Would you sooner live in a big city or a smaller rural community?

Question

I have grown up in the city but we moved out of Cardiff into a small Valleys community because we could no longer afford the huge house prices and rents in the city. 3-bed terraced houses in the South Wales Valleys sell for as cheaply as £60,000.

I really miss living in the city - the closeness of everything, the fact that plenty is going on. Living in a smaller community can be lonely and isolating. Plus there is no work nearby so everyone has to commute.

Yet there are real perks to living up here - we don't have anywhere near the crime problems of the cities. The scenery is nicer, people actually TALK to you and say good morning, schools are smaller and better managed.

Would you prefer to live somewhere small and rural or in a big city like London where plenty is happening but living costs are astronomical, crime is high and life is very stressful?

Answer 1

I would pick a big city any day.  The tricky part is making sure you live in the right section of it.

Answer 2

Big city every time.

I grew up in a small village and when I was 20, moved to Copenhagen.  Since then I have lived in London, New York and Chicago and loved them all.

The 'countryside' is BS.  It is boring and depressing and is mostly the result of in-breeding.

Answer 3

I used to live near a big city too.  I used to live near Atlanta, Georgia in America.  Atlanta has a population of more than four million people.  There were plenty of places to work at and plenty of restaurants to eat at, but the traffic conditions were terrible there.  I didn't enjoy moving to a more rural area, but my family was like yours.  My family could no longer afford the cost of living when we lived near Atlanta.  I remember when I went to the Hard Rock Cafe with my cousin.  We were surrounded by pan-handlers and beggers.  There were also some areas that you would not want to be in after dark.  Big cities like that require constant policing to ensure that people are not getting robbed or murdered.  There's no way I would want to move close to Atlanta again.

Answer 4

The answer to this question has a lot more to do with where you are in life, not where you want to live.  

In my 20s, I would never have considered living in a rural community.  Like  a lot of answers you've received, I spent many weekends in clubs loosing my hearing, drinking heavily, smoking, and generally having a great time.

Now that I'm in my 40s, my attitude has changed substantially.  I now live about 50 miles outside of a large city in the Pacific Northwest that has a thriving music and food scene.  Like you've described I've been able to afford a much larger house and property with a bigger buffer between myself and my very hospitable and trustworthy neighbors.

At some point you have have to grow up and let the night-clubbing chapter of your life close and open yourself to the new experiences.  I struggled with the same question at 35 when moving out of the city first became an option.

My wife and I still do half-days in the city once or twice a month on the weekends.  You just need to make more of an effort to keep connected to city life.

Now that you've got a kid, binge drinking and hangovers just aren't a cool and fun to come by as they used to be.

You've also described a 10 year difference in age between yourself and your partner.  Are both of you at the same place in life?  Maybe one of you is more mature or ready for more mature life experiences than the other one.   Hmm...

Answer 5

I used to live in a suburb of a large city. I liked that there were many things to do, but I hated riding in my middle school bus next to druggies that should be in high school. Now I live in a small rural town that is absoulutly amazing. I hardly hear sirens, and when you do, its almost never police sirens, the air is clean, and my town has the best tasting water in the country ((according to records and taste tester officals)) The people smile and wave, and when my car broke down on the side of the road, people I didnt even know came to help me fix my car and offer me a phone to call a tow.

small towns are amazing. I'll stick with them.

Answer 6

I've lived in inner-city Manchester and Bradford, as well as the suburbs of Manchester. I have lived in small market towns of Lancaster and Lewes (East Sussex), and in the Lune Valley in small hamlets. I have lived in the run down seaside "resort" of Morecambe. I now live in the Lake District. I have loved everywhere I have lived (except Morecambe). The have all had the pro's and con's. Love where I live now, the most.

Answer 7

I would rather live on a tropical island with a harem and my kids

Answer 8

Good question and it really is going to depend on the age of those answering. I'm currently living in a semi-rural location after moving out of London a few years ago and haven't looked back. I do feel city-living is for the younger generation. It's exciting with plenty going on all the time, but it gets tiring and your aspirations change as you get older. I used to spend the week recovering from the weekend, and now it's the other way round.

I do feel though I have the best of both worlds in a way as I commute into London every day, but nothing beats that feeling of getting on the train on a Friday night, cracking open a can of Bud and leaving it all behind and watching the countryside roll by.

The main thing I've noticed since moving out of London is that people are far more friendly and there is a real sense of community that you just don't have in big cities. We lived in East London for 25 years and in all that time we got to know about three of our neighbour and that was it. Also, about six months after we moved out our flat was on TV, cordoned off behind a police line as there'd had been a fatal stabbing in the street where we lived. I couldn't imagine that where we are now.

Also, like you say the cost of living in the city is astronomical. You can have a great time if you can afford, but how many really can unless they're prepared to load up their credit cards as many are doing? Put it like this, we sold a 2 bedroom flat in Upton Park (named third worst place to live in the recent Location Location Location poll) and with the profit from that we were able to buy a 3 bedroom house with a huge garden in a good area and still had money left over. That's just crazy, don't you think?

EDIT - Agree with you regarding your young child. Cities are no place for youngsters imho. I remember one day when he was outside the front door sitting in his pushchair when some guys walked past wielding machetes (they wre looking for someone). That was when we decided we were getting out of Dodge. Good luck to you and yours!

Answer 9

I prefer living in cities, as there are always many different places to go and keep me entertained. I used to go to the countryside quite a lot with my family when I was younger and found it SOoooo incredibly boring.  I think I would probably go insane if I had to stay there all the time. lol :-)

Answer 10

I was up in London last week for a short break and I know where I would like to live. Only the rich can survive there and it was interesting to see that the only vehicles on the roads were buses, taxis and really expensive cars. The pollution was awful but the shops were nice, as were the museums and galleries. In the rural areas you have open spaces with clean air and the ability to drive your car at a reasonable speed. There are advantages living in a city but they are outweighed by the joy of living in the country. However, many of the wealthier residents of London have the advantage of owning other residences in the country and therefore have the best of both worlds.

Answer 11

Just move to the city, get a well paid job, after 10 years or so move back to the country and buy a nice big house at a hugely over priced price tag that no local could afford, then ignore all the locals because they are poor so therefore lower class than you then invite your city friends down to do the same whilst wallowing in smug tweeness on how your living the good life, going organic and dropping your kids off at the exclusive village school in your expensive, gas guzzling bmw 4x4 which you justified buying because you have a drive way and you life near a farm. Then once settled you join the local committee and start telling the locals on what they can and cant do. Its all the rage at the mo.

Answer 12

i think both places might be nice