There are newer trends in urban living and some say it is just a reverse of what happens naturally between city and suburban living with people migrating from one to the other and then back again. Take a friend who moved to suburbia in the late seventies, raised his kids and then moved to the city so his kids could be near university and he could be next to his job. He liked the quiet of the suburban environment but the city has its quiet places too that one can nestle in. Since he has a car than distinctions between noisy and quiet are less binding as far as I am concerned anyway.
The island of Montreal has its conveniences and provides a magnetic pull to south shore and Laval residence wanting to come here for nightlife, schooling and business purposes. But if anything, since Laval is the fastest developing city in Quebec it is likely that nightlife spots will develop there soon just as the business offices are slowly relocating outside the island where rents are cheaper. So it appears that the pull from quiet green corners to the busier city is variable or that migration from outlining areas depends on precise factors that have more to do with whether you are a businessman or retired.
A recent survey published in a local Montreal newspaper the other day cited some of the reasons behind the human flow. Many suburbanites are attracted to the city as mentioned above but they pride themselves for having cheaper homes and more space. They do not think of themselves as boring which is an association made by a good percentage of Montrealers and they think that city people tend to be more stuck up. Residents from Montreal on the other hand pride themselves for being more cultured but this is not to say that more cultural centers is a prerequisite for a cultured population or that off shore residents are any less affluent.
These comparisons may exist between any metropolis and its suburban outskirts like Chicago or Toronto and that is because in the past people used to associate large country estates with suburban life and people would associate boredom with the greater space.
Today people are able to effectively bridge those distances to migrate into town on a regular basis without having to live there and spend exorbitant rents. Having larger lots of land attached to your home on the south shore may be a thing of the past with the increase of costs there too. In contrast Montreal has very little green space available like a wooded lot near Senneville and the only way then for growth to occur on the island would be in the height like any island city.
