My next door neighbor and I are polar opposites in nearly every demographic category. You could fill a whole page describing the differences in our employment, economic status, education, race, sexual orientation, religion, family background, etc. What we share, however, is a commitment to make our neighborhood a good place to live, so together we examine the vegetables growing in front porch pots, discuss block parties and neighborhood happenings, bandage little boys’ skinned knees, commiserate about faltering relationships, lament broken car windows, gripe about city politics. Although she and I might contrast on the outside, our core values line up: values of caring for the people around us, even if—as often happens in big cities—they are strangers; values of actively contributing to our community, even if—as often happens in big cities—we are frustrated by the effects of crime and poverty and corruption; values of respecting and honoring differences, especially when—as often happens in big cities—we are surrounded by so much diversity.

Mel
Philadelphia, PA

My first thought regarding Big City Values cannot be expressed without considering one of the great urban planners, writers, and activists: Jane Jacobs. She purposed that America’s big cities are actually the drivers of economic development in the country. The places where creativity, opportunity and connection are found so that industry and ideas can flourish. I would like to think that innovation and hardwork are both wonderful values for any person, whether American or not. But just as industrial innovation prospers in the city, so does personal innovation. That is to say, people in big cities have learned to accept newcomers, immigrants, faiths, colors, ethnicities, genders, etc. In a lot of ways, acceptance is a Big City Value because rubbing shoulders in such close quarters means learning to recognize the humanity around you as people worthy of relationship: friend, neighbor or maybe even partner.

I have lived in big cities both inside and outside the U.S. I have also lived in small cities and towns much more quintessential than even politicians can paint in words. The same town I lived in Tennessee was both a place of great friendships and also hurtful experiences. I have a typical American story: a first-generation-American-dweller practicing a faith not native to this country (Islam). The first typical American small town I moved to upon arrival was a place where I learned most dramatically how diversity can sometimes be too close to home for some people. A place where 9/11 meant that expressing Anti-War sentiment or just being Arab or Muslim was unpatriotic and irresponsible, because it might mean losing your job or a scholarship, receiving a threat on the phone, having your hijab torn off on the street or being called a “terrorist” by a high-school schoolmate (all of these things happened to me or other Muslims in my town). It was a place where some of my local public school teachers and administrators felt comfortable using their power for racist aims (against me as the only person of my ethnicity, or black students, or others). I’m not claiming that these things do not happen in big cities, or that small towns don’t offer acceptance too. But I do know from personal experience that while living in Philadelphia and New York, I felt more comfortable praying in a mosque, speaking in Arabic, expressing my political views and breathing easy being someone who although is not unique for U.S., is often considered too “foreign” for small town America. I still visit my town, and enjoy spending time there, but I always remain guarded.

Lena Z
Moving from Philadelphia to NYC but currently in Atlanta, PA, NY, GA

Where but in a big city can we learn to value diversity, non-judgment and acceptance through practice not preaching?

Where but in a big city can we make buying local vs. buying big box an attainable reality?

Who but a big city dweller can lessen their eco-footprint without sacrificing innovation and technology?

Big cities give us access to information, culture, art, and different points of view.

Big cities have great food.

Keep It Movin
Philadelphia, PA

I work with the people who live on the edges of our society, on the street, in the shelters of our cities. I’m a nurse and not just any old nurse, a nurse that works on a general medicine floor at the county hospital of a large metropolitan area. I see the most beaten down, abused bodies come into my care. People who have track marks up their arms and no veins left from shooting up, people who have infection raging through their bodies from using dirty needles, people whose addictions are so consuming that they will do anything and everything to find their next fix, people living on the street and hearing voices in their head, people who sell their bodies for money. These are the people who inspire fear and worry, who parents rush their children by on the street and pray at night they will never go down that road. They are impulsive and unpredictable, which means at any time I am at risk of being kicked or attacked.

But most of all, these are people who deserve to have medical care and an advocate at their bedside. That’s me.

I take care of the untouchables, knowing that they will leave me and keep abusing their bodies, knowing that nothing I do will ever change their addictions, their mental illness, their personalities. I am not always nice or kind, I do not Dare to Care, but I will always work my ass off for my patients. I do this for no reason beyond the fact that I actually care about something larger than myself called community. I do all of this and live in a big city. That is my big city value.

