Have you been to large cities? I bet you can drive an hour from actual Chicago and still be in the suburbs of Chicago. For example. And not cross over farm lands either.
Just doing some casual google mapsing.
Chicago to Naperville, Plainfield, and Elgin, are all roughly an hour, and its all pretty much populated area the entire trip on each. Its basically an hour in any direction to reach the edge of the Chicago suburbs.
Its 2 hours north to Milwaukee and if you stayed along the lake route it would probably be populated suburb areas all the way too.
European here. That concept is really alien to me: if I drive 1h in some direction (assuming I’m not just stuck in traffic) I’m somewhere else, some other city, region, maybe even a different country.
Maybe the gaps between the towns/cities have closed, and it’s just buildings everywhere now, but they were separate at some point and that still shows in how streets, schools, etc are organized - like smaller hubs that expanded until they fused, but not like some tree where every year there’s more and more rings around the central core…
But if feels like people not from America, don’t quite get just how much land the US has (and frankly, Canada too). Especially in some things like “why don’t they all go protest their shitty leadership.” Because for some people its a 40 hour drive, or an expensive plane ticket.
Its also why we have no got “high speed rail”. Part of that is, we do have rail, but its still slow, becsuse its a lot of distance. And maintaining a high speed rail that long would be very difficult (I think we should still do it).
I live in a rural area, which is probably more comparable to your experience, it takes aroujd 45 min to an hour to get to one of several small-mid sized cities. But all are within the same state, and all of those are another 60-90 min to the nearest state border at a minimum.
an area within a metropolitan area which is predominantly residential and within commuting distance of a large city.
I’d say it’s a very fit definition of where I’m at. Most people commute to the metropolitan areas which are mostly manufacturing, and can reliably commute to the nearest city by car (though it can be an hour drive at some places). It’s mostly residential here, some woodland between communities but sometimes little woodland within them.
I’m guessing in a big city, like NYC or LA.
I’m in nyc and 25 is not the norm for a regular burger
I’m about an hour out from the nearest city, in a suburban area. I’m closer to the boonies than anything like New York City or Chicago.
“1h from the nearest city”
“suburban area”
What? How? I has questions…
Have you been to large cities? I bet you can drive an hour from actual Chicago and still be in the suburbs of Chicago. For example. And not cross over farm lands either.
Just doing some casual google mapsing.
Chicago to Naperville, Plainfield, and Elgin, are all roughly an hour, and its all pretty much populated area the entire trip on each. Its basically an hour in any direction to reach the edge of the Chicago suburbs.
Its 2 hours north to Milwaukee and if you stayed along the lake route it would probably be populated suburb areas all the way too.
When traffic is bad, you can drive for an hour in LA and still be in the same neighborhood.
European here. That concept is really alien to me: if I drive 1h in some direction (assuming I’m not just stuck in traffic) I’m somewhere else, some other city, region, maybe even a different country.
Maybe the gaps between the towns/cities have closed, and it’s just buildings everywhere now, but they were separate at some point and that still shows in how streets, schools, etc are organized - like smaller hubs that expanded until they fused, but not like some tree where every year there’s more and more rings around the central core…
This is not a critisism on you, or Europe.
But if feels like people not from America, don’t quite get just how much land the US has (and frankly, Canada too). Especially in some things like “why don’t they all go protest their shitty leadership.” Because for some people its a 40 hour drive, or an expensive plane ticket.
Its also why we have no got “high speed rail”. Part of that is, we do have rail, but its still slow, becsuse its a lot of distance. And maintaining a high speed rail that long would be very difficult (I think we should still do it).
I live in a rural area, which is probably more comparable to your experience, it takes aroujd 45 min to an hour to get to one of several small-mid sized cities. But all are within the same state, and all of those are another 60-90 min to the nearest state border at a minimum.
Tbf in Atlanta 1h from the city is IN the city.
I feel like sub-urban has lost meaning.
If closer to the boonies than a city, you’re no longer sub-urban. Though does rural count as country town, or just farm, or both?
Wikipedia defines it as:
I’d say it’s a very fit definition of where I’m at. Most people commute to the metropolitan areas which are mostly manufacturing, and can reliably commute to the nearest city by car (though it can be an hour drive at some places). It’s mostly residential here, some woodland between communities but sometimes little woodland within them.