I am, and have been a cityphile for a long time now.
I love me a big city. I am excited walk the streets of a big city. I like to read about the little neighborhoods of various cities across the world and imagine how it might be to live here and there. Walk across prestigious and expensive areas and eye the boutiques and cafés from a safe distance. Think how one's commute from the nearest metro station to a big building might go in a regular Tuesday afternoon: "there's a Dunkin' Donuts along the way. Would I stop there to get an ice coffee on a hot day?"
I like to study the various tangents of a big city: bus and tram routes, planned changes in routes, underground renovations. Housing projects and historical changes to demographics. Have opinions about parks and market squares and tourist spots and old timey market halls and metro stations and dining districts and events. Think how a local goes to the beach using public transportation. Every district has their own centrum(s) with services and groceries and everyone of these is worth an examination.
And you get a variety of people on the streets, from all walks of life. What I seriously dislike about small towns is how they're very youth-weighed in demographics. Lots of families live there for cost reasons but then you have mostly young rascals on the streets. In a big city you get a good slice of every group at once, and I love it.
I like this phrase from a 90s movie. "I like New York City. I see everybody and nobody sees me."
I especially like it when a city has a good mass transportation system in place. I can stroll anywhere I want and when I think I am done for the moment, I can whip up an app to check where's the nearest stop and when's the next bus or train. And you can usually get a ticket with unlimited travel.
I acted on my desires in 2019 when I moved to Helsinki. The rent was big but it was a fantasy land time. My expenses didn't increase because in the move I also got rid of my car. I moved away in early 2021, but would have liked to live more there. It was some financial aspects that drove me away -- wasn't the city that wore me down.
Does anyone else identify with what I described? Love big cities, can't get enough?
I love me a big city. I am excited walk the streets of a big city. I like to read about the little neighborhoods of various cities across the world and imagine how it might be to live here and there. Walk across prestigious and expensive areas and eye the boutiques and cafés from a safe distance. Think how one's commute from the nearest metro station to a big building might go in a regular Tuesday afternoon: "there's a Dunkin' Donuts along the way. Would I stop there to get an ice coffee on a hot day?"
I like to study the various tangents of a big city: bus and tram routes, planned changes in routes, underground renovations. Housing projects and historical changes to demographics. Have opinions about parks and market squares and tourist spots and old timey market halls and metro stations and dining districts and events. Think how a local goes to the beach using public transportation. Every district has their own centrum(s) with services and groceries and everyone of these is worth an examination.
And you get a variety of people on the streets, from all walks of life. What I seriously dislike about small towns is how they're very youth-weighed in demographics. Lots of families live there for cost reasons but then you have mostly young rascals on the streets. In a big city you get a good slice of every group at once, and I love it.
I like this phrase from a 90s movie. "I like New York City. I see everybody and nobody sees me."
I especially like it when a city has a good mass transportation system in place. I can stroll anywhere I want and when I think I am done for the moment, I can whip up an app to check where's the nearest stop and when's the next bus or train. And you can usually get a ticket with unlimited travel.
I acted on my desires in 2019 when I moved to Helsinki. The rent was big but it was a fantasy land time. My expenses didn't increase because in the move I also got rid of my car. I moved away in early 2021, but would have liked to live more there. It was some financial aspects that drove me away -- wasn't the city that wore me down.
Does anyone else identify with what I described? Love big cities, can't get enough?