City living

[Sherlock77]

All I could find was a seven year old discussion, my apologies if I'm beating a dead horse with this topic...

I grew up in a large city so I'm used to living around lots of people, now in my 40's, and I've always lived in a large city.

I get the sense that lots of Aspies tend to prefer small towns, or am I wrong?

Why do I like a big city? And I do live quite close to the downtown area... I enjoy arts and culture, the various events of all seasons (summer, fall, winter, spring), and as I enjoy street photography I do like the hustle and bustle.

Within my city there are lots of parks, natural areas and grass nearby the city centre, so an escape to a little nature isn't hard.

I am also surrounded on all sides by lots of open space, a few times a year I head out for trips onto the Canadian prairies, photography of course, once spent six days driving around rural Saskatchewan, camera in tow. I do enjoy these trips that get me away from the big city, but I love living the urban lifestyle most of the time!

What are your thoughts and experiences?

 

[Questella]

I'm not any of these answers.
I'm in a rural area, neither small town or big city and I don't love it or completely hate it but I hate the neighbors that have been coming around in the last ten years. When I first moved here it was a bunch of old people, they've all since left or died and not it's becoming straight hood. Starting to really hate it I used to like it.

 

[Acorn_Elf]

I live in a urban/city area and I don't love it or hate it. The arts/culture and everything being near by is cool. It has its pros and cons. Although rural areas are cool because you can do what you want like shoot guns and create big bon-fires, YEE HAW!

 

[AbbyNied]

I moved from a very small town to a very big one to pursue art and film. I hated my small town because it was the same group of kids from kindergarten to high school. By middle school I had alienated myself already. No one had my interests at all and I am quite awkward to start. I spent the majority of my youth friendless.

Now I live in a huge town with roommates and although I am far from my family, I prefer the city. My favorite thing about it is that no one knows you. I have messed up multiple jobs and relationships just from regular Asperger's related things. But at least I know I never have to see those people again or go to those places again. It's like I've hit the reset button 5 times. Also there is always something fun or weird to do. Fandom gatherings, conventions, art and film shows, ect, it's never ending.

 

[xudo]

I live in a capital city, although in the outer suburbs. I like living far enough from the centre that it's not bustling all the time. I couldn't cope with living in the centre, having to deal with all the noise all the time, and the people out drinking on the weekends. Add to that that my city hosts a lot of sporting events.

Having said that, I do also love that there's so much useful stuff relatively close by, and there are sometimes events on that I would be interested in.

 

[tree]

Similar discussions, although not 7 years old, include
Cities

Living in a big city

https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/city-mice-and-country-mice.7196/#post-113814

 

[kay]

I live in a urban/city area and I don't love it or hate it. The arts/culture and everything being near by is cool. It has its pros and cons. Although rural areas are cool because you can do what you want like shoot guns and create big bon-fires, YEE HAW!

Exactly why I prefer living in town. I was terrorized by the sound of my neighbors target practice and fireworks and dirt bikes and ATVs when I lived in the country. Where I live now it's sorta noisy because of stupid motorcycles but those are mostly several blocks away and don't linger. I can walk to get groceries, see art, or just admire the neighbors yards and houses. I do miss the birds and cows of a rural area.

 

[The Penguin]

It depends for me. I never had issues living in a larger city as I was born in Toronto and lived there part of my life.

Halifax is the city I disliked living at out of all other cities I have lived in Canada so far. I find there not much to do and life style too slow.

From I was born until age 3, I lived in a very small town. I don't remember that part of my life.

I can be OK living in a rural area as long I'm within 100 KM of the nearest major city so I can get supplies. I might end up living in a rural area one day since I'm thinking of living as a hermit once I reach the goal earning a higher income and have a large amount of money into savings.

 

[Keigan]

We use to live in an agricultural valley, next to corn fields and dairy farms. The best thing about the area was the quiet, the worst was the remoteness. Nearest grocery store was 15 miles away so lots of Amazon Prime deliveries to save on trips into town. Now we live in a large city.

 

[Judge]

I still recall being in a hotel room in downtown Philadelphia for two weeks most every year for work for "advanced training". I could never get used to the street noise/traffic. It was anything but ambient to me.

These days I wouldn't even live anywhere near a busy street. Saw a really nice apartment complex being built nearby, but it's flush against a very busy street with nonstop 40 mph traffic. No thanks!

