City Vs Country: What do you prefer?

[San Lumen]

Having never lived in a settlement of less than a million people, I have no personal experience of country life.

That being said, I’m eminently satisfied with urban life and given my personality I doubt the supposed advantages of rural life is worth missing out on all the conveniences of high-density cities.

I grew up in a small town and see no advantage to rural life at all. I much prefer the amenities and conveniences of the major city.

[Valkalan]

Tough one. Cities have great amenities, conveniences, tasty food and sexy women, at the cost of traffic, crowds, and higher living costs. The countryside is the opposite, albeit with more hiking opportunities. My answer? My plan is to live in the countryside near a city, so I can score the best of both worlds.

[San Lumen]

Tough one. Cities have great amenities, conveniences, tasty food and sexy women, at the cost of traffic, crowds, and higher living costs. The countryside is the opposite, albeit with more hiking opportunities. My answer? My plan is to live in the countryside near a city, so I can score the best of both worlds.

I love all the things you mentioned about cities except in my case hot guys. I like the traffic and crowds it’s part of what makes a city enjoyable. I love all the noise and mosaic of people from all different backgrounds.

You prefer suburbs then?

[Volinovia]

Deep mountainous countryside. I cannot stand cities, too many people, too much noise, I'm way too paranoid in cities. I like being far away from the problems of the cities and prefer a solitary and quiet life. I enjoy nature as well, I'll trust bears and wolves over people any day!

Amen to that. You can leave your door open here at night, ain't nothing will happen.

[Alcala-Cordel]

Depends on which city and where in the country you're talking about. Overall I really like certain parts of both, so I'm not sure if I can pick one over the other.

[Ankuran]

Suburbs. I've lived in rural areas all my life and, while everything about it annoys them crap out of me, being in even a city like ABQ (which isn't very big when compared to LA or NYC) makes me nervous.

[Valkalan]

I love all the things you mentioned about cities except in my case hot guys. I like the traffic and crowds it’s part of what makes a city enjoyable. I love all the noise and mosaic of people from all different backgrounds.

You prefer suburbs then?

Not suburbs. I was looking at possibly living in the deserts near Las Vegas, so I can visit the city easily whenever I like, but go home to the peace and quiet of the countryside.

Hot guys? Are you a girl on NS?

[Alcala-Cordel]

Suburbs. I've lived in rural areas all my life and, while everything about it annoys them crap out of me, being in even a city like ABQ (which isn't very big when compared to LA or NYC) makes me nervous.

I'm the opposite. It feels like I'm drowning in a sea of consumerism, with endless rows of cut-and-paste homes and little to do. Also, everyone there's white and the suburban lifestyle is unsustainable.

[The Lone Alliance]

I could care less about the city, it's an okay place to visit but I would never want to live there, too many people, too many stupid people especially, even when I visit the only places of the city I can stand are the run down areas that seem like they're not part of the city's "In" crowd.

Also it might just be a personal thing but does anyone else from the country notice that city dwellers tend to have higher being-an-asshole rates than country folk?

Yes.

Yes quite. I think it comes from a sense of Cultural superiority.

[Kilobugya]

What do you all prefer and why?

In normal situation I'm very much of a city guy.

First because I really dislike cars, and where I leave (Paris' suburbs), I can basically do everything just walking or using public transports. Need to buy bread or small food item ? There's a backery or a small shop over the corner. Need some real shopping ? Supermarkets aren't very far. Need to take a long-distance transportation (plane, train) ? Train stations and airports are a metro ride away.

Then because city is full of activities - cultural activities (concert halls, live theaters, cinema with big screens, museum and exhibits), political activities (protests, conventions, conferences), geeky activities (meetups, conferences), and whatever interest you. And dedicated shops for whatever hobby you might it - be it a dedicated RPG shop, specialized computer hardware, or whatever suits you.

Also because city is full of people - always easy to find someone who shares your hobbies, be it to play a RPG or a board game with you, discuss politics or scientific topics, fablabs and hackerspaces, ...

