Excluded Suburbia.. or is it?:

vs.

Urban sprawl in America, has made neighborhoods all over the place look like carbon copies of each other. From my experince of being in different cities (Charleston, Atlanta, Greenville and Chicago) there is one thing they have in common. A highway or a mass trastit to get into the city. When I lived in Charleston for the first time I would communite 45 min from outside the peninsula  every morning for work. I also have also recently experienced traveling from the suburbs to the booming heart of Chicago during my visits there. During my journeys into each city it makes me wonder: why the heck do folks living in these suburbs travel miles to work downtown. Is it because people want more space and privacy.

I used to think suburban life was the exclued life compared to cities. But then I thought about how these suburbs actually breed a sense of community. You know your neighbor, and you know the kids across the street growing up. When walking around your neighborhood you will wave at the crazy cat lady down the block who never cuts her grass. While in the city, you might share a staircase with someone and never know your apartment neighbor. You may walk the street and never recognize a face while walking down the block. Sure, cities have more socializing going on, but it’s on a different level than suburban life. It got me thinking about how we define community, and it’s definitely different between city and suburban life.