By: MJ

The rural place is seen as the place of agriculture. It is the complete opposite of the city. Though it doesn’t have all the pros of the city life, it does consist of many aspects that most people desire. Since it is the best place for agriculture, then it only means that there are better natural environment in the countryside. There are fewer cars, less smoke, and less traffic. The area is peaceful and so is the neighborhood. People around you are easily distinguished because you are only few. This enables the dwellers to feel secure in their homes.

It is also the best place to relax and enjoy life. Usually, people spend their vacations here because the area is nearer to beautiful sites and beaches. For older people, this area is also the best place to retire.

By: MJ

The urban area, despite of its many advantages, have many cons as well. The city is a crowded place where people around you become strangers. It is a place where people seldom sleep and seldom have silence. It is a place where busy people roam about the area even if the sun had already set. You have to know that it is a place where have to adjust living with different kinds of people.

Moreover, since it is more crowded than most areas in the country, it also becomes the best place for crime to take place. People wanted by the law choose the city as a hide-out. You’ll never know who and where they are because of the business of the city life.

Many baby boomers across the U.S. are considering downsizing from their urban McMansion into a luxury downtown condominium. Their desire to downsize is fueled by the characteristics associated with urban condo living such as low maintenance, luxury amenities, nearby fine dining & shopping, less time in traffic, etc. As much as these benefits of condo living improve the quality of life, adequate storage space for storing items such as clothing, bicycles, holiday decorations, books, etc. should be considered carefully before purchasing. When visiting a condo that you are considering purchasing, make sure to inspect all hallway, bedroom, & garage closet space to ensure that there is enough for your needs. Newly built condo developments have more recent floor plan design and tend to reflect current consumer demand for walk-in bedroom closets and larger hallway closet & garage storage. If you are considering purchasing a condo in a high rise development project, your parking space will likely be underground. Often the developer will offer storage rooms either directly in front of your parking space or nearby. These storage units usually cost a premium over the base price of the condo so be sure to ask if this is the case. In addition, residents are typically allowed to sell their storage unit to another resident who may need additional storage space. Source: scottsdale-az-condos.com

Look around and you will surely get an eye full of some of these urban space attractions:
• Water Wall – interactive fountain system with digitally controlled streams of water
• Digital Bus Stops – provides information to commuters on routes and maps equipped with a digital touch screen
• Memory Paving – digital recording of pedestrian movements
• LED Lighting – known as Urban Pixels installed on buildings and temporary structures
• Digital Displays ad Facades – adds theatrical effects to emitted light
• Digital Awnings – movable mounted screens
• Smart Parking – digital search for parking space

The first English translation of Lefebvre’s groundbreaking work on the urban experience.

Originally published in 1970, The Urban Revolution marked Henri Lefebvre’s first sustained critique of urban society, a work in which he pioneered the use of semiotic, structuralist, and poststructuralist methodologies in analyzing the development of the urban environment. Although it is widely considered a foundational book in contemporary thinking about the city, The Urban Revolution has never been translated into English—until now. This first English edition, deftly translated by Robert Bononno, makes available to a broad audience Lefebvre’s sophisticated insights into the urban dimensions of modern life.

Lefebvre begins with the premise that the total urbanization of society is an inevitable process that demands of its critics new interpretive and perceptual approaches that recognize the urban as a complex field of inquiry. Dismissive of cold, modernist visions of the city, particularly those embodied by rationalist architects and urban planners like Le Corbusier, Lefebvre instead articulates the lived experiences of individual inhabitants of the city. In contrast to the ideology of urbanism and its reliance on commodification and bureaucratization—the capitalist logic of market and state—Lefebvre conceives of an urban utopia characterized by self-determination, individual creativity, and authentic social relationships.

A brilliantly conceived and theoretically rigorous investigation into the realities and possibilities of urban space, The Urban Revolution remains an essential analysis of and guide to the nature of the city.

“Pioneering, ambitious, frustrating. The first English translation of Henri Lefebvre’s critique of urban life simmers with the student revolts of 1968 Paris and with the genuine conviction that the forces behind that unrest could still change cities as we now them. The author provides us with admonitions that are valuable even today.” —Architecture

“Widely considered a foundational book in contemporary thinking about the city. This first English edition, deftly translated by Robert Bononno, makes available to a broad audience Lefebvre’s insights. A well-conceived and theoretically rigorous investigation into the realities and possibilities of urban space.” —Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society

“Henri Lefebvre’s The Urban Revolution, one of his most obviously important works for geographers, has, 33 years after its initial publication, at last appeared in an English translation.” —Antipode

“This book contains some wonderfully thought-provoking passages and it is clear why it had such an impact at the time of its original publication. Lefebvre’s fascination with with the urban is contagious, and for that reason, this book is an invigorating and rewarding read.” —Journal of Regional Science

Henri Lefebvre (d. 1991) was one of the most significant European thinkers of the twentieth century. His many books include The Production of Space (1991), Everyday Life in the Modern World (1994), Introduction to Modernity (1995), and Writings on Cities (1995).

