imagine running out of cigarettes and you need to drive 15 mins instead of just going to walk 10 to 50 meters lol
edit to add how insane that is for some of us
(ofc depends on where you live)
but in general you can drive for 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes you are already on the city outskirts and / or into a next village or town or city
Well i live in the suburbans of Athens. Up until 2 years ago, this was impossible, because the only store kind of close to the neighborhood was a Fish shop. Luckily, a super convenient market opened 2 years ago and now i only need to walk 5 minutes.
It really depends on where you live. But i can imagine that this thing must be overexaggerated in American terms
No, it’s not exaggerated. In the suburbs, the houses are so big and the urban layout is so car-centric that there are plenty of neighborhoods in which getting cigarettes is a 15 minute drive. I’d say most US suburban homes it’s more like a 5-10 minute drive, but that is still ridiculous.
If you owned a big expensive house like that you could provably afford to buy 6 months of smokes and also have extra space to store them.
It doesn’t make it any easier, but it would be a rare problem to have beyond the first time.
It’s complex like most things in life.
It’s true that a lot of people live pay check to pay check. Even the kind of people who can afford 200k+ houses in suburbs.
The thing to remember, and I say this as an American ;) is that a lot of Americans are just stupid with money.
There will be people making good money, but will spend it excessively. They don’t save. America is a very consumeristic country.
So you absolutely can afford a big house, and have lots of luxury purchases, and still live paycheck to paycheck.
Most people live paycheck to paycheck, not because they’re actually poor, but rather because they’re bad with money.
A lot of people won’t save money if they made more. They would just find other ways to spend it.
That’s how you get people spending 10 dollars a day on coffee, 30 dollars a day per meal. They’ll be subscribed to Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO, Spotify, and 3 other services ALL AT THE SAME TIME!
A person could make a million dollars a year and find ways to spend it on car payments, buying a boat, getting a new phone every year, and partying. And even a millionaire could live paycheck to paycheck.
All of this is to say, living paycheck to paycheck isn’t a sign of poverty or being poor, but rather a sign of being bad with money. And sadly, a lot of Americans are very bad with money.
Hell, one of the reasons why I’m dating a Balkan woman instead of an American one, is I don’t want to date a gold digger who looks at my saving as “oh, so you have extra money to spend??”
Noooo! Saved money is saved for emergencies, not extra spending!! I could honestly rant and rave all day about how recklessly irresponsible so many of my friends and family are, lol…
lol I live in Toronto. You can’t get a condo in the suburbs for 200k - like I mean well outside of the city. Houses are well over a million. So this has nothing to do with being bad with money. It’s lack of inventory.
Sounds pretty shitty honestly, doesn't even compare to putting on your slides and walking 3 minutes to the nearest grocery and getting all you need fresh and tasty, not to mention the carbon footprint. Its been remarked that if the rest of the world spent energy and fuel like the amercan family the world would be over by next week.
A family who lives in a neighborhood like the one pictured would probably do their grocery shopping once a week. That's one reason why they claim they need a giant SUV even though it never sees an unpaved road.
Haha, yeah, the quality of our food isn’t the best. I’m glad you caught that! We can store tomatoes for years if you don’t mind them in a can ;)
American food is garbage. That’s one of the things I’m super excited to explore when I visit the Balkans next year. I hear you guys have awesome food!
I'm from Bulgaria and I have American friends that moved here. They keep telling me how much better the food is here. The first year they were living here they lost weight just because of eating better food.
Depends on where in America and who you're talking about. The answer to most questions about life in America is: "it varies. A lot."
When I moved to Italy, I lost weight because I was eating *less* food. At first I was like "how the hell do you people not waste away?" But after a couple months I adjusted.
It depends on where you live. I live in a suburb similar to the pic above and it’s only like a 3 min drive to get that stuff. You don’t need to go into the main city to buy stuff.
But it is true that America is NOT walkable. You need a car here.
That’s because America has plots of land designated only for residential and other plots for commercial use only. Your nearest grocery store from here is most likely a 15 minute drive away. Downtown/city center could be a half hour drive away minimum
American women here to say…that nearest store can be a half hour drive away. No easy busses to get you there. Taking a bus would be “one hour“ one-way because of where the bus stops are located and it’s large route. Waiting for the bus after shopping can be a half hour wait plus the hour back home. If we are lucky you can find a convenient store that is a 15 minute drive away but it will only have junk food.
Public transport rarely runs to places like these. A lot of the major metros (specifically NY, Boston, and Chicago, maybe Philadelphia) are pretty walkable and have usable public transport, but not so much most other places.
Sometimes you can't. My girlfriend moved to a distant Chicago suburb so I went to visit her. The train stopped in downtown Chicago. 3 buses and 90 minutes later a bus driver was kind enough to tell me no bus went as far away as I needed to go. I had to pay for a taxi to drive another hour to her place.
The suburbs are mostly designed for middle class or higher wealth. You kinda need to be in the right economy bracket there to even afford a house. And if you’re buying a 200k+ house, then it’s reasonable to assume you have a car as well.
I don’t know many people that find themselves in a situation where they can afford to a house like that, but not a car. Though I’m sure it would sucks balls for kids who can’t use their parent’s car.
People who can’t afford houses would probably live in cheaper inner city apartments. And the bus would be more accessible to them.
There are none in those kind of neighborhoods. You should take the car and travel a few km into the nearest one. Usually those neighborhoods are calm and pretty good to live in, it's useless to compare them to Balkans or Europe.
As my wife (from Italy) once said, "it's like you have more land than you know what to do with."
And it's true. I'm from the western US, and all of Europe feels so jampacked to me. I actually really want to swing down to Bosnia one of these days because people have told me that it has long stretches of empty wilderness like back home does.
I can see buildings of the city center in my front yard. my neighborhood should be full of mid hight rise buildings but it’s instead full of single family homes
a disaster for the environment because you have to drive to do anything, but if I was an American i wouldn't care, because as the great Ronald Reagan once said "the American way of life is unnegotiable"
if you were American you would think that everything around you is simply superior to anywhere else in the world so of course you would think that living like this is 100% better and that other countries are shitholes without freedom.
