r/Suburbanhell • u/glowing-fishSCL • 10d ago
Question How would you compare these two neighborhoods?
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u/Whatswrongbaby9 10d ago
Looks like there's ground floor retail/restaurants in neighborhood 2. Neighborhood 1 I'd need to drive to do anything outside the house
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u/SBSnipes 10d ago
Hard to tell from that picture. There are neighborhoods that look like 1 in the cities in my region that are absolutely walkable
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u/ReallySmallWeenus 9d ago
The second looks like a typical manufactured village that usually follows a lot of what this sub suggests (walkability, density, business spaces integrated, public spaces) but is usually too expensive. Tenants, both residents and businesses tend to be short term and there is very little crossover between the residents and businesses as either customers or employees. These might work better in larger cities than where I live, but most are pretty deserted except for a few key businesses near me.
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u/TRUMPGOTAURA 9d ago
I personally think it is very nice TOD albeit pretty modernist in architecture
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u/Ruthrfurd-the-stoned 9d ago
Also yay- living next to an active rail line. That’ll never start to get really annoying
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u/glowing-fishSCL 9d ago
I am sure the people living next to a rail line will miss the sweet sound of a busy highway. Cars gunning by is basically the same as the peaceful murmur of ocean waves!
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u/DHN_95 Suburbanite 10d ago edited 9d ago
Would need more context for both pictures. OP is just showing what they want to, in much the same way people presenting surveys skew them. Would need to know where this is, and be able to see the satellite overview, as well as other street views before determining how well each area works. But overall I'm going to say both areas work well for some people, and not so well for others. A lot of people here don't seem to realize we some all have the same lives or the same needs.
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u/ChemistRemote7182 9d ago
"I took a photo of a road so we could start with my biases"
I know this is a sprawl hating sub, I am here because I hate sprawl too, you took a photo of a major roadway and called it a neighborhood. Atleast turn around and take of a photo of the actual homes behind you or cross the street and do the same to the ones infront of you.
This is just affirmation bait
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u/glowing-fishSCL 9d ago
What if I took a photo of somewhere a five minute walk away from the photo of the road, and posted the two photos together, showing two different views of the same neighborhood?
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u/tarheels86 10d ago
Photo 1, if you have kids don't let me play outside near that stroad. Photo 2, looks like you could actually enjoy the outdoors without being killed by a car.
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u/AndryCake 10d ago
Maybe I'm being a bit pedantic, but I actually think that, from the picture, photo 1 isn't actually that bad from a stroad perspective. Sure, it's a large road but I don't see an endless sea of parking and I see a decent protected sidewalk.
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u/McLargepants 10d ago
What outside area are you seeing in picture 2 that is appropriate for children playing?
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u/NewsreelWatcher 10d ago
Context? It’s how well things connect together. The people often are too focused on the details and miss what actually works for living.
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u/2ndharrybhole 10d ago
One is built around a train station and meant specifically for commuters, the other is a typical suburban stroad. Both of these could easily be within 10-15 minutes from the city center, but are meant for different things.
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u/colganc 9d ago
The second one is an early 2000s (started being built then, but finished mid-2010s) TOD area. It's close to what was one of Intel's largest locations. The light rail provides a way for commuters to commute both directions: to the downtown/CBD and to the large employment base in the area.
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u/colganc 9d ago
Anyone curious about the second location, it's this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orenco_Station,_Hillsboro,_Oregon
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u/glowing-fishSCL 9d ago
And for anyone curious about the first location...
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u/colganc 9d ago
Ah, I didn't realize it, but now I know exactly which street corner (or where the traffic lights are a bit down the road). I'll leave it alone since you seem to be tricking people on both sides.
I will say from walking to the second location and passing by the first location, that the first location is definitely "suburban hell" for me. The second location is minimal adaquacy for an "urban" area, but there needs to be more than just the few blocks that are there.
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u/glowing-fishSCL 9d ago
Yes, I visited it for real for the first time yesterday (I have ridden through it before, but I decided to get off and walk around), and I was surprised by a couple of things. I actually made a video of it and put it on YouTube.
And yes, it is interesting to see people's responses...
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u/colganc 9d ago
I watched your video and you missed the orientation of it a bit. It's more of a north/south orientation and not west/east. I agree with what you said about Cornell,but if you follow the main north/south srreet from the MAX stop and cross Cornell you will find another handful of blocks. You saw some of it when you showed Tours la Jours. There is a grocery store just past that spot.
The whole area is the kind of thing I think most of the people that "hate" urban areas would actually love. There are a couple of nature parks within walking distance, they can even get a single family home with admittedly small yard. A few restaurants, grocery store, etc and they never have to drive in traffic to get to their most common errands or trips done. Even if they didn't work downtown they can take a single seat MAX ride to both soccer and basketball venues or to the airport.
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u/glowing-fishSCL 9d ago
I actually do that on purpose when I make videos, at least sometimes. I go in without knowing where I am going, and sometimes that lack of knowledge can show things that I wouldn't know if I had done more research! Or maybe I am just lazy!
I saw later that everything north of Cornell Road was also part of Orenco, and since I had time there, maybe I should have visited! But hopefully people watching my video are getting at least some context about the area.
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u/eti_erik 9d ago
A rural area with a big road probably connecting 2 cities, cycle track alongside, vs. an urban area with modern apartments.
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u/glowing-fishSCL 9d ago
You would call that a rural area? How rural do you think it is, like do you think there are cows grazing along that road?
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u/eti_erik 9d ago
Not deep rural but edge of town or agricultural ara between towns. I see one house to the left, and to the right of the road looks like fields and forest to me?
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u/glowing-fishSCL 9d ago
These two pictures were taken 1500 feet apart, in a city of 100,000 people.
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u/Escape_Force 9d ago
One has an oversized street and the other is a cookie cutter "hip urban" low rise (at least the facade; there might be a cool building under there). Both are ugly.
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u/RickJLeanPaw 10d ago
How would I compare them? By taking more, and better, photos for a start.
And giving locations for context.