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USA has 40 million too many big out-of-town town houses.
  • Factors include a desire for shorter commutes, walkable neighborhoods, economic considerations and, in the case of Generations X and Y, born between 1965 and 2000, they want the non-car mobility they did not get as youngsters.

    "Having the freedom not to be tied down to a vehicle all the time is a big plus to that generation,"

    http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/feb/02/us-overbuilt-big-houses-planners-find/

    Once the car was seen as a symbol of freedom, but when everybody has a car, freedom is not having to use it.

  • 22 Replies sorted by
  • "When enough is enough, you will always have enough."

  • I know if the current social structure falls to pieces, I'd much rather be in the countryside than the cities. You'd be surprised how fast anarchy can take hold

  • @nomad It doesn't run long without fuel but why would I want to go anywhere? If fuel gets real short I can burn most anything in one of the diesel trucks and tractor. My motorcycle gets 40mpg, I have a scooter that gets close to a hundred mpg, the Land Rover can sit and the Bronco, The focus is a little over 35mpg.

    Then the diesel trucks, A little burned motor oil works fine. Soybean oil burns better than diesel, farm diesel is untaxed and I have an 800 gallon tank at the barn..but again, bad economy, I'll just stay home.

  • @subco
    v10 tdi

    It takes a lot of fries to keep it going. Oddly enough, during the last spate of hurricanes here in central Florida a few years ago, the only fuel you could get was diesel.

  • How long does your car run without fuel? Maybe you should get solar cells or a windmill and an electric car…

  • I lived in the country, then in the city and now I live in the suburbs. I've seen it all! I think it's really all in what you want. When I lived in the country, I could do anything I wanted at all hours of the day or night as long as it involved outdoors type stuff. I still had to drive to get anywhere though. When I lived in the city I could do anything I wanted at all hours of the day or night as long as it involved city type stuff. I still had to drive to get anywhere, or I could take a bus/train but it would take 4X as long as driving.. Now that I live in the suburbs, I can do anything I want because the city and the country are equal distances away. i still have to drive because taking the bus/train takes WAY too long to go to the city and doesn't even go to the country.

    I love my car.

  • @subco It's hard to say anyone is wrong in this. Mormons are the most self reliant people in this country. Each area even has a Mormon store where Mormons can get food and supplies and if they can't afford them, they still get it.

    Mennonites (where I grew up) are the same except the old order Mennonites don't have electricity and many don't use Gas engines.

    Amish...same thing.

    I have solar, wind and hydro power and no outside utilities, have crops and livestock and really don't care what goes on.....but all that is a small percentage of the population and not everyone wants that lifestyle.

    Small towns depend on fewer suppliers and employers than cities so if the burbs get hit....they get hit hard. Not many small town people are self sufficient like they were even 60 years ago when I was growing up. They're mostly Soccer Moms and Shoe Salesmen now.

    The Cities have more resources but they also have more crime. The crime rates are climbing now because of the economy.

    There just is no pattern that fits everything now.

  • I doubt Ebacherville lives in Russia depending on his government for everything. A little preparation goes a long way. Even mormons tend to have a 6 month supply of food 'just in case'. Can you imagine if people lived outside the cities, had a garden, planned waste management, and stored food and water to last for a couple of years?

    It is really complete bullshit.
    All this preparation and food stories.
    If small city is loosing money, basic services degrade or even become absent, local businesses close. Andf all this idiots who think how good they'll live on their prepared food quickly sell house for 10-20% of its normal cost (and only if they are lucky).

  • @Ebacherville

    You are badly wrong.

    As guy who lived in the country that had very serious issues for more quite long time in 90s, with big manufacturing issues, service issues etc. I can assure you that small towns hit will be much much bigger.

  • in case of serious economic troubles, all cities will have major issues... mainly large numbers of people in small areas.. look at Katrina, didn't take but a few days for looting to break out. Even now with mild economic issues people are assembling in masses to protest.. think of that n a grander scale but instead of protesting , looting for food or resources.

    Rural places will have issues also in hard times.. everyone will. the diffrence is the number of people in the same area.

    There is a saying , when people loose everything , they loose it.. people will revert to a less civilized survival mindset if things get bad, and then, you will want to be around as few people as possible.

  • @Ebacherville

    Problem is that in case of really serious economic troubles small cities damage will be much bigger.

  • I agree having access to "city" stuff is nice.. I'm 20 minutes away from a "city" of 10,000 people that has anything I could every need or want. I work on the outskirts of this town. As for commuting I have one stop sign and one stop light to go through and the worst traffic I encounter is a tractor now and a again slowing the pace.. I see people that live in cities or in suburbs that drive 10 miles to work and are in the car for 50 minutes .. that is a waste .. I'm in my car 20 minutes and cover 20 miles..

    Living rural doesn't mean you don't have access to things like medical or shopping resources, however to do so you do have to accept some things like, no pizza delivery, and you shop once a month or every couple weeks, not daily, You stock up on things more, so you have them on hand.

    As for the economics of living in a rural situation, my costs are less, my property was cheaper, taxes are far far less, I can raise a portion of my own food needs, and a portion of my heating comes from the land in the form of firewood. I have next to zero crime to worry about.. We don't even lock our doors, cant remember that last time we did..

    Sure I use a couple gallons of gas a day to commute to work.. but even if gas got to $12 a gallon it would still be cheaper to live in a rural situation if you making use of that rural locations benefits. I have lived in city locations, and have found that generally I spend more when I'm in town, because its so easy to just run out to the store and get whatever.. no planing needed.. so impulse buys happened so easily.. if you live rural you don't just run out and get ice cream... you add it to the shopping list for next week and then come next week you see if you still want it.

  • I live at the border of a city, its silent here and can heard the birds and at night the wind and raindrops. I walk from my door 10 min to the forest and it takes 15 minutes to get to the center of the city by underground. My doc is about 50 m away, foodstore 500 m, I walk. The flat is a little wet in the winter, but i don't care. Its cheap. ;-) I could not live on the country side anymore, I would miss the pulsing life and culture. I could not live in the center of a city I guess, the restless pulsing would drive me crazy.

    Looks like many, many houses will be abandoned - willingly or forced - in the US in the next years. Thats really sad. Places to live have a real value, if nobody takes care of them this value is lost.

  • My wife and I recently took virtual office jobs - leveraging our high-speed Internet for VoIP, video, etc. We definitely don't miss the commute (~100 miles/day for both of us). We do drive for everything else, but it seems trivial by comparison to what we were doing.

  • @Ebacherville

    It is not the problem if you, individually, like it.

    But current structure is unsustainable in case of energy issues.

  • Give it a few more years and gas will likely be $10/gallon (and it will not stop there). Then 10 miles from the nearest supermarket can really hit the pocketbook.

    The other issue is healthcare. I believe secluded living is fine when you are young, but at 80, it is going to be problematic.

  • I'm with you even if I was born a little earlier (well...maybe a lot) I like being miles from everyone else and having hundreds of acres that are all mine, my wife's and the Bears.

    2 miles from the nearest neighbor, ten miles from the nearest gas station or store, 100 miles from the nearest city. That's living!

    Freedom is being able to do what you please.

  • Huh?, I was born in 1976, I want a car, and want to get as far away from any city or town or village as I can.. I live in a very small town, have a farmers 50 acre field behind my house and a forest next to me, and 1 neighbor, that is 150 yards from me, separated by a detached garage and a tree line, I'm on the edge of town and the town is very very small, population of 54 people, and that is too big for me. Big cities, those things are death traps..