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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   6579 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 21, 2026

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A stray comment on the culture-war thread from two weeks ago reminds me that, IMO, people on this website have been talking very loosely when they compare "urban", "suburban", and "rural" living.

The definitions endorsed by the United Nations are roughly as follows.

  • Urban: ≥ 1500 people per km2 (6.1 people per acre)

  • Suburban: ≥ 300 people per km2 (1.2 people per acre)

  • Rural: < 300 people per km2 (1.2 people per acre)

However, six people per acre actually isn't that dense. The US's IZC (International Zoning Code) is not necessarily authoritative, but in its single-family and two-family residential zones it permits density of up to six dwelling units per acre, implying 15 people per acre at 2.5 people per household.⁎

Likewise, a representative comment describes suburbs as follows:

Most suburbanites are not fleeing urban disorder; they're chasing suburbia. No amount of urban green space can ever replace a private backyard where you can grill and watch the kids and dog run around and plant a personal garden. No amount of smart planning can replace not sharing walls, floors, and ceilings with strangers. No high-quality public transit system can ever replace the freedom provided by American car culture.

Yet, if you look at a random US "city" in Google Maps, you will see lots of single-family houses with their own backyards and limited access to mass transit.

So, what do you actually mean when you say "urban", "suburban", and "rural" living? Maybe it's something like this.

  • Urban living: Row houses and apartment buildings, with incidental retail

  • Suburban living: Single-family and two-family houses, and nothing else

  • Rural living: Incidental single-family houses in land that is largely agricultural or undeveloped

⁎With tongue significantly less than halfway in cheek, I previously suggested that the threshold for a fourth "mega-city" category in the UN's framework might be set at 7500 people per km2 (30 people per acre). This matches the IZC's upper bound for multifamily residential zones (12 dwelling units per acre), past which commercial/residential zones with unlimited dwelling-unit density must be used instead.

Yet, if you look at a random US "city" in Google Maps, you will see lots of single-family houses with their own backyards and limited access to mass transit.

So, what do you actually mean when you say "urban", "suburban", and "rural" living? Maybe it's something like this.

Urban living: Row houses and apartment buildings, with incidental retail Suburban living: Single-family and two-family houses, and nothing else Rural living: Incidental single-family houses in land that is largely agricultural or undeveloped

My personal tongue-in-cheek definition:

  • Urban living: cars are an optional purchase to support specific careers and/or lifestyles. Middle-class aspiration for non-car owners includes frequent taxi/Uber use.
  • Suburban living: Working-class respectability requires one car per family (with carless living possible for the childless possible but not ideal). Middle-class aspiration is one car per employed adult.
  • Exurban or rural living: Working-class respectability requires one car per employed adult. Middle-class aspiration is one car per licensed driver, with the car being a pickup, SUV or 4x4 if the driver is an employed adult who doesn't drive a van for work reasons.

Note that on this definition, a lot of American "suburbia" falls into the exurban/rural category. This is deliberate. "Urban" living by my definition is compatible with upper-middle-class people having houses with private gardens (many such neighbourhoods in London zone 2/3), though probably not detached ones.

Tongue-in-cheek extension to Europe:

  • Urban living: public transit is so ubiquitous people never check schedules for departure times. public transit within the area is significantly faster than car travel - mainly because of parking and congestion, which means transit that ignores congestion (subway, light rail or reserved track trams) are available.
  • Suburban living: public transit provides at least 4 departures per hour in any direction. public transit within the area is as fast as car travel, but slower when going to a different suburban area (and again faster when traveling into the urban core).
  • Exurban or rural living: 2 public transit departures per hour or less, requires one car per household, transit is to slow as primary transportation for working adults, reaching a transit stop requires at least a bike.

Housing style is a bit useless as definitions, since both the suburbs and rural villages will have a double digit percentage of residents living in apartment buildings.

I would put the suburban threshold at 2 rides/hour rather than 4. Hell, at the height of the train maintenance crisis a few years ago, some inner-ring parts of Berlin were reduced to 1/20min at peak hours, and I've lived in areas with 20- and 30-minute period transit that were nevertheless within 20 minutes of the centre and largely housed urban commuters.

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