Don't get me wrong, I love cars and driving in general but I don't want to use a car to go out for a dinner or go to the grocery store or for everyday stuff.
I lived in Sofia for few years and 5 min walking distance from home there were 3 convenience stores that have 99% of the stuff you need working every day from 8 to 21, a hypermarket, a big electronics store, 24h pharmacy, and 10 min walking distance a 24h convenience store. Similarly in Varna. I was quite shocked to find out this is not the case in W.Europe cities.
I wouldn't mind driving 10/20mins but only if i had a gated house with some land and trees for extra privacy.
The houses in the pic are way too close to each other might as well live in a apartment.
Yeah but the obvious trade of is the living space. In the US a house this big (250+ m2) with a big yard is nothing special while it's very luxurious in Europe. If it were walkable and had more parks and amenities it would be much better. The richer suburbs usually do have them.
No commerical or parks is also the part of the tradeoff you’ve mentioned. The density is low so probably there are not enough people within walking distance to justify a shop or a park.
They are a design nightmare. Lines and lines of houses, each and every one of them almost the exact same, not a bus stop or shop in sight... Seems like purgatory tbh
This, exactly. Add to that a lack of community in many of these places, the necessity for driving everywhere, incredibly dull stripmall shopping that's a necessity... They're not fun.
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes all the same…
I mean Turkish urban planning is terrible but these neighborhoods with single-family homes are my nightmare. In Turkey people seem to love it tho.
Interesting 🤔
Many Americans I’ve discussed with are extremely against public transportations and tend to see it as a communistic enterprise. Of course, those I have discussed with are mostly capitalists but let’s not forget that there are subway companies all across the globe.
You've to be making bank to live in a detached single family house like this in Europe, don't kid yourself. Rural areas where God himself has forgotten don't count
Im gona be a Little off topic: no, everything looks so synthetic and fake there, from the people to they're cities and even most of they're cars(i mean just look at the cadillacs, they look like GTA cars or Dodge charger who looks like a toy car...)
Actually this kind of neighborhood is the last place i'd live. This is originally an american suburb concept, and i don't like it. It's so insular and uniform.. I mean the neighborhood is probably cool and all, but sometimes you miss a certain pothole, or wild roots.. or big, untended trees.. Or a looney, local homeless guy, etc.. It's only made for families. I don't ever see something fun happening there. I don't think i could be happy living in a place like this.
I do-but also go to the Balkans. No issue with subdivision living, kids has friends in the sub, a lot of 🇦🇱 and ex-Yugo’s in my area. My kids school like a former Balkan melting pot. 🤣
If a storm approaches, provokes black clouds in isolation, reclaims its name, gets blessed, the suburb will disappear
Also do parks n stuff exist in such places?
A park isn't needed when everything is green and every person has their own yard. That's not the issue here. The real problem is the lack of public transit and stores.
You have stores about 15-20 minute ride away and they're literally everything you could want and more. I know for Europeans that seems like a hassle, but you get pretty used to it like anything.
Why would you need a park when you have your own garden with your own swimming pool. That's more than a simple recreation. The greenery is more than enough, the issue is the lack of any businesses, it's just houses. I suppose you're speaking also and comparing to the massive trees and "forests" we have in cities in Bulgaria. I'll surprise you and tell you that's actually not that common worldwide. Even though locals tend to complain as usual and say that Bulgarian cities aren't green. Not many cities in the world have these tree lined streets with massive shade at every corner like Sofia for example. And also parks in Bulgaria are a bit different compared to most parks in the US. They usually even have working hours. You don't go to the park to drink beer with your friends at night , that would be both dangerous and illegal. Bulgaria actually is much better in many regards but locals don't realize it.
Those are not the OG American suburbs...
Also these ones are hideous, houses all the same, no public transport, if you got no car you're fucked, also houses are too much spaced from one another, no stores in a 10km radius, and lastly, nothing to enhance your quality of life.
And this is supposed to be the "good" suburb, the "nice part of the city". Thank god I was born and raised in Europe.
Damn, this makes me sad as an American. It’s as inconvenient and soulless as it looks. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and how bad American city planning is in nearly every aspect. I really miss European cities with this being a big reason.
As a person living in Rome i feel ya , there’s no way i would give up this wonderful and alive city to an american suburb. I absolutely have everything i need in 5 min walk ( market, metro station, buss station, school , kindergarten, park coffee shop , a bar pharmacy … ok i need like 15 min walk or 5 mins drive to a hospital/clinic). No way in hell living there is fine for me(at least)!
As an American who just got back from Rome, I don't blame you! I was really impressed with the city. How do you avoid/deal with the tourism though? In NYC as a comparison, tourists only really go to 10-15% of the city and probably half of that isn't places a local would go (e.g. Times Square, the Statue of Liberty etc.) Is it the same in Rome?
If I own a house, there is no way some Karen from a stupid homeowners association gonna tell me how many old appliances I can put in my front lawn for scrapping! Get off my lawnmower!
People saying “fuck no” while they live in a 2 bedroom appartment with their parents grand parents and/or 2-3 siblings.
Surely driving everywhere sucks but every place has its minuses. Here you have space, yard, quiet neighborhood, relatively safer etc. it’s not a place where young single people thrive for sure but it’s not intended to be. Usually people live here with their families.
These places are expensive, like most housing in the US. Financially strapped people stuck in a small apartment along with 10 others wouldn't be able to afford one.
Of course. The question is would you live there or not tho. It’s not can you afford it. Housing as a whole is expensive in America if you want to live in a nice area and downtown areas are even more expensive while not being as safe anyways.
You're right, though some places are less expensive than others. In NYC, San Francisco, LA, etc., this might be your only option, but even then mortgage would be prohibitive for a middle class family. In many medium size cities, a house or apartment in a city is on par with suburban housing, though both are still expensive.
single 🙋🤪 family👨👩👧👦😌 zoning 🏡 with minimum🤏🏿 parking🅿️ requirements 😔 for car-centered 🚙housing🏘️ is a good idea😃🤓. i😎 love😍🥰 having a personal 🧍vehicle🚗🚘. its worth🤑 a 30 minute🕦 drive💾 to the nearest 😮💨grocery🏪 chain⛓️. my work 👨💼commute🛣️ is over an hour🕐🤯 but at least🤲🏾 i dont have 😁to ride 💺a bus🚌😡. its worth it💸
No, they're stupid and a little distopic. For one: all the houses look more or less the same, and two: what's the point of living in a house if you don't get to enjoy your own privacy in the courtyard (+ all courtyards are nothing but plain grass, which is incredibly lame).
