someday i’d like to own a house
i grew up in the suburbs long enough to feel the eerie qualities associated with suburban life
- social isolation
- car dependency
- lack of culture
- the suburban aesthetic (often described as artificial or ‘manicured’)
suburbs feel out of place in world. But for millions in a middle income bracket, the suburbs seem like the most likely landing zone for a would-be home buyer in an increasingly isolated, expensive, and scarcity driven economic system
they are out of place in this world. They are the inverse of what we in the city might call a park. A park is just land taking back what always belonged to it. No matter how elegent we build our cities, they are temporary structures that we should take pride in and adorn with the beauty that all temporary things deserve. Nature is the ultimate architect, and it will reclaim them someday
the suburbs are a middle finger to nature’s process. A quiet forest? A sleepy farm town? Fuck that. We’re going to dig up a massive sewage system, lay down a bunch of wires and PVC pipe, and copy/paste a bunch of beige houses here
humans are a bridge between disciplined consciousness and the world of primal reaction that we most often think of animals inhabiting. Suburbs are an abuse of that privilege. Living in the suburb and commuting 30 miles to work in a SUV is a regression to the game animals play with the addition of cheat codes. We enjoy the unknown fats of cellophane-wrapped sausages in the summertime risk free. In the suburbs, nothing grows unless it is told to. And no one but the children are told to do anything
i think the best place you can live is on the edge of town. Be in this world, but not of it. You are a human now, and it is time to grow up