Why I Live in Cities

I don’t have any first hand experience with the suburbs (except Clemson? I’m not really sure what to call it here...) but I can tell you so many reason why I love cities. Growing up I knew every single one of my neighbors, every family, every kid within 10 years of me, every dog I was afraid of, and every “scary old person.” I knew who had the basketball net, who had the best swing set, who’s parents would buy the best snacks and could walk into any of their houses/backyards as if it was my own. On my street all of our parents worked together to make sure we were safe but we pretty much had free reign of the street from day to night. As we got older we quickly gained more independence. We could go to the corner store for snacks, bike to park to meet up with other friends, and trek through the snow for the best sledding hill on snow days. Pretty much, I could find anything I needed on a daily basis without having to depend on my parents or their car. My elementary school used public transportation for all or our field trips and my high school swim team would take the city bus to the community college because we didn’t have our own pool (or parking lot). I had summer jobs that I could walk/bike to and my parents encouraged me to get myself places I wanted to be, on my own. I didn’t own a car until my senior year of college, and, honestly, I can’t wait until I no longer have one because I knew my surroundings so much better.

I learned a lot about independence, exploration, people, and community through living in a city. I learned my comfort zone and how to challenge it. I learned how to play any game with in the limits of the street/sidewalk/front lawn combination and the best ways to use the outdoor space we had. I think living in a city may have shaped my outlook on life more than any other single element, but then again, maybe I would feel this way about the suburbs I had lived in a suburb…