Perspective of a Childless Couple

            I wanted to write my second blog from the perspective of a childless couple due to a couple different reasons. First and foremost, I find this group to face some of the most unique challenges out of the possibilities given. Another reason is because I think this stage will most likely be a reality in my own life before some of the other ones. I want to address some of the major urban indicators on quality of life because I find them to provide good headings for areas of interest/concern (Class 1/12). With that being said, the place I would choose to live is a place like Tempe/Mesa, AZ. I know that initially sounds kind of boring, but with further explanation I hope it makes more sense.

            The first area to consider is housings and its associated costs. Since a childless couple tends to be fairly young, I will consider them to be somewhere between slightly below to slightly above middle-class. With this knowledge, it is important for their housing to be affordable yet location efficient. An area like Mesa, which is further away from the urban center of Phoenix, will, in theory, provide cheaper housing according to the Alonso Model (Class 1/12). On a slightly different level of reasoning, gentrification can lead to rising costs of living in the city center. According to Sharon Zukin, “The cultural claim to urban space poses a new standard of legitimacy against the claim to affordability put forward by a low-status population (Zukin 42).” In other words, transforming downtown areas to revive their cultural and historic roots through renovations leads to more expensive housing. This is extremely logical because the addition of amenities and added services costs money, and an investor would never put forward a business plan that loses them money. The investor wants to see a high return on their investment and this comes in the form of higher rent or purchasing price. 

            The next factor in my decision-making process involves taking a closer look at the Alonso Model. The reasoning that Alonso had behind claiming that the center of the city is the most expensive is because of transportation costs (Class 1/12). Deciding to live downtown represents a trade-off, higher housing costs in return for no transportation costs and added convenience. With no children being present, it is expected that both members of this couple will be employed full-time. It would seem most logical to live downtown to save on transportation cost, except this is not necessary due to a major technological advantage of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area: the light rail. The light rail allows individuals to live outside of the central business district, but still have a cheap and efficient means to downtown. This would, at the very minimum, allow a couple to become a one car household. There are many added expenses to a car that make this such a huge savings (E.g. gas, insurance, registration, environmental impacts, etc).

            Several areas I want to briefly discuss that also play a role are crime, environment, and employment opportunities (Class 1/12). A major bonus of Arizona is the lack of winter, and generally nice weather for about eight months out of the year. Due to size of the Phoenix Metro area, there should be more opportunity for employment versus what there would be in a smaller community. Also, targeting areas to live that are not in the city center should result in lower crime rates. The trade-off would be dealing with slightly more pollution (although the paper mills back home do plenty of that) and congestion. I find both of these areas tolerable due to the benefits of city life.

            The aforementioned paragraphs are the main forces behind an idea that is summed up quite nicely in the Smith reading. Neil Smith discusses a cultural element as to why there is an added emphasis on downtown areas. He talks about how “young, usually professional, middle-class people have changed their lifestyle.” Then he goes on to say that these individuals “are trading in the tarnished dream of their parents for a new dream defined in urban rather than suburban terms (Smith 71).” This does a good job of summing up my feelings because I want to have the experience of living in an urban area with all of the amenities it has to offer versus an average sized town in Wisconsin. I want to be able to go downtown to work and have fun, but be able to escape to a smaller, quieter community like Mesa.