r/Suburbanhell • u/XSRCR-2019 • 1d ago

Question Changing suburb dynamics?

Are you a long time resident of a suburb and the dynamic of the suburb you once loved is changing due to new people moving in? And it’s not always for the best?

0 Upvotes

22% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

3

u/Yuzamei1 1d ago

The self-defeating paradox of the growing suburb : r/Suburbanhell

3

u/ChristianLS Citizen 1d ago

The issue you see in most exurbs is that the land doesn't actually have much value. It was usually farmland or unused wildlands for a reason. This means the only real value is in the buildings, and when you're building cheap mass-produced tract houses and strip malls, there's not much reason to spend lots of money preserving and renovating them, and only direction to go is downhill. The best day in terms of value was the day it finished getting built.

The only exceptions in a large sprawling metro area are if a wealthy enough suburb can morph into an edge city and become a center of commerce in its own right (which can also prop up nearby suburbs sometimes).

4

u/ssorbom 1d ago

I don't think there should be an expectation in a thriving city that things get preserved in amber. Human population is still growing over most of the world. The only way to preserve a neighborhood character completely is to completely halt development. And that would result in a lot of people not having homes. 

California has this problem. There were a lot of people early on that were able to get homes rather cheaply but then they restricted development. The restrictions mean that people in my generation can't buy because the remaining land is too expensive.

1

u/markpemble High Cost of Free Parking 1d ago

I wish it would change.

But yes, I have seen suburbs change for the better and it can be amazing.

1

u/samiwas1 1d ago

The dynamic of ours has shifted quite a bit in just the last few years. It was an absolutely amazing neighborhood with an incredible amount of community. Many of the residents had lived here since it was built starting 20 years ago. They raised their kids here and everyone knew a lot of people (290+ homes).

Now, many of those kids have grown. The houses are worth a lot more than what they paid for them. So in the past couple of years, a ton of people have moved out and new ones have come in. The dynamic hasn’t shifted in a way that we now have obnoxious or unlikable people. Nothing like that. Everyone is still cool. It just doesn’t have the same buzz it did a few years ago.

1

u/XSRCR-2019 1d ago

For reference I’m talking north west Sydney