I think you're mixing up life in a row with a union mentality. I was raised in a row and in the early years, my wife and I had our first kids in a row. Now we live in a home that is almost half a million dollars, and you know what? Sometimes, I still miss the old row home. Our neighbors there have been our lifelong friends.
But don't get me started on the lazy union workers.
Very true.
BTW: I was raised in suburbia, but have spent most of the last ten years living in a variety of urban areas. The union/"us versus them" mentality is a disease that unfortunately, still effects too many people I know.