I was reading about the post-WW2 flight of the white middle class from the dense inner-cities to the newly built suburbs while the inner cities became the homes of the poor and minorities, especially during the 1940s-1980s and seems to have accidently created the often criticised “car culture” of US cities. This is starkly different to other places in this world, especially in Europe where the city centers are almost always the most expensive area in terms of housing. Much of the very central areas of Paris, London, Zurich, Tokyo, Soul ect is basically unaffordable for the average person.
My question is are there any types of people who prefer to live in the inner-cities and have they become more mixed-income and diverse since the 80s ? Would middle class people want to live in the inner cities to be closer to various amenities their city has to offer ?
Just to be clear, I’m talking about the average American mid-west or Southern city of a few million inhabitants. I know places like New York have always been very densely populated and mixed-income
27 comments
>My question is are there any types of people who prefer to _______
There is every type of person in the USA.
Some prefer city living and others do not.
Yes, lots of people (though of course not everyone) prefer this. I grew up in the suburbs and as a result I *only* want to live in “inner cities.”
I currently live in a relatively small city but it has a decent amount of suburban sprawl around it, and I choose to live right near downtown in a neighborhood with a lot of stuff going on.
In the past I have lived in larger cities like SF, and I would 100% rather live in the SF city limits near a transit line than in the vast suburban area that surrounds it.
Sometimes when people say “inner city” they are specifically referring to the worst, grittiest, poorest neighborhood of a city. “Inner city” is sometimes a synonym for “place where crime happens.” So you may get some answers based on *that* definition.
“Inner cities” tends to carry a certain negative connotation, I assume you mean living within a city limits as opposed to suburbs. I’m sure there are, yes. Generally speaking though, especially when you have kids, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense, so more people would prefer the suburbs because you have the space you need to live with kids, raise them, etc. But there are people who like the draw of cities and what they offer.
In the end it’s a completely personal decision. I was born and raised in a major city and I would never live in the suburbs ever. But that is just me, the suburbs are what many, many families prefer
I do. I live in downtown Denver, and don’t have a car. I can walk most places and also live next to a regional transit hub. I love this lifestyle and plan on continuing it for the foreseeable future.
With that said, I’m in my 20’s and single. It is common for people in my demographic to live in city centers, and then move to the suburbs as they marry and have kids.
Yes, me
I pay a lot of extra money to live in San Francisco rather than a suburb, even though my work is essentially fully remote.
Being able to walk or take a bus/train to any type of store or restaurant or amenity I want, and being among such interesting stuff happening all the time and such a variety of cultural stuff is that valuable to me.
I also grew up here in the center of San Francisco and am excited to see my daughter enjoy all the kid-friendly stuff I enjoyed in San Francisco too.
Yes. Which is why inner cities are so densely packed. More people live in the suburbs, but plenty of people prefer and live in inner-cities.
I have quite a few colleagues who pay a lot of money to live in downtown San Diego, so yes.
Yes, even in America, people have differing preferences. We are each individuals and think and act accordingly.
There are some people who prefer to live in inner cities, and some people who prefer suburban or rural life.
Well this is certainly a departure from the extremely popular inquiry of why people choose to live in suburbs.
Note that in American English, “inner city” usually refers to poor/ rundown/ less desirable areas of a larger city.
It’s very common for people to prefer living in cities. Generally more options and more convenience for all sorts of amenities, from employers to restaurants to medical care to cultural events.
Most, if not all, American cities of a certain size will have at least a few luxury condo developments downtown intended for affluent professionals. So there’s a market for that.
Some people prefer cities, some prefer suburbs, some prefer neither. It’s a choose your own adventure.
I’ve spent most of my life in the South. I’ve always preferred older city neighborhoods that are mostly single-family with some low-rise apartments, but a bit more compact and walkable than the stereotypical suburb. Most of the neighborhoods I’ve lived in also have small commercial/ entertainment districts, which is really convenient.
I do like having my single-family house and small yard though. I wouldn’t want to live in a large condo building somewhere like Chicago or New York, as much as I enjoy visiting those cities.
Um, yes!
I’m a lifelong city boy, and my kids are city kids.
So the advantages of living in the inner city:
Less car dependent. Closer to amenities. Closer to “the action.” Likely closer to your job. (Downtown Raleigh, for example, has some really great bars, restaurants, and a number of companies, like [Red Hat,](https://redhat.com) are located there.)
