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Comment by xigency | Hacker News Reader

> I didn't care to live in the Chicago suburbs, but I didn't mind working out there while living in downtown Chicago.

I hear this a lot, but I'm quite the opposite. The suburbs are nice and quiet and I can go to the city for anything I need if ever.

Similarly, I will say that the smaller towns in Japan are quite nice and idyllic, and well within reach of the megalopolises by train.

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Yes - if Cities were so inherently attractive why did so many willingly flee them during the pandemic and not return?

Different strokes for different folks. There's an attraction to having more space/less noise/etc. and being able to travel into a big city for activities without too much hassle/time. There's also an attraction to having a probably smaller place and just walk/cab/transit to those activities.

I ended up mostly gravitating to the former but I understand the attraction of the latter and, who knows, I may change my preference some day.

Probably because the things that make cities attractive were literally outlawed during COVID?

Framed differently, I think that for most people, jobs are the primary driver for urbanization.

The pandemic was not a normal situation. There are centuries of evidence about cities, pre- and now post-pandemic.

Some clear empirical data is housing prices: People are willing to pay far more to live in many cities than anywhere else, often for much smaller residences.

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