Sacha
Seattle, WA

I work right smack in the downtown area of Columbus, Ohio. I know that most of the country doesn’t think about Ohio when they think about big cities, but Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Akron and Toledo all fall within the top 100 of the most populous cities in our country. According to www.city-data.com, Columbus is number 16, right under San Francisco.

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say for this and had been pondering it this morning. I just got back from lunch and realized that just telling you about the past hour of my life can give you and idea of Columbus’ big city values.

As my friends and I were walking to get lunch, we were serenaded by a group of Mennonite women, men and children who were set up near the statehouse lawn. We honestly thought they were a recording at first because their harmonies were so beautiful. We selected a newly opened and locally owned restaurant that serves hearty burritos for five bucks. Like many towns and cities across the country, Columbus’ downtown area fell on hard times over the past few decades. Basically all that was left was state agencies, financial institutions and a few theaters. It isn’t back to its prime, but there are restaurants, shops and people moving in.

After lunch, we had a bit of sweet tooth, so we walked over to farmer’s market that sets up every Tuesday and Friday in the shadow of Columbus’ tallest building. A street is closed off and local growers sell their vine ripened tomatoes, corn, peppers and eggplants. We walked past them, as well as the ribs, the samosas, the baked goods and the New Orleans style sweets, to the guy selling his homemade organic soft-serve. Delicious and served with a smile.

We strolled a different street back and found ourselves in the middle of a gentle, yet organized demonstration. The group wanted to stop the use of nuclear and coal power and increase the use of wind and solar power. There were police officers on horses, but they weren’t really necessary because there was no one around disagreeing. One of the demonstrators put her sign down to give us each a little pinwheel to take home to our toddlers.

Hope
www.hopeandmegan.com
Columbus, OH

For me the best thing about living in a culturally diverse, big city environment is is the actual cultural diversity. Sometimes I go out with my Black, Hispanic, Asian, Jewish and/or Muslim friends to eat drink and be merry in a Mexican place, or an Italian place, or an Indian place, or a Greek place, or a Vietnamese place, or a Moroccan place, or a Kosher Deli, or a Hofbrauhaus. Sometimes we even go out to a nice old-fashioned American Bistro.

NamelessGenXer
GenXforObama.com
Exit 100, NJ

In our cities we have cops, firefighters, teachers, dentists, social workers, business owners, etc… In fact, our cities create the economic backbone necessary for America to remain resilient and prosper. Cities are more than just cesspools of extreme liberal thought and moral relativism (although, there is some of that too). We have families, character, morals, values, and dare I say, F-A-I-T-H! Yes, America’s cities are actually very cool places to live.

Dr. Chuck W.
www.drchuckspeaks.com
Philadelphia, PA

Toward the end of in the last millennium, I spent several years living in a cozy apartment that was within walking distance of work, shopping and socializing. The space was a cheerful sunlit studio right in the heart of pre-real-estate-boom Center city. $465 per month. Separate kitchen. Basement laundry. Sweet. I walked to work in fifteen minutes, to the grocery store in ten, to bars and restaurants and other attractions in about five minutes. My best friends lived within a few blocks of me. I could practically roll out of bed and fall straight into the lap of my favorite waiter at my favorite Tapas restaurant.

Never mind how that sounds.

The bottom line is that, it was a happy, functional life. I socialized constantly. I had no rush hour to deal with, no parking fees or car insurance, no long treks to or from social engagements or daily errands. I would literally, sit by my window and wave, through my geranium plants, to friends as they walked past. I felt really connected to the people in my life.

Contrary to what some people believe, this sort of village life is hard to find outside of big cities. Most small towns in America today have been completely gutted by suburbia. The compact, bustling towns my great-grandparents’ knew have been encircled and strangled by shopping centers, cul-de-sacs and sprawling business parks. It’s difficult to find a functioning downtown today where people can work, shop and play. Even the most bustling towns rarely have the array of produce stands, clothing stores and corner pharmacies that my city neighborhood had. Few small town dwellers know the pleasure of commuting to work on foot or by bike. Even fewer can live comfortably car-free. And most importantly, the casual, frequent, unplanned social interactions of small town life have grown rare outside of urban villages.

