It's The Cars That Stress Me Out

I've had the chance to live in a lot of different places, and have come to a mildly surprising conclusion: it's cars that make living in the city stressful.

Basically I have lived in cities which were not very dense but which, due to road-placement, had a lot of traffic around them and it stressed me out. I have likewise lived in places which were dense with tall buildings but for idiosyncratic reasons had very little car-traffic and they did not stress me out. Lastly, I have lived in places that were technically Quiet Suburbs but which had a road nearby where cars went very fast and that stressed me out too.

I am sure the equation is ultimately more complicated, and that buildings and people and factories and whatever else can all play a role. But within the constrained domain of the places I've actually lived, I'm pretty sure that carsiness is the biggest contributor to my stress levels. Which is somewhat optimistic, if (like me) you think we're moving to a future of fewer, quieter and more graceful cars.