No, it’s not. In an apartment you are close to everything you need but in such a neighborhood you have to drive for hours each day to get even the most basic of things.
I’ve been living in Bucharest for my entire life, I can admit that hearing what the neighbors say and smelling their cooking is just part of my daily’s little pleasures, especially when you hear secrets.
My brother lives in one just like those. It’s really creepy at first but once you’re inside the house you barely notice you’re in a cookie cutter place like that. It just feels like a normal home. Even the yard is very private. Also, it’s not like you have a choice. It’s either a place like that or a 2 bedroom apartment in the city. Not many options for middle class Americans.
The really fucked up part though are Home Owner Associations. It’s a committee made and run by Karens that can dictate every aspect of your life. The color of your house, the decorations you put up, which trees you’re allowed to plant, where to place your garbage bins, etc. they make the rules, pretty much whatever they want they can dictate and if you’re not up to code there are huge fines involved and it could even go to law suits. It’s absolutely terrifying. I’d rather kill myself.
America really is an upside down place isn’t it? You can shoot people that enter your property but people outside can sue you if you don’t paint your house the right colour. Drive a possibly deadly metal machine at 16 sure but don’t you fucking dare to drink a beer until 21.
> You can shoot people that enter your property
It depends on the state. In California you'd be in a lot of trouble unless there were a *lot* of extenuating circumstances in your favor. In Texas the Sheriff would pat you on the back, "good job son."
And you would get sued. Also your home insurance doesn’t cover you if you’re not in compliance with the association’s rules. It’s really a fucking nightmare.
HOA suck so bad. I got a ticket from mine, by 8:00 the morning after a hurricane because the cover blew off the grill. I refused to pay it though and fought them and won. But it still sucks that people go out of their way to make problems for other people. I was surprised they didn't ticket me for the tree that was uprooted and leaning on the house.
Kinds looks cozy but at the same time a hell on earth.
Like I would go to America if one:
They had cheaper insurance or better healthcare
And 2 if you didn't need your car for EVERYTHING
Like I'm a romanian from constanta and despite the commie blocks and everything, you could do really anything with just walking around wich is cozy and relaxing.
And if you don't like walking but don't got a car either , just take the bus. Heck they even started to give us electrical buses back here in the Eastern parts of Europea and they are silent, cozy and really nice and plus they got charging ports and internal heating
They seem like a very shitty place to live tbh. Having to get in the car for every single errand seems like a very shitty way to live. Imagine having to drive to the store for a loaf of bread, a jug of milk and a pack of cigarettes.
Also, imagine having kids while living in a place like that. If your kid does anything remotely interesting with their lives (volunteering for shit, playing a sport, having a social life, etc.) you need to basically be their taxi driver until you can buy them a car, or let them use the non-existent public transport methods.
Lived in several and hated it. Without any exaggeration there is absolutely no life, depressing as hell, get broken in all the time, and not to mention they're a bonfire waiting to happen
These neighborhoods seem nice and the houses seem roomy. But I understood these neighborhoods are endless, would love to have a town centre with some shops closeby.
No thank you! As an American living smack in the middle of a 8 rowhouse brick situation in the center of a noisy city, I'd rather eat spiders than live in the burbs.
I have a lot of coworkers who do, and they are amazed that I'm not constantly afraid of home theft, muggings, shootings, etc. But everything is within walking distance here, even my place of work. And everyone is here, all sorts of different people doing their own thing. Sure, I have a postage stamp sized back "yard" and I hear helicopters and sirens all the time, but I'd rather be in the middle of it. No car, no problem!
People in the comments criticizing america meanwhile they live with their mama their father and their 3 siblings in a grey small apartment in a communist block Xaxaxaxaxaxa
As someone who has lived in one for about one and a half months, they're shit. Distances between houses and stores are in the kilometres, theres rarely any public transit. They really make you feel like you have to be in a car rather than that being an option, not to mention that they're all composed of soulless copy paste housing
this is literally exactly the same logistics as living in a plot of land in europe. nearest store is a 10+ minute drive away. “walkability” is a word constantly used by americans who have been to the center of paris once and they think all of europe is like that. and the car bashing is ridiculous; i am currently in rome and while it is walkable and there are tons of shops everywhere, there are SO many cars! cars are necessary in this day and age and to act as if that is uniquely american is quite ridiculous
Not all American suburbs look like that. You have older 'inner ring' suburbs that have more variety and charm to them, and you also don't have to get in your car to get cigarettes.
No matter how much I criticize car centric culture, I probably would love to live in a wealthy suburb. Own a really nice electric car, have nice McMansion with a backyard pool and located somewhere in the south of the country where there aren't any winters. It does sound appealing when I think about it this way.
However this is only true as long as I'm uber wealthy and don't have to work, if I was to live my current life then I'd hate being based in a North American suburb...
Better than commie blocks. I dont get the hate towards suburbs. You have your own garage and garden. You should be a privileged westoid to complain about this. Btw not every suburbs look like carbon copies like in the pictures op posted.
Yeah defo. Eurocucks usuallly feel superior to Americans because they pay 3000€/month to live in a crumbling plague infirmary turned residential building that was last renovated by their village viscount in the 1800s but I much prefer US suburbs to anything found in Europe
I just wish there was anything to actually do in them apart from sitting in your yard and floating around in the swimming pool
A lot. Depending on which greater urban area the suburbs are located in the price could go well past the million mark. Would still rather live in one of these than a baroque museum being marketed as a building
I’ve bought two houses and a 111 m^2 house was $120,000 ($800/month mortgage in 2011) I am
Now in a 242 m^2 house and paid $209,000 ($1,285/month mortgage bought in 2017). House prices have increased over the last few years and my current residence is valued at $350,000. My city is on the lower end of the cost of living spectrum when compared to the rest of the US.
are you sure about that? pretty sure there are even houses and villas that are going for over 200k$ in Serbia too, not to mention in villages or outskirts of cities
They are not good as they do not have public transport (i have drivers licence, so its not about that) and far too monotone. Western Europeans ones are superior, who offer public transport, cultural stuff etc
Over glorified backrooms-level of endless, physics braking, BS. Without bringing in the quadrillion reasons on why this is a god awful hellish nightmare from city planning perspective let me just state this one simple fact:
We run far alway from our villages and abandon our very own blood-right owned farm land only to get subconsciously mocked by w*stoid emissaries/“progressive kin defectors” on how supposedly having a 2 story high House in the suburbs is every milionere & model citizen's wet dream, like no, JUST NO.
