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Nowhere Land (Brit Blasts US Exurbs, "McMansions")
U.K. Guardian ^ | February 23, 2005 | Tristram Hunt

Posted on 02/23/2005 3:23:06 PM PST by srm913

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To: mewzilla
I'll never understand folks who spend a mint on a huge house with no frigging land.

I'll never understand why people move into neighborhoods with no sidewalks.

61 posted on 02/23/2005 4:05:23 PM PST by Desdemona
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To: Jhensy

Regarding residential architecture at least, it needs to be said that relative uniformity is not exactly a new thing, in the US or elsewhere. Former "suburbs" age, with individual structures marked and changed by successive owners. Landscape matures. The ugly, raw, far-flung subdivisions of the past, with once-nearly-identical housing, can and often do become newly desireable over time, as "charm" is acquired and market perception shifts to viewing these older, inner suburbs as being close-in and convenient.


62 posted on 02/23/2005 4:06:56 PM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: MadIvan

The Guardian doesn't like exurbia, because it promises to destroy the DemocRAT party.


63 posted on 02/23/2005 4:07:22 PM PST by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: Liberal Classic
What a whiner. What's this guy's problem anyway?

He prefers old Tudor Country Houses for the old money elite and cramped dull brown townhouses and tenements for everyone else?
64 posted on 02/23/2005 4:08:50 PM PST by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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To: Desdemona

I hear you.

I once heard a guy on a call in radio show saying "What the hell do we need sidewalks for? You can't drive on them"


65 posted on 02/23/2005 4:10:48 PM PST by Lorianne
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To: srm913

it is amazing how phoenix is growing. i remember it before the freeways were built. i never thought i'd see the suburbs reach the mountains to the west, but they're moving right on by.

asu recently had to be divided up into 3 universities because projections were that in 10 years or less it would be a 100,000 student university.

people are talking about phoenix being the "new los angeles".


66 posted on 02/23/2005 4:13:37 PM PST by ken21 ( warning. a blood bath when rehnquist et al retire. hang w dubya. dems want 2 divide us.)
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To: americanbychoice2

Without googling, I think Wyoming is around 800K and Montana around 1 million. Maybe.


67 posted on 02/23/2005 4:15:22 PM PST by Betis70 (I'm only Left Wing when I play hockey)
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To: ArcLight

Geez, this article makes me feel like Americans are the Borg -- Assimilate or die!


68 posted on 02/23/2005 4:15:43 PM PST by stayout
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To: Liberal Classic
What's this guy's problem anyway?

He doesn't like ugliness. I don't either. I think we would all live a lot better if we weren't being crowded out into the exurbs by the huge influx of impoverished and sometimes criminal illegal immigrants around every major city. And frankly a lot of the housing that's being built now is built with planned obsolescence in mind, with truly crappy construction that will urge the owner to move even further out into a newer house in five years.

69 posted on 02/23/2005 4:17:45 PM PST by Capriole (the Luddite hypocritically clicking away on her computer)
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To: Betis70

Wyoming less than 500 thousand. Montana around 650 000.
The brits would love to have that much freedom to roam?
Maybe they wouldn't have to abandon the Fox hunt?


70 posted on 02/23/2005 4:18:26 PM PST by americanbychoice2
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To: kingsurfer; ArcLight; Catalonia

>>I live/sometimes live in Silicon Valley. I love the houses from the 70's

Well I have to disagree (I live here too). Those houses are hideous. Most of Silicon Valley architecture is hideous though, so it's really no surprise.


71 posted on 02/23/2005 4:18:45 PM PST by Betis70 (I'm only Left Wing when I play hockey)
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To: srm913
This is the cultural landscape of modern America: not the downtown conviviality of Cheers, but the soulless anomie of Desperate Housewives; not the urban chic of Friends, but the sprawling southern California of The OC.

The very words "downtown" and "urban" make my skin crawl - I loath cities, and have more trees on my acreage than I can possibly count.

I plan to keep it that way.

72 posted on 02/23/2005 4:19:32 PM PST by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
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To: R. Scott

I used to live in Mesa, Arizona. It is amazing how much the valley has grown. Mesa, for those not familar with the geography, is to the east of Phoenix, and has experienced similar growth. Some good friends of my wife and I were able to afford a new home just after graduating college and getting married. It wasn't big and fancy, hardley a manse. Made of stucco and having little in the way of landscaping, it was modest. But they were able to afford it because of the economy of scale. They recently had their first baby. I guess Mr. Hunt would have preferred that they rented.


73 posted on 02/23/2005 4:20:00 PM PST by Liberal Classic (No better friend, no worse enemy. Semper Fi.)
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To: srm913

And then you might choose to live in those cramped wall-to-wall town homes they call houses in Angleland. I've been in many of them and came away amazed that anyone can exist in such cookie-cutter, dreary houses. The architecture and interior decor is so 19th century one feels as though the whole country never will amount to anything (of course it won't-too socialistic). Our daughter's house in London seems identical to the neighbor's houses and, although it is relatively new and expensive, it already looks as though it needs a major overhaul and beautification. England also has some significant sprawl and people drive for miles to reach a US-style shopping center.


74 posted on 02/23/2005 4:22:18 PM PST by Paulus Invictus
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To: americanbychoice2

Yeah I was way off. I couldn't remember if they were at the 500K mark or the mil mark, but I knew that Montana was about 200K more than Wyoming. If that means anything.

But I did do it honestly!


75 posted on 02/23/2005 4:23:19 PM PST by Betis70 (I'm only Left Wing when I play hockey)
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To: Lorianne
Well, it seems that the Valley of the Sun has had more moisture this year, thus far, than Portland. AAMOF, Snobowl has had 29 feet of snow this year. Man, the desert is absolutely green around here. If this continues, we are going to look like Florida soon.

But to call us "souless?" That's far and fair out. People move out here for the quality of living. Granted, there are too many developments for my tastes (I don't live in one), but I'd rather live here than in Baltimore or D.C.
76 posted on 02/23/2005 4:23:31 PM PST by Frumious Bandersnatch
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To: Capriole

Well, then, I guess I like ugliness. I like chaos. I like cookie-cutter homes. I like strip malls. I like townhouses. I like not being able to get chinese buffet every block. I like to be able to fill up my car without driving around looking for a gas station. I like convienence stores. They're convienent! I like malls. I like the big box stores. They got everything! I like billboards, I like signs. These things smell like prosperity to me.


77 posted on 02/23/2005 4:26:09 PM PST by Liberal Classic (No better friend, no worse enemy. Semper Fi.)
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To: JTHomes

Personally, I don't like all those cookie cutter subdivisions.




Agree, most ARE boring however mass production does enable many people to live in nice homes that they might not otherwise be able to afford (custom homes are expensive and older homes with character can be costly to fix up). At least many of us who are denizens of suburbia have the option of selling our 'box' to a greater fool and buy something that's not built in cookie cutter fashion! :)


78 posted on 02/23/2005 4:26:45 PM PST by Starboard
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To: mewzilla; Desdemona
I'll never understand folks who spend a mint on a huge house with no frigging land. And live cheek-by-jowl with their neighbors.

I'd rather live in a condo than that.

79 posted on 02/23/2005 4:27:16 PM PST by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: MadIvan

Ivan, considering the opinion many people around the world have of United States citizens, I'm not sure they, don't, form their opinions of us from reading the Post and Times, maybe even from The National Inquirer or Mad Magazine.



80 posted on 02/23/2005 4:27:36 PM PST by F.J. Mitchell (If the left hates you, you are obviously right.)
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