apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We live where we live (Berwyn) because it is an urban area, we're close to family and it's 10 minutes from Chicago which is where I was born and raised -- southside, represent.

More and more I want to move to a suburb. I think that living in a San Francisco suburb is still like being close to the city's offerings without the urban trouble. I currently live in the 415 area code.

Finding a good school district will ultimately determine where we will move to. Private school is an option, but we believe in public education.

We moved to Richmond, VA so my husband could have a high enough paying job so that I could stay at home with our children. We used to live in Augusta, Ga (where all of our family lives) but there were no jobs for him there. We really miss being near family, but we realized that we had to put our little family first and that meant moving. Its an 8 hour drive so we can leave early and get to GA before dinner. Its better than a 2 day drive or having to buy plane tickets. Plus, it brought us closer together because we have no family to lean on, only each other. But we have settled and have lots of friends now!

We moved to Chicago from Washington, DC because DC was ridiculously expensive. We live right near the Merchandise Mart and now that we are trying to start our family, we have decided to stay downtown. We are so spoiled living here - no car, (LOVE zipcar) grocery stores in walking distance, the river, the lake, Navy Pier, museums, etc. My husband and I went back and forth but we just couldn't find a good enough reason to leave downtown. Sure we won't have a huge yard but the city is a HUGE playground. We will have to get a car eventually but until then... City Kitties!

And Alex, I'll tip my hat to you say hello SOUTHSIDE!!! :)

We live in Tulsa, OK for many reasons. We've lived many places and now plan to stay here indefinitely. Some of the things that keep us here are that both of our families now live here, our jobs are established here, and to us Tulsa is the perfect balance. It has enough to enteratain us, but is still small enough to avoid some of the flaws of larger cities. Tulsa is also much greener than most cities...as in actually green with trees and life. We love it here, and hope our new twins will too!

My soon-to-be family of three (due in June) deliberately lives 3 km (2 miles) from our city's downtown core. Being this close to the city means we only need one car, because I can walk to work/shopping/entertainment/parks/etc. I grew up deep in the suburbs and always felt trapped.

We live in Newport Beach, CA. Its BEAUTIFUL, close to family and is close to both of our jobs. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

We moved to Reykjavík, Iceland (where I´m from) from London, England, to be close to extended family, to be close to affordable and good daycare options (do you have any idea what they make you pay for daycare in London when you finally get a place... if you get a place - in a half decent nursery???!!!), to be in a less hectic but still happening city. And loving it, even hubby who´s lived in london since he was 16.

We live in Des Moines, IA because we could get a large house for not much money, lots of job opportunities, great schools, has most of the what you would find in a large city (I moved here from NYC so I'm not a hick) and we are closer to extended family.

We live in the city with our kids.The city tends to be more diverse-you teach your children quietly who they should associate with when you choose where you live,we choose to teach tolerance. The city is more environmental-we walk almost everywhere and use public transportation,and are not bound to our car. We love to be around culture and the arts not just Wal-Mart and a strip mall. People move to the suburbs when they have children thinking it is safer-it is so dull there they will be more likely to get into trouble. The schools tend to be "better" in the burbs but we think that American public schools stink almost across the board so we sacrifice financially to send our children to private schools. We have plenty of green and playgrounds for our children to run free.

We live in Washington DC for work. We prefer to live in DC so we are opposite the commuters. We also don't want to be slaves to the car and can take advantage of a city atmosphere (yes, NYers I know you don't think DC is a city!) with the Metro and walking. We really dislike the idea of living outside in the suburbs because of the lifestyle. It is really difficult not to have any family around but such is modern life, since my husband has a PhD his jobs opportunities are limited.

We live in Bloomington, Indiana. the entire city is basically the campus for Indiana University It is more urban and progressive than the surrounding rural area but it's safer then living in Indianapolis. We use to live in Louisville, Kentucky but moved here to be closer to my husband's family. I am originally from LA and this still feels like a small town to me but has enough going on to keep me happy.

Forgot to add that we do have two children (Layla 2.5 & Finnegan 1) and that is why the safer area is important. There are also great schools here because of the location of the campus and the fact that it is used as a learning tool for the Education students.

I live in Niagara Falls, Canada. I have a love/hate relationship with it. There's beautiful views, and i work just down the highway in historical Niagara-on-the-Lake, which is one of my favourite places on the planet. Living so close to the US is convenient as well, I can see the border from my bathroom window.

However, the commercialization of the Falls and the tourists really get to me sometimes.

"People move to the suburbs when they have children thinking it is safer-it is so dull there they will be more likely to get into trouble"

Where I live, the suburbs are safer. Pull up any Google Map that tracks murders in San Francisco or violent crimes for the years 2004-2007, and you will see all the data points on the map. Compare that to a run-of-the-mill suburb like Millbrae or San Mateo.

I lived half of my youth in an LA suburb around 20-25 minutes from major city institutions like LACMA, etc., and I wasn't bored. Children need to feel safe in their neighborhood. You couldn't pay me to live in Bayview/Hunter's Point in SF. No way.

We moved to our area to be closer to my dh's work--his commute is about 5 minutes now. We are on the Peninsula. But we had a choice when we moved closer to be on a bigger lot, more spread out or closer in to neighbors and a downtown. We chose the latter because we knew from experience that it worked well for our lifestyle. We live in a neighborhood where kids play outside, schools are walkable/bikeable, we have an easy walk to two downtowns and there are nature areas nearby. We are so happy here.

