The ever-growing sprawling cities?????

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
Years ago, I bought my land, because it was in the sticks and cheap. Since then, we've become a suburb of New York City. My area is turning into a bedroom community, like on Long Island, N.J. and Conn. We have the same big box stores, the same trendy restaurant chains, the same everything. People gotta live someplace, but still I kind of wish for the return to my "sticks".
I've heard of "urban sprawl", but it's a different thing when it shows up on your doorstep.
 

We've recently become oversprawled. While suburbanization long took over here, more recently even golf courses, remnant farms, and unbuildable wetlands were chewed up and spit out as walled McMansioned subdivisions and job killing CostCos. Long established retail properties have been razed and built over with high-rise condos.
 

The future of Florida: One of these days there is going to be one humongous city that is centered in Orlando, reaches down to Miami, comes up through Kissimmee and ends in Tallahassee.

What are they going to call it? "O-kiss-mi-assee"

Right now, what is referred to as "The Orlando Area" consists of several cities besides Orlando. If you're coming up 17-92, you'll never know what city you are in if you don't see the signs that say "Welcome to" Kissimmee, Orlando, Winter Park, Longwood, Casselberry, Winter Springs, Lake Mary, Sanford. It's a sprawl worthy of Disney World.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Years ago, I bought my land, because it was in the sticks and cheap. Since then, we've become a suburb of New York City. My area is turning into a bedroom community, like on Long Island, N.J. and Conn. We have the same big box stores, the same trendy restaurant chains, the same everything. People gotta live someplace, but still I kind of wish for the return to my "sticks".
I've heard of "urban sprawl", but it's a different thing when it shows up on your doorstep.
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I've never had a desire to live in Metropolis, so to speak. It seems though urban sprawl is no stranger to any of us. We live in what would be referred to as a bedroom community outside of Nashville. When we first put roots down here it would have been called rural or a farm town. Gradually the empty space between communities is disappearing. We own about 100 acres, and it is a common event to have inquiries about selling all or a portion of it. The come in our mailbox, somehow they find a way to text us, and not unheard of cars just driving up to our door.
 
We live in Dallas proper and the population in Dallas County is 1.2 million. The population in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area is over 6.6 million. We had friends who moved from California to Prosper, TX. We had never even heard of it until we went to visit them. It was exactly 50 miles from our home and was a thriving suburban community with huge houses.

We just returned from Denver and couldn't believe how spread out it is. Our tour guide told us Denver proper has a little over 700,000 residents but including the suburbs it is over 3 million. Yes, "suburban sprawl" is surely a thing.
 
seadoug said:
We live in Dallas proper and the population in Dallas County is 1.2 million. The population in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area is over 6.6 million. We had friends who moved from California to Prosper, TX. We had never even heard of it until we went to visit them. It was exactly 50 miles from our home and was a thriving suburban community with huge houses.

We just returned from Denver and couldn't believe how spread out it is. Our tour guide told us Denver proper has a little over 700,000 residents but including the suburbs it is over 3 million. Yes, "suburban sprawl" is surely a thing.
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In years past Nashville and Memphis had a bit of rivalry about which was the largest city in TN. In the last twenty years that has died down, as the boundaries between outlying communities first became referred to as suburbs, and even more blurred now as the reference is to the MSA, Some how that means it is all lumped together for size reporting.
 
seadoug said:
We live in Dallas proper and the population in Dallas County is 1.2 million. The population in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area is over 6.6 million. We had friends who moved from California to Prosper, TX. We had never even heard of it until we went to visit them. It was exactly 50 miles from our home and was a thriving suburban community with huge houses.

We just returned from Denver and couldn't believe how spread out it is. Our tour guide told us Denver proper has a little over 700,000 residents but including the suburbs it is over 3 million. Yes, "suburban sprawl" is surely a thing.
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Remember when the Denver and even Kansas City airports used to seem like they were no where near the city? Now its all blended together.
 
When it comes down to it there are too damn many people. I wandered into Zion in 82, I went back in 04 and there were people everywhere, built up with chain this and chain that. where I live it used to be a quiet rural farm town with a large population conveniently located down the road, I used to think it would be years before the sprawl would reach here. I was wrong, boy was I wrong there's stop-lights chain fast-food, restaurants, and all the stuff that comes with too damn many people. It's a good thing I haven't long left I hate what my part of the world is becoming.
 
Yes, the rural areas here are becoming too crowded with new business projects starting up and the usual spread of city places to shop , so you feel you are in a big city.
 
TheOtherRick said:
When it comes down to it there are too damn many people. I wandered into Zion in 82, I went back in 04 and there were people everywhere, built up with chain this and chain that. where I live it used to be a quiet rural farm town with a large population conveniently located down the road, I used to think it would be years before the sprawl would reach here. I was wrong, boy was I wrong there's stop-lights chain fast-food, restaurants, and all the stuff that comes with too damn many people. It's a good thing I haven't long left I hate what my part of the world is becoming.
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the astounding speed of new build houses , is like something I've never witnessed in my almost 70 years of life as I have in the last 5 years... however in the Uk, while houses are being built.. no extra infrastructure such as Doctors' hospitals schools are being built to cope with the thousands...nay millions of extra people..
 
hollydolly said:
the astounding speed of new build houses , is like something I've never witnessed in my almost 70 years of life as I have in the last 5 years... however in the Uk, while houses are being built.. no extra infrastructure such as Doctors' hospitals schools are being built to cope with the thousands...nay millions of extra people..
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If you venture into areas that used to be farm land, you now see houses virtually cropping up overnight. Many of them are very nice homes, and I see why one would prefer to invest in that setting compared to metro areas. In the towns every square foot is a spot for an apartment complex to sprout up. With the state of our economy many can't even consider purchasing or building a house of their own, with rent ever increasing and extending the impact of that dilemma.
 
hollydolly said:
so what's stopping most people moving there already ?
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Having lived many years living in the plains states, I can tell you that it is desirability. The weather is much less attractive and there is also the fact that good jobs with businesses that pay well naturally seek to locate in areas that will help them keep their good employees. You run into Catch 22 period.
 
Sadly, it sure happens to most towns. I see them building into the rolling hills around here. I don't like it. But it keeps happening. I guess people are living in all those places.
 
there are two positions you can choose on this one ?? be very rich or very poor and either live in the wild wild countryside or big inner city mansions or pavements?
 
if you are the sort who wants to be surrounded by services and conveniences then its the city and its immediate suburbs and all the nonsense that comes with it - if you like nature peace and quiet then you can find it and probably a cheap property but you'll need some sorta transport and different fuels? - you can't have both together heh?
 
davey said:
if you are the sort who wants to be surrounded by services and conveniences then its the city and its immediate suburbs and all the nonsense that comes with it - if you like nature peace and quiet then you can find it and probably a cheap property but you'll need some sorta transport and different fuels? - you can't have both together heh?
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My wife says we can drive thirty miles in any direction and get anything we need. For more than forty years I commuted to work and spent a lot on cars and maintenance, but our children had roots, and we enjoyed the peace and quiet of our home. We made that choice and have no regrets.
 

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