As an urbanite, do you feel that your city is part of what makes you?

Do you associate the city/urban area you live in as part of your own identity?

[spun-off from the California thread here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13146473230A81154500&page=4#85]

Do you live in your city as just the place where your house is, or do you live in the city because you feel you are part of it?

I, for example, live in Birmingham. The second-largest city in Britain, but the largest administrative metropolitan area in Europe.

I've lived here my entire life, and I fiercely defend it - ergo, I am glad to call myself a Brummie.

For the point of this, to count as a city, your urban area must have:

• +100,000 population
• A coherent public transit system
• At least one university or similar major educational institution

And don't worry. You count if you live in a suburb or within 50km (30 mi) of a city.

edited 30th Aug '11 5:05:28 AM by Inhopelessguy

Yes, I definately think that living all my life in Barrow has shaped my identity more than my genetics. Its probably the reason why I am such a Wide-Eyed Idealist and its also the reason why I was so shocked by the death of Dale Burns.

TLDR: My home in Barrow is more than just bricks and mortar, its where my history is.

edited 30th Aug '11 4:52:09 AM by whaleofyournightmare

Exactly. If I were told that I would leave to go to London <sneer> tomorrow, I would be rather sad. Not only would it mean leaving behind history, but it would mean I'd have to readjust.

For example, I know the sweet spot in a local Cineworld cinema.

Of course, the fact I added '<sneer>' after London, shows I participate in the sentiment many other residents have.

Nope. Although.. I'm not an urbanite. I live out on the outskirts of my city.

I've never lived anywhere else, but I don't have any particular fondness for it.

I grew up in Brooklyn and spent seven years in a very different big city (Houston), so I definitely feel that "the city" is in my blood to some extent. I'm also a night person, so it drove me a little crazy when I moved to a smaller city and found that I had difficulty finding what I need 24 hours a day. I've definitely gotten pleasantly used to the change of pace, however, and as long as I get my fix by visiting friends/relatives in NYC or Chicago for a couple of weeks out of the year I'm good to go. The city I live in now is slowly becoming a part of me, I suppose, but I have to consider the possibility I will be moving again within a couple of years.

Edit: No, I'm definitely not one of those guys that will stand and die defending a particular city in which I've lived.

edited 30th Aug '11 5:05:01 AM by ForlornDreamer

Why is that Loni? I don't live in a city though.

Hopey you say "London", for me, its pretty much anywhere I guess. It took me 3 years to get used to the fact that I was Manc and then I moved back

edited 30th Aug '11 5:01:53 AM by whaleofyournightmare

I don't like cities all that much. I prefer to live in a rural sort of setting - wide open spaces, that sort of thing.

I think the main reason, though, is that I have no patriotism or state spirit to speak of. I couldn't care less whether Queensland wins the state of origin, or anything like that. Why should I celebrate it as a victory for me, when I had nothing to do with it?

Within 30 miles of a city? By your definition, pretty much all Europeans count as urbanites.

In some European countries, you'd be hard pressed to find a 50 km radius without any decent-sized city.

edited 30th Aug '11 5:58:42 AM by SavageHeathen

SH: I live 42 miles from a city but I am a pseudo-urbanite anyway.

No, and that's the problem. I've lived here my whole life. L.A. should play a part in defining me. But it doesn't. And I've just had the insight that it's because the archetypal Angeleno is from somewhere else. The people who were born here aren't the "real" ones.

No.

By the OP's criteria I am technically an urbanite despite having lived in the Buckinghamshire countryside for most of my life. My village is about four miles from Milton Keynes' outskirts (population about 200,000).

I feel more attached to Sheffield, though, as that's where I've spent the last three years living.

edited 30th Aug '11 11:13:53 AM by pagad

What counts as "coherent public transit system"? Does it need to include subways/monorails/whatnot?

Like pagad, I'm actually in the countryside, but by the criteria in the OP I'm a resident of Gloucester.

I don't feel any strong attachment to Gloucester; I suppose I like it for its familiarity, but it's not a "part of what makes me" and I wouldn't actually want to live there, or in any city, really.

A quick question, is the 30 mile radius as the crow flys?

Born down near Wellington, raised in small towns and rural areas in Hawkes Bay then the Waikato. Moved to Hamilton about 30 years ago.

Despite having been here for 30 of my 48 years of life I don't identify with this town. In my feelings I'm a "country kid" not an urbanite and I identify more closely with Wellington region and Hawkes Bay (2 different areas) than the Waikato and Hamilton.

No. Never. No never? Not ever. Not ever? No never!

Not really. I've done too much moving around for any one place to leave much of a mark on me.

I've lived in four states and a dozen different cities, and I don't know if that's going to change much.

edited 30th Aug '11 2:01:30 PM by DrunkGirlfriend

Bias, much?

And, no. I wouldn't have cared either way if I'd been born in Chicago or Milwaukee instead of a slightly more dinky (pop. 80,000+, I believe; I live down the road from the sign that tells us...) city. What identity is there to value? 80,000 people—the majority of I don't know—that aren't my concern.

Not at all.

I am pretty attached to my little part of my North London Borough. It has all kinds of problems with crime and gangs and it isn't a very prosperous area but I've lived here my whole life and I do feel an affinity with it even though others consider it a shit hole which maybe objectively it is. I do feel though that being in the area I'm in, the people I've meet there have shaped me into who I am and it saddens me that it is seen as one of the least safe areas of London.

However, I think I feel a similar attachment to Swansea even though I do no live there as of yet. But then I have a pretty strong family history in both areas so maybe that is why.

As long as I'm close enough to where my best friend lives, I don't care where I live.

Considering that I live in south Wales, I'd probably count as a resident of Cardiff by Hope's distinctions.

Eh, not really. When I'm in the right mood, I could wander around Cardiff for hours on end, but most of the time? It's just a place to go. And I feel zero affinity for the actual village where I live, if only because the youth in the area are kinda terrifying.

Oh god yes.

@Inhope: Why do they need public transit? That's really obviously biased. LA wouldn't count as a city then.

No, I move around a lot so I can't really say I'm from one city or another. No matter where I go, I'd never think of the city I'm in as part of my identity, its just where I am currently. Loving to move around a lot probably has a large effect on that.