I would have never ever thought...

The strangest thing happened the other day. It revealed quite a lot about how I perceive Vancouver, and how that perception- to my utter disbelief - is not universally shared. In addition to this "urban" class I am also taking a course in "Urban Sociology' which nicely compliments this class and offers other perspectives on the same issues. In the first class, while we were getting to know each other by talking about our thoughts on planning in Vancouver, a girl from Texas absolutely shocked me. She said the thing she DOES NOT like about Vancouver was that "everything is all compiled ontop of each other" by which she meant that (especially in the Downtown area) you work, play and live all within a few blocks of each other. Coming from Texas, where land runs wild, she said they would NEVER imagine combining all the portions of their life like that. She felt too compressed and squeezed living in Vancouver. She would rather drive 3o mins to work via a freeway, drive back home, then drive another 30 mins to recreation / entertainment whatever. She couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't prefer that scenario compared to Vancouver. I, of course, can't understand why anyone would? Needless to say, this really opened my eyes. Having lived in BC all my life I naively thought that everyone would appreciate the same things - a liveable walkable city that doesn't rely on automobiles, but I guess your upbringing matters more than I previously gave credit for.