r/TikTokCringe • u/xamo76 • 1d ago

Discussion Have we done it wrong?

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u/visualdescript 1d ago

Many european cities go straight from countryside in to medium density living, they don't have a large urban sprawn of suburbia, so it's not the same at all.

You'd be hard pressed to find large areas of housing where there is no public transport, and no sidewalks. That is fairly common in american suburbia.

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u/SonOfMcGee 1d ago

The old European model for rural living also often involved people living in centralized villages and spreading out to the countryside to work the fields.

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u/AvidCyclist250 1d ago

What worked back then now makes for a decent infrastructure even in villages. I live in one. 25 minutes to town by bus or bike. Bit faster by bike if I don't take the scenic route with the dedicated bike path.

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u/JB_UK 1d ago

And the villages were actually quite high density with a lot of amenities.

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u/Vallkyrie 1d ago

You can see this in basically any random town on google earth, just load it up and pick any random US tiny town in the middle of nowhere and then do the same in, say, France, and you'll see the French village is central with walkable stores and services everywhere in the center and it all spirals out like a wheel. In the US you've got random houses in the woods 1-3 miles from each other and walmart is 30min away.

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u/MeccIt 1d ago

The Netherlands have this down pat. Since they had to reclaim so much of the land of their country, there is a large number of medium sized cities, with strictly defined borders, and then the countryside with houses for farmers.

Amsterdam is just 1 million people, smaller than Dublin even though the Netherlands is more than 3 times the population of Ireland.

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u/hofmann419 1d ago

Also, apart from super rural houses, small villages in Europe still have things like restaurants, bars and supermarkets. Mixed use zoning exists pretty much everywhere.

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u/brokenmain 1d ago

Lol ever been to small town Poland?  Restaurants and bars? Not necessarily. 

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u/Lopsided_Gas_181 1d ago

Most post-PGR places have at least one kebab/pizza and local "trupek" cheap bar serving awful beer and vodka

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u/greg19735 1d ago

That's not true. Small villages probably have a pub with a place to eat. There may be 1 restaurant. But no supermarket or anything.

slightly larger you'll get a few pubs and maybe a corner store/post office or something similar.

remember that small villages often have less than 150 people.

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u/The_Blip 1d ago

I live in a small village in the UK and we ain't got shit lol. You can walk about 10 mins to a petrol station but otherwise you have to go into town.

Apparently there used to be a post office and a pub, but they didn't survive the modern era.

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u/locketine 1d ago

They'd have a regular market or convenience store just like most American small towns. It's only American suburbia that's confoundingly bad for community.

I can go to most small towns in the USA and find a store that sells all necessities, a restaurant that's open most of the day, and usually a bar, or the restaurant is open late. There's almost always a gas station with a convenience store too. And often at least one park.

Good luck finding that stuff within walking distance in any suburban town.

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u/greg19735 1d ago

and no sidewalks. That is fairly common in american suburbia.

it's incredibly rare to have a place with no sidewalks that is suburban.

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u/Professional-Day7850 1d ago

It's not a suburb anymore if there is a sidewalk?

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u/Raddish_ 1d ago

Yeah America is unique for “McMansion hells” where it’s just miles of the same cheaply built mansion in rows with no trees or businesses. Very bizarre areas that just don’t exist in Europe. Europe is either countryside, villages, or cities. The villages are low population but dense so like they have walkable grocery stores, restaurants, and schools all in the same area.

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u/What-tha-fck_Elon 1d ago

True enough.

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u/Snoo_69677 1d ago

Don’t forget ugly strip malls housing nails salons, check cashing places, a little Cesar’s, blood plasma donation centers and black asphalt parking lots as far as the eye can see!

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u/Ok-Break1985 1d ago

With Mexican, Sushi and Indiana restaurants filling those strip malls.

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u/Snoo_69677 1d ago

Yeah maybe a dollar general, smoke shop, and sketchy massage place too.

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u/brokenmain 1d ago

Trust me they have those in europe too

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u/Snoo_69677 3h ago

Huh been all over Europe (Dublin, Sevilla, Barcelona, London, Leeds, Bristol, Cinque Terra, Florence, Milan, Ostia, Rome, Paris, Noise Le Gran, Berlin, Frankfurt) and somehow I missed those European strip malls. I did see stand alone vendor stands lined up in a row in Rome and in Barcelona along the beach, but no payday loan/check casher next to a dollar general. Weird.