Urbanization

I am the daughter of a Marine, and so we have moved 11 times in my life, and lived in many U.S. states, and overseas. I have never lived in a rural area, but have lived in urban and suburban areas all my life.

I was born in Belgium, and lived in a suburban area. It was much different than the United States, in the way that there were many businesses in the neighborhood, and people lived above their shops. We could go next door and buy bread that was just baked, and I remember there was a clock shop on the other side of us, where you could hear clocks chiming all hours of the day or night. I have not been back, so I don’t know how different it is, but many military we know that have been there since, say it is still the same, with maybe a few more businesses.

I grew up in many places after that, California, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Hawaii, Japan, Washington, and now Virginia. In all of these areas, with the exception of Oklahoma, and Japan, I would say they would be classified as an urban area. They were major cities, and were highly populated. Every modern convenience was available, but they were not as big as a metropolitan area. Marine bases never seem to be in a major metropolitan area, which I would love to experience just once. All of those areas I have just recently visited while we were moving to Virginia. They are all basically the same, with San Antonio being quite a bit bigger, and maybe heading to be the size of a major metropolitan area. However, when I looked it up, only Dallas and Houston were listed as a major metropolitan area for Texas.

Oklahoma was defiantly a suburban area, although areas are rural. However, I only lived in Stillwater, where Oklahoma State University is, and it is a suburban area. It was a lot smaller when I lived there, and recently when we went back to visit family, it had grown a lot. There are two Wal-Mart’s now, and one is a Super Center. ☺

Japan was an interesting mix of suburban and rural. However, it was mainly suburban with some rural areas on the outside of town. We lived off base, and in a regular neighborhood with new housing that had been built for the international community who were working at the base. There were stores within walking distance, but mainly there were neighborhoods they were attempting to make look like the cookie-cutter neighborhoods we have in America. It was a great experience though. Of course now I live in Quantico, VA now, and it is kind of remote, but I would say it is a suburban area. We live in a neighborhood that is nicely manicured, and houses, one after the other, that basically look the same. It is really pretty though. ☺ I am not sure I would ever want to live in a rural area, I might like the quiet, but I would miss easy shopping.

I think the text is pretty accurate as the definitions of these types of areas, and urbanization. On our recent drive from Washington State to Virginia I feel that a majority of the United States are urban areas.