Brooklyn is a fascinating world. Large enough to be a city in and of itself, it nonetheless takes a backstage to Manhattan when we evoke imagery of New York City. Fairly large, but more importantly very dense and vibrant, it is, very much like Toronto a city of neighbourhoods, each having its distinct characteristics, culture and populations. Unlike Toronto, it is not a collection of small commercial hubs surrounded by endless blocks of low-density residential neighbourhoods, but rather a fairly homogenous dense urban environment, with brownstone-lined residential streets nestled in between major commercial arteries.
Having grown in a rather small, but very dense (for its size) city, I find in Brooklyn a lot of the qualities I've come to appreciate about my hometown: lots of walking-distance commerce, with pretty much everything one can wish for within a stone's throw, lots of vibrant activity (there is always people around), ease of getting around and tons of pleasant public spaces within a 30-minute walk radius.
This may be the romantic in me speaking but there is really something about one's ability to be in a dense urban environment that makes life interesting. There is an energy that's exhilarating and the opportunity to make random connections with strangers that may share some of our interests that's exciting and promising. NYC may not be perfect, and the very high cost of living makes it increasingly harder to make it there, but it seems to be giving so much back in return.
How do we replicate that elsewhere?
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