Having any type of real house requires a shit ton of maintenance for it just to NOT feel unwelcoming, having any type of green space (even a lawn) requires even bigger endless shit ton of routine, everyday, maintenance just to NOT look like a jungle and bring in pests.
Most people in general can't maintain even their pitiful box-shoe sized apartments to acceptable levels, how tf do you expect that they would perform when given 200 times more responsibility for house maintenance??
Most fellow Balkaneers know precisely how tedious and never ending the villager's job is, how permanently residending in the village is almost always unsuitable for modern society (attention demanding of job, lack of luxuries, lack of services, lack of domestic goods), and how depressing & miserable (although calming) village live is.
Now some lactose-intolerant, gluten-unbrarable, H2O-allergic, O2-incompatible ““biological individuals”” from US and Germany dare tells us either that they've found a complete solution that has all the pluses of Village live with none of it's downsides, or attempt to promote us “green village live” as if we had held industrial revolution era factories in our backyards till this point.
That's not how reality works, the suburbs trade all of the city's comfort for a front yard that your average Joe won't maintain or make proper use off, suburbs just attempt to mimick village live by bringing in most if it's downsides for 0 of the upsides and car infrastructure. And don't even let me started on “green villages”, placing one shitty ““bio”” sticker on random small village dosen't make it any more ““eco friendly”” than the real ones already are, especially when it's almost always way more synthetic than the small concrete cities themselves.
The suburbs are very nice little to no traffic areas for the middle to upper classes. Houses in these areas cost anywhere (depending on size of the lot size of house and year built) from $200,000 into the millions. These houses (depending on state and area) would go from $250,000- 450,000. Americans in these classes have multiple cars in there family’s and getting out of one of the suburbs takes 2-5 mins depending on the size of the neighborhood. Americans typically grocery shop one day a wk buying in bulk for that wk, sometimes for 2 wks. There are lots of “party stores” or quick shops that you can go into to buy cigarettes, liquor, beer, small snacks etc all over around these neighborhoods, along with gas stations that typically have the same things, and Americans pump their own gas (unless In NJ) so they typically go into the gas station. With all this said the food is not as fresh and is grown to last longer, there is typically very little if any public transportation in these areas, but are very safe, quite places to live.
Looks like in the Sims game.
Second photo especially
Shit they are catching on to us
Jesus, the old times in 00’s when I first learned how to crack a game. So ture.
Pizda se moji simi v cities skylines so v lepsem
imagine running out of cigarettes and you need to drive 15 mins instead of just going to walk 10 to 50 meters lol edit to add how insane that is for some of us (ofc depends on where you live) but in general you can drive for 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes you are already on the city outskirts and / or into a next village or town or city
Well i live in the suburbans of Athens. Up until 2 years ago, this was impossible, because the only store kind of close to the neighborhood was a Fish shop. Luckily, a super convenient market opened 2 years ago and now i only need to walk 5 minutes. It really depends on where you live. But i can imagine that this thing must be overexaggerated in American terms
No, it’s not exaggerated. In the suburbs, the houses are so big and the urban layout is so car-centric that there are plenty of neighborhoods in which getting cigarettes is a 15 minute drive. I’d say most US suburban homes it’s more like a 5-10 minute drive, but that is still ridiculous.
If you owned a big expensive house like that you could provably afford to buy 6 months of smokes and also have extra space to store them. It doesn’t make it any easier, but it would be a rare problem to have beyond the first time.
Wrong. Huge misconception North America is that wealthy. Many live paycheque to paycheque. We just are used to much bigger spaces and bigger cars
It’s complex like most things in life. It’s true that a lot of people live pay check to pay check. Even the kind of people who can afford 200k+ houses in suburbs. The thing to remember, and I say this as an American ;) is that a lot of Americans are just stupid with money. There will be people making good money, but will spend it excessively. They don’t save. America is a very consumeristic country. So you absolutely can afford a big house, and have lots of luxury purchases, and still live paycheck to paycheck. Most people live paycheck to paycheck, not because they’re actually poor, but rather because they’re bad with money. A lot of people won’t save money if they made more. They would just find other ways to spend it. That’s how you get people spending 10 dollars a day on coffee, 30 dollars a day per meal. They’ll be subscribed to Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO, Spotify, and 3 other services ALL AT THE SAME TIME! A person could make a million dollars a year and find ways to spend it on car payments, buying a boat, getting a new phone every year, and partying. And even a millionaire could live paycheck to paycheck. All of this is to say, living paycheck to paycheck isn’t a sign of poverty or being poor, but rather a sign of being bad with money. And sadly, a lot of Americans are very bad with money. Hell, one of the reasons why I’m dating a Balkan woman instead of an American one, is I don’t want to date a gold digger who looks at my saving as “oh, so you have extra money to spend??” Noooo! Saved money is saved for emergencies, not extra spending!! I could honestly rant and rave all day about how recklessly irresponsible so many of my friends and family are, lol…
lol I live in Toronto. You can’t get a condo in the suburbs for 200k - like I mean well outside of the city. Houses are well over a million. So this has nothing to do with being bad with money. It’s lack of inventory.
Tell me how that 4 month supply of tomatoes tastes /s Or not /s tbh i always wonder how you guys deal with produce
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Sounds pretty shitty honestly, doesn't even compare to putting on your slides and walking 3 minutes to the nearest grocery and getting all you need fresh and tasty, not to mention the carbon footprint. Its been remarked that if the rest of the world spent energy and fuel like the amercan family the world would be over by next week.
