Mountain Brook, Alabama

My name is Oliver. I have lived most of my life in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama named Mountain Brook. It was initially developed as a housing subdivision by Robert Jemison in 1929, but has expanded much since then. The community was eventually incorporated in 1942. It is in contrast to Cumming, Georgia in that it consists of a mix of traditional neighborhoods and suburban sprawl. "The Tiny Kingdom," as some people call it, is heavily wooded and hilly with several rivers and creeks such as the Cahaba River intersecting it. These characteristics make it a rather popular place for bouldering, canoeing, and hiking. Most of the originally developed areas in Mountain Brook are connected by recreation paths, used often for walking, jogging, or riding bikes. There are three "villages" throughout the suburb and city of Mountain Brook -- Crestline Village, English Village, and Mountain Brook Village. Each of these villages is organized with a main street, shops, and restaurants towards the center, and houses in the surrounding areas. The shops, restaurants, and houses are fairly diverse in style but not in size because of strict height regulations. There are hardly any strip malls, apartments, or big box retailers in the city. Unless one lives right outside of one of the villages, a car is necessary to get to any shops or restaurants as there is not a very reliable and prevalent mass transportation system. The city is particularly affluent and is the wealthiest and best educated in Alabama. With the median income for a family being around $160,000, no one lives below the poverty line. Racial diversity is nonexistent, with about 99% of the 21,000 person population being white. Around 30% of the population is below age 18, while 16% of the population is 65 years of age or older. There are about 10% more females than males. From my experiences in the suburb, I can say that it definitely supports the idea that traditional neighborhoods are generally better to live in than suburban sprawl. For more information on the neighborhood I grew up in, you can visit its Wikipedia page.

-Oliver