302008
Suburbia gets fat – The inflammation of suburban towns and why it’s a bad idea
Departing life in a suburban “city” certainly will open unopened openings for me as far as creativity is concerned. My hometown Aylmer merged with Gatineau not too long ago, thus becoming the #1 growing city in Canada. As much as one could use the ‘Is the glass half empty or half full?’ comparison of pessimism/optimism, suburbia striving to be a city has a similar contrast of providing the full functions of a city while remaining quieter vs. just enough culture to ruin the conventions of country style living and city life at the same time.
In Aylmer there is certainly NOT a fine balance between the two. A skateboard park and a swimming pool does not make it any more of a city. It just means there’s more skater kids and there’s a little more recreation for ex-golfers who can’t golf for a decent price, because some genius decided to build a skatepool on it. There’s no way “downtown” can expand itself because there’s no room.
Suburban towns lack funding for half-decent public transport and for often those of you who cope with the gas industry need to drive to the city, causing a plethora of pollution every day. A balance of city and country lifestyle in one area is a very fine line and difficult to perfect. The American Dream is killing us.
