Big City Life

7 Pages 1633 Words

The culture wars continue to rage across the United States. It clashes over hate speech
regulations, affirmative action, abortion, immigration, art, history, and lifestyle questions suggest
that America is more polarized than ever before. As suburbs draw more businesses and residents,
they produce new forms of art and cultural events which longtime residents resist as
undermining the essentially residential quality of suburbs. Similarly, in cities, new parking
structures, highways, and downtown malls produce suburban landscapes that urbanites reject,
seeing those changes as evidence of the intrusion of suburban culture. As I sit at my computer,
contemplating my birthday and the changes that have occurred in my life during the year, I am
struck by the never-ending challenge I face to become me. Suddenly, a question rises whether or
not living in the city is the life I would choose to live.
Then I ask myself, what is living in the city? 'City' is a keyword in contemporary culture
and thought. In almost any field today there is recurrent metaphorical use of urbanity. Not as
referring to city individuality, traditional images or insignia of a particular city, but to the city as
a manifestation of a more general urban condition. The city has also rapidly established itself as
the metaphor of the internet. The linking of digital communication networks is commonly
described as a variation, or even a new dimension, of the kind of manifest network that a city
consists of. Not to mention the misunderstanding belief that suburban is quiet, peaceful way of
living a life, living in urban means missing out the convenience socializing of lifestyle, cars, commuting, and socializing.
One of the biggest advantages to living in the city is convenience. Remember that
first...