It wasn't even industrialisation - it was agriculture. Do people really like cities? I am not so sure - certainly many do, but many also hanker for the village and there are a bunch of interesting theories about us working well at 'village scale' (I could be easily convinced that no-one hankers for the suburbs..) I think if the economic opportunities were not so heavily weighted towards cities we would see much reduced urbanisation.
reply"do people really like cities? I am not so sure"
replyJust look at real estate prices in New York, SF, Boston, etc. Yes, people REALLY like cities. Even the wealthiest people who can afford anything still choose cities
How much of this is because that's where the jobs are? Take that away and where would people choose to live? Wasn't there a notable exodus from SF, for example, during covid when many jobs went remote?
replyMost of the stuff people do in cities was shut or severely degraded during Covid, not just the jobs. If you can't take a quick walk to your favorite cafe in the morning or stop by a cool art event in the evening, yeah, city living gets relatively less appealing.
replyI'm genuinely surprised that you don't know lots of people who enjoy living in a city for its own sake and not only because something is keeping them there.
replyWell, nice to meet you, I'm a city dweller who works from home and can technically live where ever I want. I choose the city because I like it and I want my family to have nice things. I like walking to the kid's school and not owning a car and being close to amenities.
I didn’t express an opinion, I asked questions. Did you reply to the wrong comment maybe?
replyI live in a city too, but I do not think that makes me very unique ;)
They're also much cheaper from an infrastructure perspective to maintain
replyLife in the city is more expensive, in my experience though. Richer, with vastly more options, sure - but more expensive overall.
replyIn the US it's a supply and demand problem. America chose redlining. White flight. More cars, less public transit. They largely stopped building desireable new mixed use medium density neighbourhoods after WW2.
replyThat's a pretty unhinged idea you've presented; feels completely autobiographical.
replyPeople move out to the suburbs after they're married with kids? How is that unhinged?
replyIt's just a strange comment; feels off. Like you're an Easterner imitating an American or something. Very odd.
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