Source:  upress.umn.edu

By: MJ

Which place is better to live in has been an argument for people deciding to relocate. People in the urban areas believe that it is better to live in it because you never get left behind on the modern and upgraded technology. There are also more job opportunities in the city. To attain better education, here is a better place. Children transfer to the city to enter the schools. This is because if you have better education, you attain a greater future.

There are many advantages to live in a city such as the market. The industry allows you to have more business opportunities. You earn more and live better.

The latest addition to the digital urban reader contributed book on the Worlds Worst Urban Places and Spaces comes from Dawid Gorny who has recently moved to Cheltenham Spa.

Wikipedia describes Cheltenham as a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, England, near Gloucester and Cirencester. The town has a population of 110,013 (2001 census) and the people of the town are known as “Cheltonians“. The town motto is: Salubritas et Eruditio (“Health and Education”).The town is located on the edge of the Cotswolds and has an image of being respectable and wealthy. Cheltenham has been a health and holiday spa town resort since the discovery of mineral springs there in 1716. The town is famous for its Regency architecture and is said to be “the most complete regency town in England”. The small River Chelt flows under and through the town.

To quote Dawid:

‘I took this photo in Cheltenham on a bridge on Tewkesbury Road. Depicting a subway path under this bridge of note is the sign telling you that it is open to public but it isn’t and has been closed since I live in Cheltenham. I think it’s such a waste of space when it’s not open and there is no zebra crossing on the bridge instead so you have to pass all the way to cross a road’

It is these small overlooked parts of our urban environments that add up to create a grim and to be honest slightly down heartening scene. The photograph is well worth viewing at full size via Flickr as you can start to appreciate why Dawid sent it in.

Learn more: digitalurban.blogspot.com

Rural homes are less affordable than urban ones, with average prices more than seven times the typical local wage, a bank has reported. House price inflation has pushed the average rural property value up to �246,104, which is �30,000 above that of a town house, Halifax said.

Carrick, Cornwall, was deemed the least affordable rural area.

The survey found the average house price in the district was �269,241, over 10 times the average local salary.

Chiltern in Buckinghamshire was identified as the most expensive rural location was an average price tag of �474,850.

Property ladder

Martin Ellis, chief economist at Halifax, said people in rural areas faced “particularly tough” housing market conditions.

“In general, higher average property prices, together with lower earnings, mean that housing is less affordable than in urban areas,” he said.

“Many young people in particular are therefore finding it tough to find a foot on the property ladder.

“This difficult situation is compounded by lower levels of provision of social housing in rural areas.”

The research found that the average property price was 7.1 times average annual earnings in rural areas.

Social housing

As a result there were fewer first-time buyers in the countryside where they made up just 17% of home-buyers, compared to 33% in urban locations.

The survey by Halifax and its sister company Bank of Scotland concluded that only 13% of property was designated social housing in the countryside, compared to a fifth of homes in urban areas.

In Scotland the report suggested that rural house prices had risen by 112% in the last five years – compared with a 107% increase in urban areas.

It put an average Scottish rural home at �177,007 – 12% more than the �157,519 paid in the city.
Source:� news.bbc.co.uk

I tried living in the country for a while and I have to admit; I take my hats off to those that can do it year in and year out because it isn’t for everyone. I had always been to the country, special trips for school, holidays and vacationing with family, but had never really considered living there.

What is so great about living in the city? People think that city living means that you are all outgoing and stuff, loud, fast and quick on your feet, and just all around slick, but that isn’t the case at all. Some are like that, but many are just focused on keeping everything okay and well with their own little corner of the metro and go to work and home, and then back to work, and just like what the city has to offer.

What does it have to offer? Thousands of shops, hundreds of schools, and tens of thousands of traffic signals and intersections. High-rise buildings and small buildings not much bigger than a single family home that serve as “hole in the wall” mom and pop establishments. Mega projects that take up acres and attract thousands, on acres of land and smaller, more intimate settings. A variety and contradictory fusion of conflicting ideas about life, race and culture that it is difficult to find anywhere else.In the city you’ll find everything from those whose heart is in the middle of nowhere to those that feel that the city is never big enough, overcrowded enough, or fast enough for them. You’ll find God in places with huge billboards for the work of the enemy across the street from each other; churches with strip clubs 100 feet away and hospitals with gun shops and liquor stores within walking distance. You’ll find streets that are elevated that overlap other streets that are elevated that overlap a street that actually is “on the ground, on the street” and bridges whose sole purpose isn’t to take you across a body of water, but to ease traffic flow and take you across another street.

Source: associatedcontent.com