Open offices are a plague. Any company using them is interested in reduced real estate costs and having a younger staff. They’re not interested in productivity or quality of work.
NYC comes with the normal downsides of the biggest city in the US: expenses, limited space, crowding, and noise. But this is true of all large cities in the world: Paris, London, Tokyo, etc.
But it comes with the immense upsides of a functioning metropolitan transit system, which covers the majority of the living spaces, at an affordable price, and doesn't require Uber or car to go the "last mile".
Additionally there are countless flex offices, coworking spaces, etc. Everyone I've met in tech in the city has some sort of WFH/WFO at this point in the pandemic.
City life isn't for everyone but if you're looking for a good transit system in the US there are two or three (Chicago too)
Best of luck with your journey
I don't buy the idea that only hyper-dense cities can be walkable. The fact that NYC, Boston, Chicago, etc. are the closest thing we have to anti-car living speaks directly to OP's point about the US not prioritizing building comfortable communities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b...
We leave our trash in the streets, and I'm an asshole. So I can concede those points! But most city dwellers in the US live somewhere less safe than NYC.
The link you provided says NYC is the 67th most dangerous by crime rate. That is for the city as a whole, not for any particular borough or neighborhood. It also doesn't take into account other non-crime related danger. It also lists over 20 million people living in cities with a lower crime rate, even though it doesn't include hundreds of other cities because it is a list of the top 100 cities by crime rate.
NYC needs more law & order
I have been beaten up bad by teenagers and cops did jack shit (across the river in jersey). A friend of mine got robbed at midnight on 5th avenue (it was busy), cops again did nothing. Gun shots in washington square park and a faculty member was robbed there. These are anecdotes from years ago, its much worse now. You've to be on guard every second when you're out (especially at night). This is not a healthy life, and no wonder people become rude, 0 trust society will do that. Traveling in subways are essentially playing Russian roulette with a few more empty chambers. You can't pay me enough to even visit that place again.
New York, for good reason, is considered one of the most desirable cities there is. I've spent lots of time in cities all over the world, when you have the means and the network, I found none of them held a candle to NYC.
Right now I live in a small New England town, which suits my hobbies and walkability desire pretty well. The biggest con, of course, is the difficulty finding other young folks with similar interests... but I found that tough in NYC, too.
What made NYC "one of the most desirable cities" to you? I suspect you're more interested in night life, museums, theatre, etc. than me. If you're not interested in that stuff (I mostly just want places to hike, bike, run, and good food/craft beer)... NYC's value:cost ratio really falls apart. But I understand that different people have different preferences.
Sidenote: if anyone reads this and knows of a moderate size town that's walkable, bikeable, close to nature (preferably by bike), has good food and beer, low crime, where I don't have to deal with huge volumes of cars on a daily basis... I'd love to hear about it! Right now Fort Collins, CO and Montpelier, VT are high on my list.
- the USA's failure to provide even a single city that's pleasant to live in and travel around without a car
- tech company insistence on open office layouts that are not conducive to deep work
The first one sounds like a commute problem... but it manifests in more ways than you think. When you have to travel around in a car, everything is expensive. Parking is a pain. There's a certain amount of effort required to hop in a car, leave the parking garage for work, find a parking space near a lunch spot, etc. It's a huge financial burden in maintenance and feeding with gasoline or electricity. The economics of cars also impact how much space cities can devote to housing, how dense we can make downtowns, etc -- which has knock-on effects on housing prices and rent.
Open offices make me never want to come into the office because I can't concentrate. They're always the wrong temperature. I can't personalize my desk or my space into something that best suits me. I can't leave stuff out on my desk, or even in unlocked drawers overnight because apparently the janitor might steal Kafka secrets and sell them to competitors.
I actually like the idea of walking or biking to an office (with an actual office for me) where I can collaborate with coworkers in person. But modern society and tech companies have externalized so many costs -- car ownership, commuting time, comfort, rent -- onto workers that I'd rather just work from home. The last city I lived in had massive car theft and crime problems at night; it's not like I'd "hang out" with my coworkers for dinner downtown even if we all showed up.