Love/Hate Relationships With Your City

In this course we learned about our love/hate relationship with our city. This relationship happens when you learn certain things about your city that you end up loving or hating. These affordances make you realize what you want out of a city. Whether you move to another part of town or a completely new city, you will notice the things you like and dislike. The places you live in your life matters. The first place you live will be the one you compare all other cities to. That city will always be a part of your lifestyle and personality. It is in your interest in whether you accept or reject those affordances.

You will carry parts of your origins throughout your life. When you are in a different city you tend to notice the different lifestyles within the city. You will see how your previous city or hometown does things differently. You are passionate about the things you love about your city/cities, and you will know that when you find yourself comparing the simplest differences. Your identity is formed based off of your affordances in life.

This subject struck me because it is true in the fact that you can either accept or reject your foundations. I never really thought about in that way. You can either expose those accepted foundations, or you can hide them. I feel like you really come to know yourself and your values when move out of your hometown. You come to notice what lifestyle you like and what you carry with you from your previous belonging. That love and hate relationship is real and I finally realized that after I moved cities.

As someone who has moved from a big city to a small city, I can immediately notice the differences and know what I love and hate about both cities. After moving, I have come to hate a lot of big city things that I did not realize before. I appreciate Albuquerque because of the lack of constant traffic and a lower population. I love the weather in Albuquerque, because in San Diego it is always hot/warm and that gets boring after so long. Before, I used hate that there are so many freeways in San Diego and love that there is only two in Albuquerque. After living in Albuquerque for two and half years, I love all the freeways in San Diego because you spend most of your driving time on the freeway, whereas in Albuquerque most of the time it is on the streets. Having to deal with lights all the time makes me not want to drive anywhere. Even though everything is closer in proximity in Albuquerque, the lights are such a mood killer.

In the lecture, it was also mentioned that you judge others by your past experiences. I one hundred percent agree with that. When Albuquerque locals complain about traffic I am so confused like what traffic??? This is nothing compared to San Diego. Although, I could complain about the traffic in San Diego to someone from New York City and they would have that same reaction. I also notice it with the weather in these two cities. Albuquerque gets cold and actually has seasons. San Diego is pretty much warm year-round. While my time in Albuquerque, I have noticed that I dress differently than the locals in the fall and winter seasons. I am usually wearing more layers than the locals, because they are used to the weather whereas I am not used to anything below sixty degrees. I think no matter how much you want to hide your past identity, there will be something that you are still passionate about from your origins. There will always be something that either you hold onto or it holds on to you. I am glad I was able to grow up in San Diego compared to Albuquerque. San Diego is a big city, which means that big music artists perform there a lot and going to concerts has been part of who I am.

All of these aspects affect planning because a person knows what they want and do not want in a city. A planner would want to plan their ideal town based off their past city experiences. Planners have to consider multiple perspectives when planning a city, and it will be easier to consider options that you know are attractive to residents. Knowing what you love and hate in a city help in redesigning a city or planning a new one.