking for a place with a yard and a driveway and breathing room.

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

I flew over Hoofddorp recently.

Along with 24 million other people - I think I see your point.

What's Almere like?

Similar, but it doesn't have a 19th century agricultural core.

I'm told by gays who visit it, that it's very boring there. Went there a few weeks ago for my cousin's wedding anniversary and wasn't really impressed.

 

[frankfrank]

I thought for nearly my entire life that I was a rural/country guy...then, as I continued traveling, a funny thing happened. I still love TRAVELING into deep rural areas and taking my time when possible, but notice I said "TRAVELING into" - not living in.

Within fifty miles of me, there is not even any such thing as a health food store, or an Indian restaurant, nor a place to get really good fish. There is no meaningful film festival, there are no great musical events happening, there is no symphony orchestra, there aren't half a dozen choices of plays to go to...ETC. And, not living near any transit, if I can't drive I have to depend on others. In some cases (though it hasn't happened to me yet), if I need to see a medical specialist, I may need to end up in a hospital 70 or 100 miles or farther from home.

If I am ever close to getting into a relationship, it's very likely that nobody would want to move from a place like Milwaukee or Denver to...HERE.

I have come to realize that I am EITHER/OR, city or suburban. My upcoming move (which still may be three or more years away) will definitely be to a large metropolitan area. If I live in a suburb, the cultural and "happening" part of the metropolis MUST be reasonably easy for me to get to from where I live, by bus or train. Right now, I can drive wherever I need, but I cannot assume and depend on that forever.

With only one exception, every metropolitan area on my "short list" is larger than one million people. Ann Arbor (Michigan) is that exception - also the closest place I am likely to end up from the places on this short list - it's exceptional because the cultural and diversity opportunities do truly imitate what is usually only found in much larger cities.

 

[bankside]

Applause. I think it's interesting that folks assume everyone in our vicinity would rather live in Manhattan. I love Manhattan, I really do, but there is so much to be gained by not living there and having the choice of when to come and go.

I think it is also a question of "what is urban?"

We're in so many different places around the world and each has types of neighbourhood that don't exist in other places so comparing "urban" vs. "suburban" is tricky.