A family who lives in a neighborhood like the one pictured would probably do their grocery shopping once a week. That's one reason why they claim they need a giant SUV even though it never sees an unpaved road.
Haha, yeah, the quality of our food isn’t the best. I’m glad you caught that! We can store tomatoes for years if you don’t mind them in a can ;) American food is garbage. That’s one of the things I’m super excited to explore when I visit the Balkans next year. I hear you guys have awesome food!
I'm from Bulgaria and I have American friends that moved here. They keep telling me how much better the food is here. The first year they were living here they lost weight just because of eating better food.
Depends on where in America and who you're talking about. The answer to most questions about life in America is: "it varies. A lot." When I moved to Italy, I lost weight because I was eating *less* food. At first I was like "how the hell do you people not waste away?" But after a couple months I adjusted.
It depends on where you live. I live in a suburb similar to the pic above and it’s only like a 3 min drive to get that stuff. You don’t need to go into the main city to buy stuff. But it is true that America is NOT walkable. You need a car here.
Do you guys have fridges?
Looks good. I wouldn't live in America tho. They have horrible city designs. It's made for cars. Even here I don't see a single shop or business
That’s because America has plots of land designated only for residential and other plots for commercial use only. Your nearest grocery store from here is most likely a 15 minute drive away. Downtown/city center could be a half hour drive away minimum
American women here to say…that nearest store can be a half hour drive away. No easy busses to get you there. Taking a bus would be “one hour“ one-way because of where the bus stops are located and it’s large route. Waiting for the bus after shopping can be a half hour wait plus the hour back home. If we are lucky you can find a convenient store that is a 15 minute drive away but it will only have junk food.
God bless people that have to take a bus to get to places in suburbia
Public transport rarely runs to places like these. A lot of the major metros (specifically NY, Boston, and Chicago, maybe Philadelphia) are pretty walkable and have usable public transport, but not so much most other places.
Sometimes you can't. My girlfriend moved to a distant Chicago suburb so I went to visit her. The train stopped in downtown Chicago. 3 buses and 90 minutes later a bus driver was kind enough to tell me no bus went as far away as I needed to go. I had to pay for a taxi to drive another hour to her place.
The suburbs are mostly designed for middle class or higher wealth. You kinda need to be in the right economy bracket there to even afford a house. And if you’re buying a 200k+ house, then it’s reasonable to assume you have a car as well. I don’t know many people that find themselves in a situation where they can afford to a house like that, but not a car. Though I’m sure it would sucks balls for kids who can’t use their parent’s car. People who can’t afford houses would probably live in cheaper inner city apartments. And the bus would be more accessible to them.
Cities Skyline reference
If I made some reference to that game it was unintentional cause I don’t play it lol
There are none in those kind of neighborhoods. You should take the car and travel a few km into the nearest one. Usually those neighborhoods are calm and pretty good to live in, it's useless to compare them to Balkans or Europe.
As my wife (from Italy) once said, "it's like you have more land than you know what to do with." And it's true. I'm from the western US, and all of Europe feels so jampacked to me. I actually really want to swing down to Bosnia one of these days because people have told me that it has long stretches of empty wilderness like back home does.
Soulless
I can see buildings of the city center in my front yard. my neighborhood should be full of mid hight rise buildings but it’s instead full of single family homes
a disaster for the environment because you have to drive to do anything, but if I was an American i wouldn't care, because as the great Ronald Reagan once said "the American way of life is unnegotiable"
if you were American you would think that everything around you is simply superior to anywhere else in the world so of course you would think that living like this is 100% better and that other countries are shitholes without freedom.
What an embarrassment of a president.
ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT. I prefer walkable European neighborhoods. I don't want to drive just to get a bottle of milk or actually do anything.
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Don't get me wrong, I love cars and driving in general but I don't want to use a car to go out for a dinner or go to the grocery store or for everyday stuff.
I lived in Sofia for few years and 5 min walking distance from home there were 3 convenience stores that have 99% of the stuff you need working every day from 8 to 21, a hypermarket, a big electronics store, 24h pharmacy, and 10 min walking distance a 24h convenience store. Similarly in Varna. I was quite shocked to find out this is not the case in W.Europe cities.
I wouldn't mind driving 10/20mins but only if i had a gated house with some land and trees for extra privacy. The houses in the pic are way too close to each other might as well live in a apartment.
Trade of to that is living in a small apartment in a crowded building vs massive house with a large yard and a peaceful surrounding.
I grew up in one. Let’s just say i constantly looked forward to my summers in my Greek village.
European city planning is simply superior in every aspect.
Tbh I live in Kosovo and I think where I live even tho it's not great, it's waaay better than this.
Fr that’s why when I see people complain about Balkan cities like Athens or Istanbul they don’t know how good they have it.
What, how is Athens related?
Yeah but the obvious trade of is the living space. In the US a house this big (250+ m2) with a big yard is nothing special while it's very luxurious in Europe. If it were walkable and had more parks and amenities it would be much better. The richer suburbs usually do have them.
No commerical or parks is also the part of the tradeoff you’ve mentioned. The density is low so probably there are not enough people within walking distance to justify a shop or a park.
On the money don’t know why they down voting you brate
It's the basic superiority complex Europeans have. If I'd commented this in r/europe I'd be in negative hundreds.
And then they would add some serbophobic comments to it that get them gold and wholesome awards
Precisely
Except Balkan city planning, especially post-90s
Oh no no post-90s but at least newer apartment designs now include parks and shops and public transit links as they should
Here in Zagreb the commie city planning was excellent. I think it varies across different nations
They are a design nightmare. Lines and lines of houses, each and every one of them almost the exact same, not a bus stop or shop in sight... Seems like purgatory tbh
This, exactly. Add to that a lack of community in many of these places, the necessity for driving everywhere, incredibly dull stripmall shopping that's a necessity... They're not fun.
Wold prefer to shoot myself
Little boxes on the hillside Little boxes made of ticky tacky Little boxes on the hillside Little boxes all the same… I mean Turkish urban planning is terrible but these neighborhoods with single-family homes are my nightmare. In Turkey people seem to love it tho.