Of course most of the examples I took are from what I like to do (being a geeky, RPG-lover, scientific-minded communist) but if you have different hobbies and interests, the city will also provide for them.

Only real drawback of cities for me is how hard it makes to stargaze. And of course that bloody pandemics screwing everything and making me mostly stay home since a year But vaccines are coming !

[Big Jim P]

Country. (At least a mile from my nearest neighbor)

I live in a small (5500 people). Acceptable.

I have lived in million+ metro areas (Phoenix AZ). Never again.

[Glorious Hong Kong]

I grew up in Hong Kong and studied in London. The city, and I don't mean the third-rate, Third World small-town "city" of half a million people where I currently live, but a proper city comprising millions of people and host to extensive public transportation, cultural, linguistic, racial, and culinary diversity, and a broad array of services, products, and various amenities, is where I truly belong.

[Great Pacific Switzerland]

I prefer the suburb-rural areas unless the city is something like Bern or Tokyo then I'd take suburban-city.

[Random Country 453632]

I personally live in Laoag, which is what could be considered a "suburban city". I like the diversity and culture. And I just like cities in general because of the land value and high/mid rises.
Countryside? Sure, maybe. You get a wonderful view. But the problem? You are far from the mainland, where most shops are, in my opinion cuz of how much people live in cities, thus resulting in more traffic.

Summary, I like cities more.

[Immoren]

City for normal living.
Red cottage, potato patch and lakeside for vacation.

[North Rosmana]

Well in my country everything is so close it really does not matter THAT much.

But I prefer villages over cities, well, towns in my case, to be honest.

[Ainland]

Country, without a shadow of a doubt. Rolling green hills, beautiful landscape, rivers, forests, wildlife, peace, quiet, lovely old houses and buildings, quiet roads... beautiful. Although it's handy if you can have a moderately sized town or city in reasonable driving distance, for things like theatre, cinema, restaurants.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Suburbs. I've lived in rural areas all my life and, while everything about it annoys them crap out of me, being in even a city like ABQ (which isn't very big when compared to LA or NYC) makes me nervous.

I'm the opposite. It feels like I'm drowning in a sea of consumerism, with endless rows of cut-and-paste homes and little to do. Also, everyone there's white and the suburban lifestyle is unsustainable.

"Everyone there is white."

Literally every county surrounding Detroit:

[Ethel mermania]

Ocean Beach towns.

Cities are fun as young adults, as parents more sedate environments are better.

[L-453]

I am Pol Pot's arch enemy, the ultimate urbanite, for I like megacities (even though I don't live in one).

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Ocean Beach towns.

Cities are fun as young adults, as parents more sedate environments are better.

You'd like Traverse City.

[Random Country 453632]

I am Pol Pot's arch enemy, the ultimate urbanite, for I like megacities (even though I don't live in one).

Lol

[San Lumen]

I love all the things you mentioned about cities except in my case hot guys. I like the traffic and crowds it’s part of what makes a city enjoyable. I love all the noise and mosaic of people from all different backgrounds.

You prefer suburbs then?

Not suburbs. I was looking at possibly living in the deserts near Las Vegas, so I can visit the city easily whenever I like, but go home to the peace and quiet of the countryside.

Hot guys? Are you a girl on NS?

I don’t like the peace and quiet. I prefer the noise of the city.

I’m a guy and I’m gay.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

I am Pol Pot's arch enemy, the ultimate urbanite, for I like megacities (even though I don't live in one).

Megacities are too large for me. My ideal city has around 150,000 inhabitants.

[Resilient Acceleration]

As someone who lived in the country for a stint I’ll take the city all day.

This, but more contextualized. Country life is largely dependent on the place and life quality. I and a bunch of colleague did some volunteering work in the past on a village in the countryside. Internet connection was terrible, mobility was low, you are far away from critical infrastructure such as hospitals, religious conservativism was high, educational facilities were poor. We even found using the our host's bathroom of poor sanitation to be a 'unique event' that 'must be experienced' (and thus we banned ourselves from using the village office's bathroom). It was certainly a valuable experience, but I ain't moving there anytime soon.