STUDIES SHOW...

After spending so much time harassing people to do our quick survey, I was entranced with the data. (Thank you everyone for helping out!)

At first glance, it seems as though the majority of people actually like suburbia (15 pro, 14 anti, 5 undecided).  Even urban sprawl is not too terrible in our eyes as many people either supported it, or were undecided (8 pro, 19 anti, 7 undecided).

However, the data describes much more when we separate the answers based on certain traits.

First, we split up people based on where they were born, and if they came to the USA for other reasons then college. We aptly named these groups the “Homegrown”, “Foreign”, and “Transplant” groups.

We expected that those who grew up in America would be much more welcoming to the thought of suburbia and urban sprawl, and the foreign and transplant groups would not be in favor.

Our theory was bashed at first, when seeing that 60% of the homegrown group did not like urban sprawl, and only 35% were in support of suburbia.  In fact, the group with the largest support for suburbia was the foreign group, with 66% in favor, and a 50% dislike of urban sprawl.  The transplant group, who had the most experience with different community types, had no indecision about suburbia with 55.5% anti-suburbia, and 44.4% pro-suburbia. When asked about urban sprawl, this group had the second-highest rejection (at 55%), but the lowest 

acceptance (at 11%).

This type of separation also showed an array of experiences, and future goals.

The homegrown group was the most diverse in both past living situations and future goals. In fact, it was the only group with multiple rural childhoods (transplants in second with one person) and the only group to hit all areas of living for the future.

The transplant group was second with this diversity – even with their large amount of dual-living experience. While no one in this group opted to live in a suburb or rural setting, one did want to live in a smaller community setting, and another wise guy opted to live “in a house” as if location did not matter. [side note - I  will find you wise guy. You know who you are and what you did.]  

Those from outside the USA had the least diversity in upbringing (only suburbs and cities), and the least diversity in their future prospect (5 of 6 in a city).

The second analysis focused on the type of community people grew up in. In order to do this, we split the data into “City Kids”, “Suburb Kids”, and “Rural Kids”.

Not surprisingly, those who grew up in suburbia had the highest approval (60%). But they also had a larger anti-sprawl belief then the city kids, with 7 people against and only 5 for sprawl. While we knew the majority of suburbanites would be American, it was shocking to see that one third of those who grew up in suburbia were from other countries. This could either mark the growth of suburbia in other countries, or the proof that America is not as unique as we thought in terms of suburban life. The most astounding part of this analysis can be seen in the future goals of these people. Only 1 of 15 wanted to go back into suburban life, the majority wishing to move to a city. This is the only person in the entire class who wants to live in suburbia in the future.

The city kids were equally torn about urban sprawl and suburbia, with one person unsure and the rest split evenly. However, many of those born in the city are foreign born, almost the exact opposite occurrence with homegrowns in suburbia. Also unlike the suburban study, no one that grew up in a city wants to move away. Only a preference in the city size is shown.

Out of all these data sets, my favorite has to be the rural kids, who were consistent in their thoughts of urban sprawl and suburbia (Only one person liked the idea of urban sprawl and suburbia). Even if that person liked the idea, they did not want to live there, as the majority of rural kids wished to move to a city (the only other requesting a mid-sized city). Another consistency is that all of those who grew up in a rural condition were born and raised in the USA.  

While this did give great info to those who had a single community type while growing up, it did not tell us about those who lived in multiple environments.

Of the 5 who lived in multiple environments, only 1 was born in the USA. The majority of these people came here before high school, and lived in a city or suburb community at some point of time. Two of the 5 have also lived in a rural setting. Those who lived in a city environment were more likely to be against urban sprawl and suburbia, and they wanted to return to a city environment. Those who lived in a rural setting had mixed reviews about suburbia (50/50), but were in agreement against urban sprawl. Only one person from this group liked suburbia and urban sprawl, however no one wanted to return to a rural or suburban environment.

I believe that while our sample size is small, it highlights the ideals of college graduates – that no matter how many articles say that we are going to suburbs in large masses – it is not where we really want to be.