Which of the following best describes your neighborhood?

[memphis]

For the purposes of this thread urban/suburban/rural refer not to legal municipal, but rather styles of development. I tried to get pictures from a variety of locations to be as fair as possible. Postwar suburb for me, though I would like to move to streetcar one day. Unwilling to ditch my car and parking is way too much of a hassle in Urban Core.

Urban Core:


Streetcar Suburb


Postwar Suburb


Modern Suburb


Rural

[memphis]

Write in: Communitst Utopia

[memphis]

I live in a tenement in Glasgow so urban core I guess.

The word tenement has an extremely negative connotation in America. Dark. Dirty. Old. Dickensian. I'm thinking some element of meaning must have changed across the Atlantic. Nobody here would describe their own home as a tenement, unless he was making a special point to emphasize how awful it is.

[memphis]

This is far more idealism. Especially London.

I did try to pick a fairly prosperous example of each so as not to be accused of bias by those who might take offense to a blighted subject. I could have just as easily picked an urban slum, a foreclosed suburb, and a rural shack. The London example is very fancy, I agree. But the urban core of European capitals are frequently where the very elite reside, which can come as a bit of a surprise to somebody more accustomed to an American style. If it makes you feel better, here is a more modest urban core photo:

And the postwar suburb I posted was not so monied. Here is a more prosperous example.

[memphis]

I live in a tenement in Glasgow so urban core I guess.

The word tenement has an extremely negative connotation in America. Dark. Dirty. Old. Dickensian. I'm thinking some element of meaning must have changed across the Atlantic. Nobody here would describe their own home as a tenement, unless he was making a special point to emphasize how awful it is.

Oh not at all. Tenements buildings in Glasgow are a mixture, none are 'awful' and many are very palatial and cost up to £750,000. Tenement here just means a style of building.

An American would call those "townhouses" "row houses" or "brownstones"

[memphis]

So, how does urban expansion work in Europe? When a need for growth arises, do they build "urban core" on the outskirts of the city? 

[memphis]

I largely agree with Don's map. And I like (and rather dislike) how it shows how few people live in the old parts of town. But you can't blame them. Except for a few select areas in downtown and midtown, they're some of the worst slums in America.  We're such a suburban town, even if 2/3 of the county population falls into our municipal boundaries. And it's also funny that almost all of the postwar areas inside the 240 loop are white and almost all the postwar areas outside the loop (except for the tony neighborhoods along Poplar of course) are black.

[memphis]

What I also failed to make clear is that one needs not live in a large city to play this game. In my part of the world, small towns usually have a town square urban core. The county courthouse will be in the center of the square if the town is a county seat. And the progession through time and space works pretty much in the same fashion as in the big cities. I very much like the old town squares. Usually has two or three storey buildings with a small movie theater, a local newspaper, a cafe or two. Maybe a general doctor or law office. I suppose there was once retail too,but the larger stores further out put an end to that. And it started long before WalMart. Sears was supplanting the little shops long before anybody had heard of Sam Walton. Collierville, an upscale suburb of Memphis, that was once a small town has a particularly nice town square. Right next to the railroad tracks that no longer facilitate the movement of people but still is a bustling freight corridor. Especially when decorated for Christmas, it is adorable out there. But that's a special case of boutique shops for people with money. Not sure if I'd classify it as urban core or modern suburb. The world so frequently resists the human impulse to categorize.

[memphis]

The thought of new developments being built as "Streetcar Suburbs" is heartening.

The reality is not quite there. Nor could it be without the streetcar. We're still very much an auto oriented country. There are a few supercute little neighborhoods in my hometown with the small lot size, craftsman architecture, and old fashioned streetlamps. But they're still modern subdivisions with streets that do not connect to the rest of town except for one or two exits which lead to a stop light and a major intersection. One developlment got really cute and got permission from the city to build a traffic circle rather than a stop light. And they're on an island in the Mississippi River right next to downtown.  But it's still modern suburbia.

[memphis]

Richie Rich Ville Super Conservative Suburb... just like I like it.

Again, different strokes. I'm sincerly glad it makes you happy even though it would not be my cup of tea. Do you attend church out there? Seems like a requisite for conservative burb life as it's the only way to break the sterile isolation of living out there. That and the country clubs. Until you have kids, and your life begins to revolve around an endless series of little sports and music activities. Also, are the design aesthetics to your liking? That, cost, and the tyranny of distance would be the biggest hurdles for me. But again, very glad to hear that you are happy with your arrangement. Far too many people cannot say the same thing.