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Living In The Suburbs Feels Like Settling
The suburbs make life harder than it has to be and lacks the diversity to truly represent America.
Growing up I had this sense that the suburbs were comforting. They were a key ingredient in the American Dream. Without a suburban home, I was nothing more than someone still finding themselves in this country. The suburbs offered space, quietness, and peace of mind that I was safe. The cookie-cutter homes, perfectly cut lawns, and observed niceties were things I viewed as normal and necessary in a healthy environment. By the time I left college and went back to my family home to figure out my next move, I realized how fake and unnatural the suburbs were.
Being in a mid-sized city for four years, I started to pick up on the ways in which the suburbs make life harder than it has to be. In Pittsburgh, I could walk to a local coffee shop, take public transportation to go anywhere in the city, and confidently run on the sidewalks to other neighborhoods. None of that was made easy in the suburbs. To enjoy walking to get coffee, you were expected to pay a premium for that ability. Having access to reliable public transit and parks came at a premium too. You see things that were easily accessible in the city were made harder in the suburbs unless I was willing to pay more for the area. The…
