Originally Posted by
acidfast7
I guess the real answer is why would anyone live more than 5 miles from work unless they were poor (couldn't afford the city).
This mentality leads to competition to live/work in the city core, keeps competition high and wages lower. It also keeps housing prices high, which counteracts the competition slightly.
Before you answer "Well, some people like to be in the countryside!", it's important to realise that most city dwellers in Europe that are professional have a "summer house" in the countryside.
This is especially true in Scandinavia ... where most in Stockholm have a sommarstuga ...
Summer house - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I like it that way ... because when you work there is zero commute ... and when you relax, you relax.
None of the suburbia ridiculousness. Some districts in Copenhagen have "summer houses" within access of the local rail, which is super nice
but not so cheap
Very common here as well but they are not called "Summer Houses". They are called cabins. They are almost never located in the countryside though, they are near lakes and probably as likely or even more likely to be owned by suburbanites than city dwellers.
They are for relaxing for a few hours on Sundays before people drive home because people spend all day Saturday cleaning and maintaining them. Probably would make more sense if folks had the amount of vacation time that Scandinavians do.