Week Fifteen: Urban/Suburban/Rural Life

Growing up I always lived in the suburbs of Fairfax in Northern Virginia. Where I was born and grew up has changed over the years and because it was gradual the change was not so overpowering, but if you showed me an areal view of my home now and and areal view of my home when I was born the change would be monumental. When my parents moved to Fairfax it was mostly a wooded area with the closest grocery store about a 15 minute drive away and only a couple different options for shops to shop at. As time went on and as I grew older the area developed at well and more and more stores and shopping centers popped up. Now there are a million options within less than five minutes from our house. There are three different 5 different McDonalds, 5 different Starbucks, 3 Chapotles, and so on meaning to say that not only are there different stores there are multiples of the same stores. Things have definitely built up and now our suburb is more and more like a busy city itself. I feel like more and more people moved into the area than moved out so I feel like this example is different from the examples in the book on the decline of metropolitan areas.