I'm even unnerved by the pigeons on my roof incessantly groaning. Ugh!

 

[clg114]

I do not want to live around a lot of people. We live in a medium sized city in Idaho. We live in a sub-division, so we have neighbors. At least it is a quiet neighborhood. If it was up to me we would live up in the mountains somewhere, but that would not be fair to my wife. She needs human contact, so were we are is a compromise. This way, we both live a relatively happy life. After all, life is a series of compromises.

 

[Sherlock77]

Interesting... Just a simple straw pole, nothing scientific... I'm a little surprised actually... Keep them coming!

 

[tree]

Interesting... Just a simple straw pole, nothing scientific... I'm a little surprised actually... Keep them coming!

Results may be skewed by the title.
People who don't care for cities may not
even be reading the thread.

Or they don't have any interest in responding
to this topic because they have done so in
other threads.

 

[Sherlock77]

Results may be skewed by the title.
People who don't care for cities may not
even be reading the thread.

Or they don't have any interest in responding
to this topic because they have done so in
other threads.

You're probably right...

 

[Tyrantus1212]

I used to love living in suburban areas as a kid, everything was just so calm and pleasant. The birds, the squirrels, the trees, the creeks...less traffic, minimal pollution. Felt half-natural to me in fact. So yeah, I would most definitely prefer to live further from the city. There's a huge downside though - being far from work. I have issues when it comes to driving (hit & run OCD and fear of freeways) even though I know I'm not a bad driver so this just wouldn't work for me. With this to consider, I would most likely ditch my preference and live as close to work as I can. Unless I happen to also work near the suburbs, of course - but my field requires urban jobs. My parents and I live very close to my current job, and I feel like they chose this location because of me; they know about my driving issues.

 

[Datura]

I live in a large, but low-density city. I like that I have access to art and culture, and that the populous here is fairly metropolitan. I live far enough from the core, however, that I often have to commute to go anywhere worth being. My friends are also scattered across the city, with none of them living close by. I don't drive, so I have to take transit, which is both time consuming and draining. Sometimes I forego socializing or going out all together because the payoff is not worth the price of admission.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I don't fit any of those categories, since as far as I am aware my town isn't classed as a city (it certainly doesn't have a cathedral) but it's too big to be classed as a 'small town' (although by your phrasing I'm guessing you're american and I have no idea how you judge these things over there). Anyway, I live right in the centre of biggest town in my county and I love it, everything is within walking or cycling distance, including work and the beach, so it's very convenient. It's a very low density town and I'm right by the gardens so it's quite peaceful as well.

I grew up in a village, and have since lived in a small town, a big city, a tiny hamlet, and a wooden hut in the middle of a tropical forest, before moving here, and I loved all of those places too... so I guess I'm just a person who can be happy living anywhere. But my preference is generally to live as close to work as possible, because life it too short for long commutes.

 

[unreality]

I've lived in Los Angeles county my entire life except for a neighboring county for about a half year. I don't feel comfortable around people, unfortunately, but I love nature and animals, and so have always wanted to live in the country in a Thomas Kinkade cottage type of home.

 

[SteveH]

I think people on the spectrum don't like to change what is already familiar. I would guess that it is harder for us to change our living environment more than NT people to begin--regardless of what type it is to begin with.

I prefer urban living environments. But there is good and bad. In the suburbs you can get a quiet house or apartment that is on a quite street. Driving around is chill and easy. But if you frequent local small town/suburb places, the NT people eventually want do small talk and chit-chat with you every time patronize places. Sometimes I am in a zone where I am not very verbal and small-talk is very difficult and nothing will come out friendly--even though I desperately want to be and appear friendly to people. In an urban areas I lived, it was way easier to be more anonymous. Even when I am in a non-verbal closed down state, I can muster a friendly smile. In addition, I feel that people in urban places are more accepting of people that are more than a standard deviation from the norm.

I think living circumstances pretty much like everything else for me(like food, the temperature of my coffee, the way clothing fits me etc) There is only narrow range of things that will really work well for me.

I do place a nigh priority on convenience and making things as easy as possible. I need to have an easy drive to work, and be located near enough to health club, my must go-to grocery shopping places, etc.

 

[the_tortoise]

Being a person who can't drive, I like that I have easy access to things in a city (like grocery stores and doctors). That's about all I like....if I could drive I would live in the middle of nowhere.