It shouldn't really be a tough choice. The "suburbia" dream is flawed on so many levels that it isn't even funny. Yet people are clinging on to it like leeches because they've been told it will make them happy.
That's not really fair. Just because the suburbia dream is flawed for you, doesn't mean it is for everyone else. I really do know folks who love living in a subdivision, being on the community board, watering the lawn in khaki shorts, the whole nine yards. They love all of it.
Different strokes for different folks, Benji. Not everyone wants to live in the city where everything is so tight and expensive. Not everyone wants to live in the country where everything is so god damned far away.
Some want to live relatively close to their work, have large sized yards like you would in rural areas, but still have access to shopping and amenities similar to cities.
Well, on the other hand it's very hard to make the whole large urban core interesting and alive. Urban core is always smaller to fit everybody, hence unrealistic prices (think SF).
And urban city outskirts aren't so much fun (still small apartments but not much life; crime is sometimes a problem too). Not much better than suburbia.
