[blackeyeblitzar]

> There's a reason that the first thing anyone, anywhere, does when they get some money is buy an SUV or (in Europe and Japan) a station wagon and move out to an American-style suburb.

Yep. HN and other echo chambers like Reddit are VERY bad at recognizing this reality. Almost no one wants to live in a super dense urban environment. When you are young, there is appeal to going to the newest bar or whatever, but that wears out very quickly, and then you spend the rest of your life wanting something away from people, away from small apartments in high rises. That means more space and single family homes. That means suburbia or rural areas.

[AlotOfReading]

1/3rd of the US population lives in urban cores, not "almost no one".

[lotsoweiners]

Urban cores is a pretty loose term. Lots of urban cores that aren’t NYC or similar have single family homes in their urban core.

[em-bee]

if that is true then how come that apartments in those urban centers are among the most expensive?

away from people

that's a problem caused by north american individualism. most of the rest of the world does not want to be away from people.

[em-bee]

i'd like to add that it is not just individualism per se but also lack of tolerance. in the US (and all western countries really) i want to be away from people because to many are bothered if i do anything different than them.

in china and other places that i have been to, people don't get bothered by such things, or at least they don't embarrass themselves or others by constantly complaining about it. more tolerance and friendliness would go a long way towards a friendly community that one wants to be part of and not run away from.

[standardUser]

> Almost no one wants to live in a super dense urban environment.

And yet that's where so many people choose to live, hence that aforementioned super density. If almost no one wanted to live there it wouldn't be dense at all. Not to mention people usually pay a premium cost for that density you think they hate.

[blackeyeblitzar]

Choosing to live, or need to live? I think it’s a bit of both. As the parent comment mentioned, you have to look at these things based on factors like age and income. I think the ones that are truly choosing to live in very dense environments are often younger and value some of the access they get in a city. I think there’s another population that doesn’t choose it but has to be there for work or to afford things or whatever (depending on the city). But most cities have a pattern where people on average move further away from city cores as they age, and there’s a reason for that.

[standardUser]

> But most cities have a pattern where people on average move further away from city cores as they age, and there’s a reason for that.

Yeah, it's called kids. The thing people keep having less of.