Why millennials should move to smaller cities and towns | Andy Vargas | TEDxBU

[lisandrofalcoff]

I moved to a small town in the desert after three years of unenployment. I was planning on moving off the grid and surviving by my own, but I ended up getting a job as a music teacher. Not even 6 months since I moved here and I'm already buying my own plot of land.

[Drivenaway]

I just moved back to my small hometown from Seattle. Got a job that’s higher paying than my last job in the city and have several extra hours a week without all the traffic. Also, so much less expensive in many areas. Wahoooo!

[makegeorgeorwellfictionaga]

I am a gen x and I moved to a small town, its a little boring sometimes, but cleaner, less stressful and cheaper to live.

[letlotlomache]

Excellent talk this! It resonates with me very much. I'm from South Africa and our economy is a fraction that of the USA... I've always thought to myself one of the ways we can grow our economy is to end our over-reliance on a few of our big cities and stimulate the many prospect cities across the country. Thank you very much for the encouragement and firing me up again.

[raizelc]

Only here for the comments about his badonkadonk

[dimaqny]

Cool speech. Disagree with one thing : the fact that less millennials migrate to big cities in the past 6 years do not bring rent price down. Rent is continue to raise and millennials simply can't afford it, therefore not as many are moving.

[kellyjohnson]

This is mostly a general statement but people need to stop talking to gen z like they’re millennials

Edit: guys I’m 19 I’m IN gen z

[andreymihailow]

> Talks about the opportunity
> Says it's easier to find a job where's a lower supply

Yeah, good luck finding an IT job in a small town, when there's a vacancy open one time a year and the pay is half of a one you get in a "metropolis"

[jen]

Damn I thought he meant like real small towns to move in. That’s where I wanna go with my family. The way he described “Prospect Cities” is exactly my town and I have to move out eventually because of rising prices. These cities seems better and cheap for these rich millennials that live in nyc but it getting too pricey for us poor people Who been here for decades, atleast my family and my neighbors, I’m only 21 in college. Like literally there has been new condos being built around town in recent years that on average 4K a month! When he talked about gentrification in big cities I wish he realized that it can happen in “Prospect Cities” too.

[jamaalnyc]

Rent prices in NYC are NOT going down, bro.

[stephanie]

I think with increased globalization and the ability to work from home/anywhere will open up the possibilities of moving from city centers to either prospect cities, or rural areas. Millennial's have been profoundly effected by the recession, so I feel our generation will be more susceptible to the financial advantages of living in less populated city centers. The frills generally don't attract us as much. However, personally, the reason my husband and I have not taken advantage of prospect cities is because our families are in the city. The cost of childcare is much too expensive to relocate regardless of affordable housing and upward mobility in our careers. I think this is a challenge that many millennial's are facing. More-so a choice we are facing of what is more important to us, our finances or our family?

[Native]

I hate it when people say millennials are lazy. Not true what so ever.

[benkeith]

The problem that you run into in a lot of these smaller cities is that many do not want any “millennial innovations” or anything that might change their established way of life. You might be able to meet the mayor for coffee once a week, but local old money will have him or her on speed dial and if those people aren’t comfortable with these disruptive ideas, then you will have a steep uphill battle getting them going. My suggestion is focus on places with at least a city/community college nearby, they tend to be more open to change.

[Distortion]

A lot of cities just don't have opportunities. If your city has a lot of entry level positions, that's great and should be advertised, but that's just not the case for a lot of smaller cities.

[jnyerere]

It's not for everyone. If you feel like you can make a change in a small town, then more power to you. Everyone doesn't have the privilege of just upping and moving to a small town. And half of us who live in major metropolitan areas are able to live below our means and be just fine. I'm good where I am. It's all about what works best for you.

[FredMinville]

Lol trailer parks are now called tiny homes co-ops lol

[l-y-d-s]

I said “big cities are becoming obsolete” giving my senior thesis in architecture school a few years ago. I designed what you could call a prospect city around the principles of autarky and sustainability but I conceptualized it as stamp to repeatedly place in the middle of nowhere to make kind of an instant city at a small scale that grew its own food utilizing aquaponics, aeroponics and automation. It was a failure because I spent way too much time researching the concepts involved than designing it.

[DrizzyDrakeII]

Lmaao I’m so happy the comments caught it too, I was definitely gonna come down here to talk about those bodacious buns 💀💀

[arca]

I, as a millennial, want to say - don't tell me what to do.

Ok so maybe it’s because I’m French but 2 comments :
1. It’s the most cliche speech I ever heard in TEDx.... millennials like coffee shops and to have an impact while living next to a lake... not sure that defines this generation
2. Prospect cities is nothing new... it’s a concept that exists in urbanism for decades now... so instead of pretending to invent a new concept why not referring to research