The Triumph of Small Town USA

TLDR: Small towns are the mixed-use, walkable, low-cost urban solution for Gen Z.

The wants of people who move to the big city in terms of housing are tripartite; three in one, density, walkability, and mixed use. Everyone loathes suburbia, or at least the people who live in the city do. It speaks to the human condition, what is it that we seek? We seek community, we seek close friendships, we seek families.

City planning and community building should go hand in hand.

We had everything...

We used to plan cities better.¹² We planned them around the tram, the streetcar. Businesses were situated on walkable streets. Houses were built near schools, churches, and businesses Along Tram lines planned according to use.

Why did we move away from this?

Automobiles gave us autonomy, and they were cheap as a metric of income (I think I am just BS-ing here). We moved out of the inner cities where we could efficiently conduct business, get to the factory job, and go to the office. Suddenly you did not have to live within a two mile walk from work, or school, or church or any of your ancillary work. Suburbs mimic an agrarian lifestyle; not the semi-urban lifestyle. You are not so much a part of any given neighborhood, not really. You place of business, your third place (your church, your gym, a club if you have one) are all isolates from your home. You have to get into your car to go to any of these places, forestalling any interactions with neighbors.³⁴⁵

Perfect Urban living is not in Suburbia.

We figured out the perfect standards for good urban planning a century ago. At this time, towns sprung up along railroad stations all across this country. These towns remain, small towns every interstate weaves past, the busiest road is a minor road that feeds into an arterial road, that feeds into a highway/interstate. The inhabitants of this home are old, and dying. With this dying comes a turning over. Houses that will either sell to new owners of be vacated and stand vacant.⁶⁷

I propose that small communities built around these central hubs sprang up in such a way that they are naturally well planned. Near the city center a well-sprung of two to four story block buildings popped up around the train station. Proximity to these businesses and loose permitting laws made it easy to prop up housing next to, or above, businesses. In turn, a customer base in immediate proximity to businesses in walking distance was a boom for businesses. Being nearer to the businesses, to your work, or to you're work. When housing popped up it was rapidly iterated on, renovations on the buildings nearest to the . We would call these mixed use developments today. Today's mixed use is merely an imitation of what came naturally from the.

A series of rapid industrialization and deindustrialization ravaged these communities. It drove the children of their inhabitants into the suburbs of more and more sprawling cities. Now the original inhabitants and the people who first bought their homes in the 70s to commute to middle towns are themselves dying.

Morbidity and the Revival of Small Town America

Gen Z has a once in a generation opportunity at home ownership.⁸ With it will come the trimmings of true urban living lost to our parents. We can live in a place fraught with community, with neighbors, with third, fourth and fifth places, with true community. The cost? Starbucks, IHOP, McDonalds, Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Panda Express. Good thing each of these and much more have ready alternatives in small towns.⁹

You can see, just about everything you are use to from your suburban slop can be found in small town America. The added benefit? You will see people from your community everyday in the same place. A warning you will become intimately attached and aware of every Joe, Larry and Sue; not to mention the immediate swagger you feel when the men of the town pat you on the shoulder and say "working hard Mr. Miller?" followed by a hearty cackle. No the small town in northern Indiana is the perfect place for connection starved Gen Z to set up a life and livelihood.

There are detractions.

Medical centers and Groceries. The reality is you might have to go another town over for groceries, but then again, how long does it take you to drive to whole foods? Rural Medicine has come a long way, you can probably find a nurse practitioner that can handle all of your family medicine needs. Yeah your ambulance rides are going to be about 20-30 minutes to the nearest hospital, just don't die?¹⁰¹¹

My Conclusion

I am biased, I grew up in and around these communities, and there is nothing I missed more when I left for the big city. Look I'm not saying it's perfect. But it is as close to the ideal you are chasing in your corporate owned downtown hellscapes, where you can't escape the price hikes in cost of living.

Footnotes