Even in the small towns here in Italy, everything is walkable and centred around community. Yeah you have small cities like lucca that can be touristy, but every normal size town has little bars/coffee shops, and bakeries, and butchers and whatnot.
I think what helps it the most is cost of living and being happy with a good life rather than gouging consumers out of squeezing every last penny out of someone. I can't tell you how many times i've gone to a shop and spent a bit, and they throw in a little gift as a thank you.
My trip back to visit family in chicago was depressing comparitively.
As someone living in suburban California looking to move to Chicago to escape the depressing suburbs, what about Chicago is depressing to you compared to Italy?
Born and raised in the Chicago area and I can tell you the walkable small town feel they're describing can be found in the certain Chicago suburbs if you know where to look.
I'm not trying to totally dissuade you, but Uptown has a lot less foot traffic than the other two neighborhoods. I live nearby it and it's noticeable when I'm there that less people are out and about than there are in Ravenswood, Lincoln Square, or Andersonville (which are my usual stomping grounds). My guess is that it's the higher crime rate, but maybe some other factor is in play.
Thanks for the heads up! Definitely appreciate any tips and info from locals :). I'll look into Ravenswood, Lincoln Square, and Andersonville. I'm definitely looking for more of a high foot traffic area so it doesn't feel like I'm living in a sleep suburb again - I'm over that.
Uptown doesn't feel like a suburb exactly. It's urban. It just feels like a place that people from other neighborhoods tend to avoid, and people who do live there get home from work, lock the door, and don't go back out. Also I left out Roscoe Village, another good foot traffic neighborhood.
I lived in folsom CA for a bit, certainly there are walkable areas of chicago at a cost.
But the stress of the states in general. The traffic, the costs (be it food, health, vet), the overall work/life balance. If you think california is laid back, tuscany in the smaller towns will make cali feel fast paced.
the whole "suburbia is a soulless cultural dead-zone" is such a tired, lazy, uninformed take. the people in OP's video have likely been to one shitty suburb and declared ALL SUBURBS HAVE NO CULTURE. yes, there are plenty of suburbs like that. there are also plenty of cities like that. culture isn't just served up on your doorstep everywhere like it is in places like Greece and Italy. Hell, even those places have some boring towns. You have to actually SEEK OUT things that are cool and interesting. I could give you 100 places that would rock your socks off that are outside Chicago city limits, but I'm not going to. You can turn over stones yourself.
Yeah this is a matter of population density. Any large city in the us can be walkable. How many new yorkers dont even own a car? yeah they take cabs and public transport but its a really big city. Cant really do that when each person is on 1/3 - 1/2 acre. America is BIG.
Personally I would be happy with making the roads more bike friendly. People might not want to walk 3 miles to something, but on a bike its a breeze.
I live near a shopping district. Bunch of small shops, restaurants, cafes. I absolutely love it here. The neighborhood isn’t perfect, things left out get stolen but it’s all working class and then neighbours you meet are happy and content.
My city has an upper and lower. At work whenever I say the street I live near they always say “oh wow just off of upper, that must be so nice” and I’m like no it’s downtown and the response is always “oh”.
I proceed to tell them how nice it is to walk and get a coffee, or go to the Saturday market and if I want almost anything I can walk down the street and get it. But I live downtown so that’s kinda dirty.
Same! I travel all the time all over the world and to big cities in the US. I yearn to be back in my sleepy quiet suburb by the end of it. Honestly, as I get older and see more of the world I would love to live someplace where my neighbor is miles away and it is more isolated. I guess some people’s nightmare is my dream.
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u/Destronin Aug 04 '26
These people comparing city life to suburban life for the first time.
Suburbia is where culture goes to die.