Get Urban!

Get Urban! The Complete Guide to Urban Living by Kyle Ezell is worth looking into if you are considering a move to the city. The author is a certified city planner working in Columbus, Ohio, which is where I live. He is also the founder of Get Urban America, an organization dedicated to the revitalization of America's cities. His premise is that you have to change American culture if you're going to get people to live in cities. I agree. All too often, people's objections to city living is rely on outmoded ways of looking at the world. We have been raised to believe that the all-American dream is to own a sizable home in the suburbs that circle the big bad cities. There are some major American cities that are attractive as places to visit, but "most" people wouldn't want to live in them. They are seen as little more than tourist destinations even though millions of people do in fact live in them. (Suburb dwellers think of these people as nuts.)

What most people are refusing to see is that space is at a premium, even in America. Granted, there are some areas where you can go miles without seeing another human being, but even in these areas, people tend to congregate in towns, if not cities. (Think Boulder, Colorado.) Cities make it easier to manage human life. Those who live out in the country have to be self-sufficient in many ways (and do a hell of a lot of driving). Of course there is the fact that cities have to be efficient in order to handle the numbers of people living in them. But it's still true that cities offer amenities that can only be dreamed of if you live in the wide open spaces.

I'm not knocking anyone's decision to live in the country. (See my post, "Five Environments.") Nor is Kyle Ezell. What we both want, though, is for people to stop demonizing cities. They can actually be at the core of our identities. I lived on the outskirts of Columbus for most of my life. I told people I was from Columbus, but I didn't really feel that I was until I moved into the city. Suddenly the cityscape became something that belonged to me. It felt like the city was there to meet my needs. I go downtown and think, "This is where I live. Not ten or more miles away in some generic subdivision, but just a mile or two up the street." It's exciting and satisfying. I'm home.