I think “Small Town America” is a myth used by conservative politicians to scorn political philosophies inclusive of complexity. Big cities are messy and bureaucratic; small towns are places of “simpler” values and honest, self-reliant people who help their neighbors. Small towns are predictable, secure and safe. They’re the “authentic” America that the urban world fails to understand or respect. In fact, small towns can be far more chaotic and damaged than their larger counterparts. If you don’t believe me, take a drive across Pennsylvania sometime. Or through Ohio. Or nearly anywhere in the American south. You’ll see 21st century “Small Town America” in all its shabby glory: empty factories; downtowns bereft of a centralized business district; neighborhoods where people have paved their lawns to create extra parking; Towns where the only jobs are at the Wal-Mart Supercenter 20 miles away.

Some politicians have happily and cynically exploited this insecurity by reinforcing the myth of some alien elite targeting small town values for destruction. Gay, terrorist, liberal, big-government boogiemen are out to destroy American values one small town at a time. But actually, it’s big box stores that are doing it. It’s outsourcing. It’s highway construction. Pay no attention to the corporate tool behind the green curtain; he’s from a small town, just like you. Listen to how he talks.

At worst, “Urban” is a racial code used to conjure up images no respectable politician has openly articulated since the 1950′s; at best, it’s suggestive of crime, mistrust and a sort of intellectual decadence that, to some people, seems somehow un-American. But, in fact, the most honest, down-to-earth village I ever lived in was in the center of America’s fifth largest city. This was a place where I tipped my lesbian letter-carrier at Kwanzaa, where I dog-sat for a retired stripper next door, where I listened to the bickering of the male couple downstairs, and nodded to the tattooed moms walking their children to school. I could borrow a cup of flax seed oil from my vegan neighbors. I house-cleaned for a massage therapist who paid me in back rubs. And in less yuppified neighborhoods across the city, people showed up for block clean-ups. They grew community gardens. They watched each other’s houses. They started local businesses and community-based organizations so people had choices about where to shop or where to send their children to school. They helped each other out. Small Town Values hard at work.

The other day, I listened to Bristol Palin’s mom try to belittle Obama for being a “community organizer”. I wonder: aren’t “organized communities” synonymous with “Small Town Values”? Aren’t collective efforts forged by social relationships the cornerstone of what small town values are supposed to be about? I would think that any politician trying to pass herself off as some homespun traditionalist would applaud community organizing instead of mocking it. Maybe small town values only apply outside of Alaska.

Today, I live in a smaller, more spread-out city with a far less pedestrian-friendly plan and I also drive a car. I miss my neighborhood in Philly that is now priced far out of my range due an influx of urbanites fleeing small town suburbs for big city villages. They’re part of a trend of young-ish people and retirees who are moving back to cities in search of community. Or just shorter commutes. Or closer proximity to bars. But in any case, these urban villages are the wave of the future. They’re places that still have the infrastructure to support the kinds of connectedness and interaction that inspire the enduring myth of the Small Town. That’s where my America is. Those are my Big City Values.

Ross G.
Pittsburgh, PA

I love my city block. As neighbors we all know each other and look out for one another. We walk each others’ dogs, sweep each others’ sidewalks and have fabulous block parties. I love keeping my door open and having neighbors poke their heads in to say hello. I love breaking out my daughter’s bubble machine and watching all the kids in the neighborhood come to pop bubbles.

We have a Community Garden on our block and non-gardeners from the neighborhood bring their kitchen scraps to compost there. I often share surplus produce or sauce I make from garden tomatoes with my neighbors. If I ever need anything (duct tape, food containers, tools, etc.) I can usually find someone in the neighborhood who will let me borrow it.

I love that my neighborhood is not homogeneous, my kid will grow up being around all kinds of people. The people in my neighborhood don’t feel the need to hide who they are in order to get along, even the Republicans.

Our daughter walking in our community garden

Big Cities are Awesome!

Tracy L

Philadelphia, PA

To start, my big-city values include multiculturalism, public transportation, block parties, community gardens, neighborhoods, and so much more.

I love taking my daughter on public transportation, knowing that there will be all different types of people all doing the same thing – going somewhere.

I love that we know every person on our block. That we throw spontaneous block parties with ping pong in the street and Rock Band projected on the wall of a neighbors house.

I love that yesterday we rode our bikes to visit the Philadelphia Magic Garden and the Green Festival, all in our community. I love that these things are important to Philadelphia and people have organized to make them exist.

Mia L
Philadelphia, PA