Columbia, MO, originally because it was just big enough to be interesting, but not big enough to really have traffic, not too close to family, but close enough for easy visiting, and stayed because it's where we built our lives and our careers, and where we want to raise our kid(s). And also because we love it. I'd tell you all the great things about it, but then you'd want to live here too, and we'd end up with traffic.

we wanted a location that offered a lot of outdoor recreation opportunities, a small-ish and friendly community that isn't too remote, and accessibility to extended family. Idaho Falls, ID is very friendly and down to earth but still offers some of the luxuries of a bigger city, and has an airport. We wanted our children to grow up in a place with a strong sense of community, and we want them to build relationships with their extended family--the nearest is 2 hours away, which is close enough!

We moved to our neighborhood for many different reasons:
*My husband can bike or walk to work.
*If we walk or bike a few minutes in any direction we end up at the river, the park, miles of bike trails, shopping, restaurants or downtown.
*The neighborhood has character. There are sidewalks and street lights, a neighborhood association that is about building community - not about what you can and cannot do to your house, a mother's club that has been operating since the 1950's, a great school in the heart of the neighborhood and so many families.
*My husband grew up in the neighborhood. His parents (whom I adore) live one street over making it easy for all of us to get together for family dinners, walks to the park, playing, visiting, and occasional babysitting.

We love our neighborhood, and plan to be here for a very long time.

We live in Washington, DC, and love it. We moved here for work but now find it a great place to be raising kids. We have a small (1200 sq foot) rowhouse in a very safe and green neighborhood 5 minutes from downtown. One of us works from a home office, one of us bikes to work, and our kids walk to school. We walk to the park, the woods, restaurants, and the grocery store. We love all of the free kids' activities the city has to offer: the museums, the zoo, and free performances daily at the Kennedy Center. We regret living several hours from the kids' grandparents but would not easily be able to transfer our jobs elsewhere, and besides, we would miss living in the city too much. I love that all of the neighborhood kids play together on the front sidewalks (we don't have yards) and that my neighbors are all culturally and politically literate (you can talk books, music, or politics with just about anyone). Now if we could just get a vote in Congress.

There are negatives/positives to both the suburbs and the city. But urban-suburbs and cities are the way everyone will have to go in the not too far off future when oil is not as attainable,unless congress gets their act together and stops getting into bed with oil companies-hence alternative energy sources.We are approaching peak oil people-if you don't know what that means-research it-it is very important that you do.
As far as cities being crime ridden-Cities are huge,it's about picking a safe section.

We chose to raise our children in New York City. My husband is from Maine and I was born in Europe but moved to New Jersey with my family in my teens. I hated living in the suburbs and agree with the previous posters that kids tend to get in more trouble because of lack of things to do. I always found the friends I had who were raised in the city to be so much more adjusted.
My kids are only 1 and 3 so who knows how I will feel when they begin our overcrowded public schools!

We live in San Francisco with our 8 yr old son. I grew up in the suburbs of NY and from the age of five wanted to spend all of my time in the city. When I go to the suburbs I do not feel safe. I feel oppressed by all of the materialism and lack of culture. I want my son to live here with us and experience the diversity and cultural depth. We also often go hiking in real nature which is never far away.

I send my son to public school, as do most of my friends. While the schools aren't perfect there is high parent involvement and the community is great. The parents rally around the schools and my son is getting a great and enriching education.

While the crime in the city is a problem, I believe crime will be up in the suburbs as well, once many people are forced out of their houses and they are owned by corporations who rent them out to whomever.

The biggest danger to all of us, really is driving cars, both ecologically and safety wise. I believe we are in cars a lot less than suburbanites and all in all that is better.

We live in Toronto — not right downtown, but on the outskirts and accessible by public transit. We couldn't afford to buy downtown (unless we bought in a high-rise condo, which was unappealing to us) and we actually prefer living a little farther out with more green space.

Both my husband and I are tied to living in an urban area if we really want to work in our industries (both of which are more focused on big cities). I love living in a city for the culture, the shopping, easy access to the airport, the ability to get around to interesting places on public transport.

There are some things I don't like about living in a city (summertime air quality, cost of housing) but living on the outskirts of the city has many of the benefits of a smaller town: we live within walking distance of a grocery store, library, coffee shop, ice rink, public schools, etc.

I like to think that our kids will have many of the benefits that my husband and I had in growing up in smaller towns, but with additional access to the exciting opportunities of a city.

We live in a small town 25 minutes from our provincial capital. I'd prefer to live in the capital, but my husband is a farm boy so we compromised.
There is no public transportation in our town, but you can walk end to end in about 45 minutes, we are on the N. Sask. River, have gorgeous trails in and surrounding the town, under 3 hours to the rockies.

We, me and the boys, walk pretty much everywhere we go in town, but to do any shopping for clothes we have to drive to the city, can't do it all on-line.

Considering the average size of single family homes in north america, our 1457sqft family home is positively miniscule.

We live on the Peninsula. We moved here from LA (away from family) because of work. I think it's the best of all worlds in the Bay area. The little condo that we're renting is close to the city, close to the airport, close to nature, and there are lots of ethnic restaurants and excellent public schools. We can walk to two downtown areas yet we're right at the edge of the suburbs (I think poppyb and I must live in the same area). It's funny because ever since we had babies, my husband likes to say that we "sold our souls" because we now lust over those brand new un-original community homes popping up in San Jose because unlike here, there we can afford a decent sized home that is brand new (no maintenance), and there are playgrounds within the communities. We think about it, but we're still renting here because we haven't yet completely crossed over to the dark side.