During my research into the feasibility of living in the "city" as opposed to the present trend of suburbanization I realized that there was an ingrained belief that the suburbs were a better place to live then the city.  Even though all of the books I was reading suggested that urban living was much more preferable many people to whom I spoke did not feel the same.  To try and gain an understanding of the views most middle class suburbanites had, I conducted an informal survey of about 50 people.  The questions that were asked were basic, and attempted to have people define what they liked and disliked about there present living environment and what they liked or disliked about the city.  The survey asked:
 

Name:              Age:

Where do you live?

Would you describe it as a city, suburb, town, village, country, other?

List the positive aspects of where you live:

List the negative aspects of where you live:

If you could change one thing about your present living environment what would it be?

Would you consider living in a city?

What do you feel are the positives of living in a city?

What do you feel are the negatives of living in a city?

What do you feel are the positives of living in a suburb?

What do you feel are the negatives of living in a suburb?
 
 

Not surprisingly a lot of people felt quite content with there present environment however upon further inspection of the answers we can learn what are the hindrances to having people live in a more urban environment.

Answers were as follows:

60% of those who were surveyed described themselves as living in a suburb.

20% said they lived in a city.

15% said they lived in a village.

5% said they lived in the country.

Of those living in the Suburbs they described the positives of living in a Suburb as:

   "low crime rate low taxes" N. Murphy, 46 - Chateauguay

   "land, quiet, gardens, BBQ, lived there all my life know the whole neighborhood, housing is not expensive"  Jean Donais, 37 - Chateauguay

   "Quiet, Green Spaces" Francois Belanger, 38 - Lachine

   "There are many parks and places to walk dog, children, to roller blade, bike, jog."  Kirsty, 24 - Pointe-Claire

Some of the negative aspects of living in Suburbs they listed as:

   "Crossing Mercier Bridge at Rush Hour" Jean Boucher, 28 - Chateauguay

   "Could be more stores within walking distance" Rosemary, 51 - Pointe-Claire

   "Location, off island you have to use a bridge, not a very scenic suburb, very ugly, no trees."  N. Murphy, 46 - Chateauguay

For those who listed that they lived in a City they wrote that some of the positives of suburban living were:

   "Peace and quiet, friendlier people" Jerry, 23 - Ville St-Pierre

   "More space - bigger living quarters for same amount of money"  Felicity Taylor 22 - Westmount

For the City dwellers the positives that they listed for living in the city were:

   "Near to downtown, shopping, movies, clubs"  Terrence, 40 - Montreal

   "20 min. walk from downtown max. most shops/banks/groceries within walking distance (and entertainment) minimal commuter traffic out of the city - quiet clean residential area, community center, parks, dog runs, mix of neighbors- kids, families, young couples, singles, metro close by."  Felicity, 22 - Westmount - Rene-Levesque/Atwater

Some of the negatives that they listed about there areas were:

   "No Green Space, Not to clean, noise, cold" Terrence, Montreal

   "rundown stretch of St. Catherine by the old forum" Felicity

Some of the comments made about living in the city by those who did not live in cities were:

   Positives:

   "Convenience to store/theaters etc., transport Services"  Barbara Hill, 41 Grenville Quebec

   "Access to work - restaurants, banks - shopping, etc."  Fran Robbers, 43 - Bainsville, Ontario

   "Transport en commune, community services (community center, hospital, pool,..) Cinema, Theater, Museums"  Roxanne Ouellet, 29 - Ste-Martine

   Negatives:

   "It is a bad place to live if you want to raise a family. cities are not that clean or safe. There is too much pornography, violence and pollution"  Kirsty

   "Smog No trees, no land high taxes."  N. Murphy

   "Higher crime, noisy, expensive housing"  Larry Lemieux, 39 - Chateauguay

In response to the question: would you consider living in a city?  The response was primarily negative by those not already living in a city.  Many had strong responses to this question.  However when asked to list as above, the positives and negatives we can see that most people are aware of the benefits of living in a city.  They list things like public transportation and closeness to work and entertainment.  These are issues that I feel are very important.  The primary negative concerns with city living seems to be the belief that they are not clean, safe or have green areas this I believe is arguable and can be the area in which to change peoples misconceptions.  One point that returned quite often was the higher cost of living, which I feel is an even more important factor in dictating where people live.  The idea that a car can actually cost someone more over the long run then buying or renting a more expensive place in the city is hard to convince people of.  I also feel that our tax system and economy favor the suburban development to the city and this may be the greatest hindrance to changing the trends toward suburbanization.