I've lived in a big city for years now. Never seen anybody get mugged, or shot, or carjacked, despite doing activist work that often has me visiting poor minority neighborhoods.
The only time I ever really felt uneasy was when I had to walk alone at night through a neighborhood where all the businesses had bars on the windows. Worst thing that happened was a couple of people asking me for money, and they didn't give me any shit when I said I didn't carry cash.
But any time I visit the small town where I grew up there's always someone or another acting like I came back from a fucking warzone lmao
they're loud almost entirely because of cars btw: https://youtu.be/CTV-wwszGw8
Where in the world are you going to live in a big city without cars?
Even Chinese cities, which rely heavily on public transport, are packed with cars.
I lived outside of traffic in the downtown of a city and it really just becomes white noise tbh. When Im walking somewhere I usually wear headphones and listen to music anyways. Im pretty introverted so city commotion was a little overwhelming at first but it was 100% preferable, and ironically I feel rural areas and suburbs are more overwhelming (eg being more nosey) for me now. Even with cars, living in a walkable city is pretty great, fuck towns, most young people in small towns wanna gtfo and live in the city for a reason.
I lived in an apartment on the busiest street in the city right in the middle of downtown.
The noise drove me nuts.
Same, I was on the second floor too. It’s not ideal for people who get overstimulated easily I guess, I think cities are great for most people but I guess not everyone
Oddly enough I got overstimulated from my roommates cooking and clanking bowls and shit, but was able to block car noise out because it was so consistent and really just sounded like white noise.
I think it also make things better depending on what floor you’re on + how much noise insulation your apartment has. I live in a small town for the time being and am just counting the days to leave, our house is by a main road anyways so the traffic noises are just as bad
Yeah, I get that.
There are a lot of things I do like about living in cities. I like being around cultural zones, having things to do, having access to all kinds of goods, and having lots of places to eat.
I've never stayed in a small town for a prolonged period of time, so maybe it would wear on me too. But man... Cities can just leave me drained so much of the time. Luckily my current apartment isn't noisy.
Amsterdam, it's so incredibly serene. Higly recommend visiting.
Venice? Lol
Cities with good public transportation being packed with cars speaks to the absurd inefficiencies of cars--not their necessity.
If most cars are going to be electric at some point that would help a lot with the noise.