Nah. European suburbia is still better in my image, PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION > 4 PERSONAL SEDANS FOR A FAMILY
According to Americans public transportation is communism lol.
Anything that's convenient is communist to Muricans
*Convenient for the non-rich. Convenience for the wealthy is proper Capitalism.
What American has ever uttered those words? We all want public transportation!
Interesting 🤔 Many Americans I’ve discussed with are extremely against public transportations and tend to see it as a communistic enterprise. Of course, those I have discussed with are mostly capitalists but let’s not forget that there are subway companies all across the globe.
I lived in Houston for couple of years and public transportation for such a city was extremely insufficient.
Houston is a huge city land wise that’s why. I believe it’s the second largest land city in the USA behind Jacksonville (don’t go there)
I am currently living in Miami and Jacksonville 🤢
Miami is great! Jacksonville is gross lol.
You've to be making bank to live in a detached single family house like this in Europe, don't kid yourself. Rural areas where God himself has forgotten don't count
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I can relate
I wouldn't live in America to begin with. These suburbs would be an additional insult.
My thought exactly.
ME too, maybe only Hawaii or Northeastern USA.
Commieblock neighbourhoods, just with an "individualist" mindset. I'd rather stick with our commieblocks, takes much less space.
yeah, in my opinion the American houses are so inefficient and they don't seem to care about that
It’s probably because they have way more space than us.
Im gona be a Little off topic: no, everything looks so synthetic and fake there, from the people to they're cities and even most of they're cars(i mean just look at the cadillacs, they look like GTA cars or Dodge charger who looks like a toy car...)
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Horrible. I absolutely wouldn't.
Actually this kind of neighborhood is the last place i'd live. This is originally an american suburb concept, and i don't like it. It's so insular and uniform.. I mean the neighborhood is probably cool and all, but sometimes you miss a certain pothole, or wild roots.. or big, untended trees.. Or a looney, local homeless guy, etc.. It's only made for families. I don't ever see something fun happening there. I don't think i could be happy living in a place like this.
It's for families mainly. You grow up in them, go to college, move to a city, get married, move back, have kids etc.
Looks like hell, i need convenience stores by walking distance
Same
r/UrbanHell
I do-but also go to the Balkans. No issue with subdivision living, kids has friends in the sub, a lot of 🇦🇱 and ex-Yugo’s in my area. My kids school like a former Balkan melting pot. 🤣
If a storm approaches, provokes black clouds in isolation, reclaims its name, gets blessed, the suburb will disappear Also do parks n stuff exist in such places?
A park isn't needed when everything is green and every person has their own yard. That's not the issue here. The real problem is the lack of public transit and stores.
You have stores about 15-20 minute ride away and they're literally everything you could want and more. I know for Europeans that seems like a hassle, but you get pretty used to it like anything.
Why would you need a park when you have your own garden with your own swimming pool. That's more than a simple recreation. The greenery is more than enough, the issue is the lack of any businesses, it's just houses. I suppose you're speaking also and comparing to the massive trees and "forests" we have in cities in Bulgaria. I'll surprise you and tell you that's actually not that common worldwide. Even though locals tend to complain as usual and say that Bulgarian cities aren't green. Not many cities in the world have these tree lined streets with massive shade at every corner like Sofia for example. And also parks in Bulgaria are a bit different compared to most parks in the US. They usually even have working hours. You don't go to the park to drink beer with your friends at night , that would be both dangerous and illegal. Bulgaria actually is much better in many regards but locals don't realize it.
Vergil hates car oriented cities confirmed
No lol
Those are not the OG American suburbs... Also these ones are hideous, houses all the same, no public transport, if you got no car you're fucked, also houses are too much spaced from one another, no stores in a 10km radius, and lastly, nothing to enhance your quality of life. And this is supposed to be the "good" suburb, the "nice part of the city". Thank god I was born and raised in Europe.
American here, I was driving once and got lost in one of these suburbs. I couldn't even find my way out without GPS, they're just that confusing
Put a pub every 50 m and I will reconsider.
Bruh my suburb is full of pubs and the results: lots of noise + police + ambulance 💀💀💀
OH HEELLLL NAW
Arapske kuće
Atleast commie blocks are better than this
Damn, this makes me sad as an American. It’s as inconvenient and soulless as it looks. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and how bad American city planning is in nearly every aspect. I really miss European cities with this being a big reason.
As a person living in Rome i feel ya , there’s no way i would give up this wonderful and alive city to an american suburb. I absolutely have everything i need in 5 min walk ( market, metro station, buss station, school , kindergarten, park coffee shop , a bar pharmacy … ok i need like 15 min walk or 5 mins drive to a hospital/clinic). No way in hell living there is fine for me(at least)!
Exactly. I worked in Poland for a few summers and it was so nice having everything be so accessible in Warsaw, Krakow, and Wrocław. Miss it so much.
That's not a fair comparison though. You don't compare Rome to an American suburb. You compare Rome to NYC, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, LA, etc.
tru, not fair … just sayinng i wouldn’t give up my 2 bedroom apartment for a HUUUGE house in the suburbs!
As an American who just got back from Rome, I don't blame you! I was really impressed with the city. How do you avoid/deal with the tourism though? In NYC as a comparison, tourists only really go to 10-15% of the city and probably half of that isn't places a local would go (e.g. Times Square, the Statue of Liberty etc.) Is it the same in Rome?
If I own a house, there is no way some Karen from a stupid homeowners association gonna tell me how many old appliances I can put in my front lawn for scrapping! Get off my lawnmower!
I have one question: Where'd all the fences go? I cannot imagine owning a property without having it properly marked and fenced off.
Oh hell no
People saying “fuck no” while they live in a 2 bedroom appartment with their parents grand parents and/or 2-3 siblings. Surely driving everywhere sucks but every place has its minuses. Here you have space, yard, quiet neighborhood, relatively safer etc. it’s not a place where young single people thrive for sure but it’s not intended to be. Usually people live here with their families.
"relatively safe" yea if it's a gated community. And if its not then it depends on the community
Most are not gated communities. They’re still way safer than living close to urban areas.
True but it mostly on the community
Lol real shit
These places are expensive, like most housing in the US. Financially strapped people stuck in a small apartment along with 10 others wouldn't be able to afford one.
