Big city, smallish town or isolated village?

janvantonder

Greetings!

Well, all of us here know that we are heading for a low-energy future and that there *could* be some ugly things happening in the next decade or two.

Anyhow, if you envisage what the future will be like in your mind, what would be the most sensible place to live?

A big city with lot's of people? A smallish town with decent infrastructure? Or a kind of isolated little village in the middle of nowhere?

Thanks for your thoughts!
Michael (Vienna / Austria)

Grifter

I picked isolated village because I think life will be more free there however, I think you'll live longer in a big city.

I'd rather live a short time happy than a long time sad.

Ludi

Depends on where you feel most comfortable.
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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy

Pops

Welcome.

Look here under "Location", read through all that and post up your thoughts in whatever thread seems appropriate.

Smile

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Make a plan and work it:

strider3700

you forgot the small bunker deep in the woods miles from anyone else option.
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shame on us, doomed from the start
god have mercy on our dirty little hearts

xerces

Big city...no question about it.

a well run metropolis = Money + advanced technology + persistent utilities + effective labor organization

That beats the villages by a long shot in a power-down scenario for most people.
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http://grown-up-permaculture.com

vision-master

Things will play out like peeling an onion. The big cities are the core of the onion and will be the last peeled.

It's happening already, the onion is getting peeled NOW. I was out 100 miles from MY major city today. I haven't visted this place since last fall. I swear, half the town is for sale now. Quite obvious, rural areas are going down 1st.

Ludi

Pops

Ludi

jivah · Coal Joined: Jul 03, 2004 Posts: 9 Location: London

How about both?

I have recently put down a deposit on an old farm, high up in the mountains in another country from where I live. I paid for it by borowing against my overvalued house in the center of a big city. The way I look at it is that in the not to distant future my house will be worth a fraction of it's current value and it may easily fall below the debts held against it. My farm on the other hand will be debt free and any loans used to purchase it are set against my first property.

Quite a lot of care and research has gone into choosing the right property, hard to find if you don't know where it is but walking distance to a local train station. No electricity or mains water, but it has a spring and a river. Not much flat land but plenty of woodland and game, and just in case I got it all wrong and PO doesn't happen for a while, it also is quite close to popular tourist spots so it is easy to rent out.

I will try and hang onto both properties to keep a foothold in both camps, but if nessessary either one could be abandond.

Homesteader

carbon14 · Coal Joined: Oct 29, 2005 Posts: 9

Read Tainters book - complexity requires surplus energy - in the context of human populations. Big = in trouble / small = ok. Londinium had 60,000 people when it founded now it has >7 million - that's a lot of hungry people...

FireJack · Heavy Crude Joined: Mar 16, 2005 Posts: 443

Food will be the big thing. Think very carefully about what skills you have or what you might wish you had and where that would be most useful. Having food brought in from long distances may not be possible so knowing how to grow good healthy food may be very important.

I image it will vary from city to city depending on where it is. I bet having a place where you can be completely self sifficent for short periods might be a good idea.

vision-master