The disadvantages:
Smaller apartments, higher costs. Noise. Less able to “get away from it all.” Generally you don’t have a yard for your dog or for your kids to play in. Traffic. Did I say noise? Yeah, the noise.
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When I was younger I loved living in an apartment within walking distance of the Americana in Glendale. When I got older I was happy to buy a house in the suburbs in the hills above Glendale. As I got much older, I got sick of Los Angeles and moved to Raleigh, to a house in an ‘exurban’ area, on the border of the suburbs and more rural land. (There are two horse ranches within spitting distance of where I live, and the Mountain-To-The-Sea trail is a quarter mile from here, next to Falls Lake.)
If I were young again, I would want to be near all the excitement Los Angeles had to offer. When I get so much older I’m not able to drive myself, I’d seriously consider moving into a ‘mixed-use’ complex, an apartment (sound-proofed of course, because ‘noise’) above a ‘mixed-retail’ area–similar to the condos at the [Americana](https://apartments.americanaatbrand.com/), though something (obviously) a lot cheaper.
But right now, I like where I live.
(Edit to add: and to be clear, the loudest thing I have to deal with at night where I live are [Barred Owls](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barred_Owl/id#) raising a ruckus.)
Cities have things closer together so you can just walk to where you want to go rather than driving. Suburbs are great and all but I hate having to get in a car just to drive somewhere for 5 minutes to get shredded cheese
Urban home are generally more costly per square foot than suburban homes- market values would be flip flopped if there was less of a demand for urban living
I think the term inner city refers to something much different in the US.
We are not a hive mind… we all like and prefer different things. Some people like living in trailer parks or apartment buildings or suburbs or lake houses or log cabins or tents off the grid or self made nuclear bomb shelters…. Some of us wear skinny jeans or cargo shorts or get ugly tattoos or dye our hair red or wear contacts instead of glasses. Some of us drink tea, some drink milk, some prefer coke over Pepsi… there’s millions of us with all different ways of thinking and living life, just like people all over the world do.
I was born, raised, and still live in the city of Chicago. Yes, a good amount of people prefer suburbs like Schaumburg, Evanston, Des Plaines, Arlington Heights, or Downers Grove but I have zero interest in the suburbs. As for income, I can only speak first hand about Chicago but you have blue coller middle class neighborhoods like the northwest side that is mostly teachers, police officers, and firefighters. Then you have upper middle class to upper class areas like Lakeview, Lincoln Park, and Gold Coast. You also have areas that struggle with poverty like any city. Overall Chicago has a wide range of incomes which I suspect is also the case in a lot of cities across America
When the last child earned his diploma, my wife and I hammered a For Sale sign in the yard of our nice, upscale suburban home and moved into town. Lots of reasons:
– I work from home, but it’s a short commute for my wife.
– It’s convenient to everything, including great restaurants, things to do, and places to see.
– I like being able to walk to places as opposed to having to drive literally everywhere.
– I like the diversity in every sense of the word. We felt like the suburbs were a bit too Stepford for our tastes.
– Truthfully, keeping up a big house and yard is a gigantic time suck. There are other things I’d like to do with my free time than shoving a lawnmower up and down the yard.
Yes! Grew up in Minneapolis, its booming
Oh 100%. Give me a city or give me the country. I can’t stand the suburbs.
That being said, the ‘inner-city’ is more of the real poor parts, the hood. I come from those spots. I’d take it again in some ways, maybe there was some nostalgia for me, but there will be people that prefer this.
“Inner city” in the US usually means the poor urban areas. I grew up in a poor neighborhood of a city, not the hood or public housing, just generally poorer, and I don’t ever mean to go back to that. I like it better out in the sticks where I am now. Nobody’s stealing my car batteries.
As for just urban city living, which is what I’m assuming you actually mean, yeah. Some people love living in the cities because they get better access to amenities, entertainment, food, and they don’t have to drive as much. It has its perks if you can afford to live in the nicer parts of town.
Grew up rural. Got out of there as fast as I could. Moved to the suburbs first (baby steps), but by 21 I had moved to the city. I own a home in the city, I work in the city, I hang out in the city. I don’t live in the downtown corridor, but I’m a quick 5 minute drive in a very diverse, mutli-use, city neighborhood. My extended family all still live out in the middle of nowhere and talk about the city as if it’s a death row hellscape with car jackings and murders at every corner (Even though they never come to the city for anything except for big events and nothing has ever happened to them there).
Obviously many people prefer the city, or it wouldn’t be a city.