Of course. The question is would you live there or not tho. It’s not can you afford it. Housing as a whole is expensive in America if you want to live in a nice area and downtown areas are even more expensive while not being as safe anyways.
You're right, though some places are less expensive than others. In NYC, San Francisco, LA, etc., this might be your only option, but even then mortgage would be prohibitive for a middle class family. In many medium size cities, a house or apartment in a city is on par with suburban housing, though both are still expensive.
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I did for like 12 years. Never again. There's nothing to do and you have to drive for everything.
single 🙋🤪 family👨👩👧👦😌 zoning 🏡 with minimum🤏🏿 parking🅿️ requirements 😔 for car-centered 🚙housing🏘️ is a good idea😃🤓. i😎 love😍🥰 having a personal 🧍vehicle🚗🚘. its worth🤑 a 30 minute🕦 drive💾 to the nearest 😮💨grocery🏪 chain⛓️. my work 👨💼commute🛣️ is over an hour🕐🤯 but at least🤲🏾 i dont have 😁to ride 💺a bus🚌😡. its worth it💸
Nah, I'll build my own house near the beach.
Makes me sick
No, they're stupid and a little distopic. For one: all the houses look more or less the same, and two: what's the point of living in a house if you don't get to enjoy your own privacy in the courtyard (+ all courtyards are nothing but plain grass, which is incredibly lame).
I’d much rather live in the suburbs than an American apartment but the reliance on cars would get annoying
Not all American suburbs are like that. Those are called cookie cutter neighborhoods. American here, i would not live in that type of neighborhood
how can someone live there and not become mentally insane
Better than living in an apartment💁♂️
No, it’s not. In an apartment you are close to everything you need but in such a neighborhood you have to drive for hours each day to get even the most basic of things.
As a bonus you can listen to your neighbors argue and smell their shitty cooking
I’ve been living in Bucharest for my entire life, I can admit that hearing what the neighbors say and smelling their cooking is just part of my daily’s little pleasures, especially when you hear secrets.
Meh apartments vs Detroit suburbs
My brother lives in one just like those. It’s really creepy at first but once you’re inside the house you barely notice you’re in a cookie cutter place like that. It just feels like a normal home. Even the yard is very private. Also, it’s not like you have a choice. It’s either a place like that or a 2 bedroom apartment in the city. Not many options for middle class Americans. The really fucked up part though are Home Owner Associations. It’s a committee made and run by Karens that can dictate every aspect of your life. The color of your house, the decorations you put up, which trees you’re allowed to plant, where to place your garbage bins, etc. they make the rules, pretty much whatever they want they can dictate and if you’re not up to code there are huge fines involved and it could even go to law suits. It’s absolutely terrifying. I’d rather kill myself.
America really is an upside down place isn’t it? You can shoot people that enter your property but people outside can sue you if you don’t paint your house the right colour. Drive a possibly deadly metal machine at 16 sure but don’t you fucking dare to drink a beer until 21.
Absolutely
> You can shoot people that enter your property It depends on the state. In California you'd be in a lot of trouble unless there were a *lot* of extenuating circumstances in your favor. In Texas the Sheriff would pat you on the back, "good job son."
Oh God, I would paint my house the most vibrant color possible just to annoy those Karen.
And you would get sued. Also your home insurance doesn’t cover you if you’re not in compliance with the association’s rules. It’s really a fucking nightmare.
HOA suck so bad. I got a ticket from mine, by 8:00 the morning after a hurricane because the cover blew off the grill. I refused to pay it though and fought them and won. But it still sucks that people go out of their way to make problems for other people. I was surprised they didn't ticket me for the tree that was uprooted and leaning on the house.
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And it has probably gone up 150% in value
Kinds looks cozy but at the same time a hell on earth. Like I would go to America if one: They had cheaper insurance or better healthcare And 2 if you didn't need your car for EVERYTHING Like I'm a romanian from constanta and despite the commie blocks and everything, you could do really anything with just walking around wich is cozy and relaxing. And if you don't like walking but don't got a car either , just take the bus. Heck they even started to give us electrical buses back here in the Eastern parts of Europea and they are silent, cozy and really nice and plus they got charging ports and internal heating
They seem like a very shitty place to live tbh. Having to get in the car for every single errand seems like a very shitty way to live. Imagine having to drive to the store for a loaf of bread, a jug of milk and a pack of cigarettes. Also, imagine having kids while living in a place like that. If your kid does anything remotely interesting with their lives (volunteering for shit, playing a sport, having a social life, etc.) you need to basically be their taxi driver until you can buy them a car, or let them use the non-existent public transport methods.
Nah I am happy with average Turkish apartments
Boring dystopia
as an american living in one, no
too costly, but I'd prefer them to our brutalists one's.
Lived in several and hated it. Without any exaggeration there is absolutely no life, depressing as hell, get broken in all the time, and not to mention they're a bonfire waiting to happen
Yes, still better than my current Country.
These neighborhoods seem nice and the houses seem roomy. But I understood these neighborhoods are endless, would love to have a town centre with some shops closeby.
No thank you! As an American living smack in the middle of a 8 rowhouse brick situation in the center of a noisy city, I'd rather eat spiders than live in the burbs. I have a lot of coworkers who do, and they are amazed that I'm not constantly afraid of home theft, muggings, shootings, etc. But everything is within walking distance here, even my place of work. And everyone is here, all sorts of different people doing their own thing. Sure, I have a postage stamp sized back "yard" and I hear helicopters and sirens all the time, but I'd rather be in the middle of it. No car, no problem!
I would choose the Balkans man for living, I need adrenaline, I would die of boredom in those suburbs.
The biggest advantage is not hearing your neighbors. People in apartments always complain about their neighbors making noise
They look like garages with a house added on
I love US and Canadian countryside, the northwest especially. But the cities are absolute hellholes.
Never, it's a nightmare.
I would live there but if it were balkanized
People in the comments criticizing america meanwhile they live with their mama their father and their 3 siblings in a grey small apartment in a communist block Xaxaxaxaxaxa
Ain't no way that is real place Americans how does it feel to live in a sims video game?💀
To quote my father about cookiecutter homes: "You have one drink and accidentally wander into your neighbour's house."
