Suburban sprawl destroys the sense of community. What do you think of this statement?

Question

Agree, disagree? Why?

Answer 1

I agree. Suburban life spreads out to the extent that people have to drive everywhere, and their social outlets depend on specific planning rather than chance encounters. Community forms where things are small. People in smaller towns have more of an incentive to strike up a conversation.

You don't meet people as you walk to the market, or ride the public transport system. Interaction is cut down. People live between work, home, and Costco/Wal Mart.

I grew up in a sprawling white Detroit suburb and I only have one friend from high school anymore, which was only 5 years ago.

Answer 2

Technology destroys the sense of community. Put me down as a Disagree.

When the move to the suburbs began, suburban communities thrived. Backyard barbecues, street fairs, block parties, and community events were common occurences. It wasn't until advancing technology drew our attention away from these things did the sense of sommunity wane.

Today, it is much easier to call relatives in another state and talk to them for hours. Video games and computers allow us to entertain ourselves indoors rather than to share personal stories with the neighbors.

This forum is a perfect example of that - Why are you not out asking your neighbor? - because it is easier to do it as a faceless member of YA.

Answer 3

I would disagree that sprawl is the ROOT cause...

I grew up in Sunnyvale California in the 60's/80's. Our neighborhood was a classic bedroom-community for the "tech-centers" of IBM, Raytheon, etc in Palo Alto as well as for the Navy Officers of NAS Moffett Field.

THAT was the closest neighborhood I've ever lived in... We had annual block-parties, constant parental supervision, ZERO crime, and close friendships. I'm still in touch with half the families almost 30 years after I left that neighborhood

I feel that the effects of broken-marriages, single parent households, dual-income households as well as the media / culture are far greater.

I live in a 15 unit little Aparment building in a nice little town now... and I hardly EVER know my neighbors.

Answer 4

Disagree. Quite the opposite. Too great a population density destroys the sense of community. With too great a population density, there's too much of a feeling that any individual's life is worth less; that people aren't "precious" or "special."

Answer 5

I disagree,although it is one of the reasons,because most people in suburb came out of rural areas so they have lost its system of values(and family bonds) working in cities...Media and lack of education do much more harm

Answer 6

I think I want to kill my neighbor and I don't even know why....