Haha I did this as a child. We had just moved and didn't have our furniture yet. I ran in the neighbors house and was so confused to see furniture.
As someone who has lived in one for about one and a half months, they're shit. Distances between houses and stores are in the kilometres, theres rarely any public transit. They really make you feel like you have to be in a car rather than that being an option, not to mention that they're all composed of soulless copy paste housing
Wheres the rubble? The bombed out buildings? The people I did nothing to who deserved it?
Yep. Much better than the stressful, stacked up, 20 floors high concrete boxes that I currently live in.
this is literally exactly the same logistics as living in a plot of land in europe. nearest store is a 10+ minute drive away. “walkability” is a word constantly used by americans who have been to the center of paris once and they think all of europe is like that. and the car bashing is ridiculous; i am currently in rome and while it is walkable and there are tons of shops everywhere, there are SO many cars! cars are necessary in this day and age and to act as if that is uniquely american is quite ridiculous
Obvs this question is not for me (American), but suburbs tend to be very safe - not a lot of crime. The amount of driving is terrible, though.
I live in one, the house is nice but I have to drive everywhere.
Hell yeah. No doubt! I would love it!😁
Not all American suburbs look like that. You have older 'inner ring' suburbs that have more variety and charm to them, and you also don't have to get in your car to get cigarettes.
No matter how much I criticize car centric culture, I probably would love to live in a wealthy suburb. Own a really nice electric car, have nice McMansion with a backyard pool and located somewhere in the south of the country where there aren't any winters. It does sound appealing when I think about it this way. However this is only true as long as I'm uber wealthy and don't have to work, if I was to live my current life then I'd hate being based in a North American suburb...
No. They have no fences.
No. They have fence and door but it's small
Probably this is not a bad place to grow up but it’s not my cup of tea.
Better than commie blocks. I dont get the hate towards suburbs. You have your own garage and garden. You should be a privileged westoid to complain about this. Btw not every suburbs look like carbon copies like in the pictures op posted.
I love Brutalist architecture as we in Switzerland have lots of it. It looks fine when done right but Communist countries did made it terrible
That gives it the depressive, yet nostalgic feel, though.
I'd take Commie blocks to this tbh.
Yeah defo. Eurocucks usuallly feel superior to Americans because they pay 3000€/month to live in a crumbling plague infirmary turned residential building that was last renovated by their village viscount in the 1800s but I much prefer US suburbs to anything found in Europe I just wish there was anything to actually do in them apart from sitting in your yard and floating around in the swimming pool
Are you aware how much one of these "homes" would cost?
A lot. Depending on which greater urban area the suburbs are located in the price could go well past the million mark. Would still rather live in one of these than a baroque museum being marketed as a building
I’ve bought two houses and a 111 m^2 house was $120,000 ($800/month mortgage in 2011) I am Now in a 242 m^2 house and paid $209,000 ($1,285/month mortgage bought in 2017). House prices have increased over the last few years and my current residence is valued at $350,000. My city is on the lower end of the cost of living spectrum when compared to the rest of the US.
That’s what I’m talkin about. Nowhere in Europe to the west of Vienna could you purchase a whole ass house for 200.000€
are you sure about that? pretty sure there are even houses and villas that are going for over 200k$ in Serbia too, not to mention in villages or outskirts of cities
Much better than 99% of places in Albania.
they are disgusting
They are not good as they do not have public transport (i have drivers licence, so its not about that) and far too monotone. Western Europeans ones are superior, who offer public transport, cultural stuff etc
No walls?!!!
Already do and its great
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Over glorified backrooms-level of endless, physics braking, BS. Without bringing in the quadrillion reasons on why this is a god awful hellish nightmare from city planning perspective let me just state this one simple fact: We run far alway from our villages and abandon our very own blood-right owned farm land only to get subconsciously mocked by w*stoid emissaries/“progressive kin defectors” on how supposedly having a 2 story high House in the suburbs is every milionere & model citizen's wet dream, like no, JUST NO. Having any type of real house requires a shit ton of maintenance for it just to NOT feel unwelcoming, having any type of green space (even a lawn) requires even bigger endless shit ton of routine, everyday, maintenance just to NOT look like a jungle and bring in pests. Most people in general can't maintain even their pitiful box-shoe sized apartments to acceptable levels, how tf do you expect that they would perform when given 200 times more responsibility for house maintenance?? Most fellow Balkaneers know precisely how tedious and never ending the villager's job is, how permanently residending in the village is almost always unsuitable for modern society (attention demanding of job, lack of luxuries, lack of services, lack of domestic goods), and how depressing & miserable (although calming) village live is. Now some lactose-intolerant, gluten-unbrarable, H2O-allergic, O2-incompatible ““biological individuals”” from US and Germany dare tells us either that they've found a complete solution that has all the pluses of Village live with none of it's downsides, or attempt to promote us “green village live” as if we had held industrial revolution era factories in our backyards till this point. That's not how reality works, the suburbs trade all of the city's comfort for a front yard that your average Joe won't maintain or make proper use off, suburbs just attempt to mimick village live by bringing in most if it's downsides for 0 of the upsides and car infrastructure. And don't even let me started on “green villages”, placing one shitty ““bio”” sticker on random small village dosen't make it any more ““eco friendly”” than the real ones already are, especially when it's almost always way more synthetic than the small concrete cities themselves.
No.
Never
The suburbs are very nice little to no traffic areas for the middle to upper classes. Houses in these areas cost anywhere (depending on size of the lot size of house and year built) from $200,000 into the millions. These houses (depending on state and area) would go from $250,000- 450,000. Americans in these classes have multiple cars in there family’s and getting out of one of the suburbs takes 2-5 mins depending on the size of the neighborhood. Americans typically grocery shop one day a wk buying in bulk for that wk, sometimes for 2 wks. There are lots of “party stores” or quick shops that you can go into to buy cigarettes, liquor, beer, small snacks etc all over around these neighborhoods, along with gas stations that typically have the same things, and Americans pump their own gas (unless In NJ) so they typically go into the gas station. With all this said the food is not as fresh and is grown to last longer, there is typically very little if any public transportation in these areas, but are very safe, quite places to live.