Modern American suburbs are hell, but IMO they don't necessarily have to be this way. There's a balance between living in the middle of a busy city (which I get isn't for everyone), and living in the hellhole of a modern Texas car dependent suburb.

I live in Media, PA, and IMO it's how suburbs *should* be. We have a downtown that's anchored with a streetcar. That downtown has a nice main street with restaurants, grocery stores, etc. Surrounding that is a grid of mixed density houses (some single family, some apartments, some rowhomes), that are close enough to town that you can easily walk for your basic needs and get a trolley to the city. Outside of that it becomes larger (but still sensibly sized) single family homes on streets with trees, shade, and low traffic. And you can still own a car (most people do), you can still drive, but it's a way to do it that you also have a community and know your neighbors (which, isn't that what the right claim they want?).

Where else is doing it right?

When looking on posts on this sub, I sometimes think that for many people, there are only three options:

-dense, urban neighbourhood with tenement houses.

-copy-paste suburbia.

-rural prairie with houses kilometers apart.

Why nobody ever considers thing like a normal village, moderately dense, with houses of all shapes and sizes? Picture for reference.

As a kid from the 90's and 00's I remember this is what kept score of who won or lost life. Now there's literally zero status for it in America, just whoever is the latest social media star. So it begs the question why should I have to keep a perfect yard "for appearances" if all people really care about is laying on the couch watching influencers on their phones? You can do that in the trailer park lol.

Why do all these neighborhood developers create dead-end roads. They take from the landscape. These single access neighborhoods trap people inside a labyrinth of confusion.

Last picture is a business road

It seems like most people I come across are not bothered by car dependency and the isolation that it causes. They'll point to things like video games, social media, and bad food for the culprit of poor mental health. Why won't more people address the elephant in the room? After briefly living in Europe I can confirm that people are way healthier, less socially awkward, and happier as a result of having clean and walkable cities.

Even Latam which is a hybrid of the EU and US infrastructure does not experience the obesity, mental health issues, and isolation the suburbs in the States cause.

Is it ignorance or do most Americans actually like things being this way? It baffles me.

Edit: After reading the comments here I wanted to clarify a few things.

1. Walkability/bikeability doesn't exclude cars. Cars are still a valid method of transportation, but not the only one. Less cars= less traffic. It's a win-win. That being said I think we should have pedestrian only areas.
2. This isn't limited to cities. Suburbs can become more walkable too. You can still have your yard and extra space. Sure it won't be as walkable as a city, but it is certaintly better than 100% car dependency. Zoning laws need to change for this to truly work.
3. I realize that there are societal factors at play as well that greatly add to the mental health crisis, however car dependency worsens it.
4. Walkability won't magically solve the obesity problem, but having the ability to SAFELY walk/bike to work will certaintly help.
5. You can still be socially awkward/reclusive in walkable communities, but they create more opportunites for those who want to improve that area of their life.
6. Some suburbs are better than others in this regard, but overall, North American suburbs are largely car dependent.
7. Bike lanes that are part of the road and only marked with paint/plastic markers are hated by both drivers and cyclists. They still endanger the lives of cyclists, that's why they aren't frequently used, which results in more traffic congestion. Fully dedicated seperate bike lanes are needed.

I imagine it must suck living in a house where you're neighbors house is less than 5 feet away and your yard is a 7x8 foot patch of grass but I wanna know from the people who live in neighborhoods like this, what's it like? What's good and bad about it

Google satellite photos taken from neighborhoods around Dallas for reference

My pick is phoenix, but any Floridan cities could count. It's a bit easy if you choose a clear suburban satellite towns/cities near a larger city but I won't judge.

Ngl I kinda wonder what are good examples of suburban heaven? If that's what you call it.

Just from these pictures, would you say this is a place you would like to live?

Why couldn’t the guard rail be placed on the other side of the never-maintained sidewalk to protect pedestrians from cars on the 50 mph road?

Is there a point where we have to decide to just demolish these places entirely, or can they be fixed? Of course some can be made walkable and bike-able, but at a certain point we are going to be limited.

I'm a Japanese and I have a dream of live in the US in

the future.but do most american people live in the Surburbs surrounding the cities??

Im Italian and here in the suburbs you can enjoy some privacy and dont need to worry about dogs shitting on your lawn or people looking inside your own garden or even inside your house, especially when at night you can see inside houses if lights are on...

maybe you think they look better? and are you allowed to close it all off or you have neighborhood committees and stuff? its kinda ironic that you run your suburbs like communist russia imo...

I am escaping the northern climate but nothing depresses me more than flat land with minimal trees and endless strip malls and subdivisions with identical houses, roads on a flat grid layout where everything looks the same and none of the suburbs have a nice downtown.

I’ve ruled out Houston and Dallas and all of Florida because Florida is fucked up. So far Atlanta seems to be my favorite as it’s super green, in the foothills and has a lot of different looking areas. I know they have insane sprawl but at least the nature is pretty in comparison and doesn’t all look homogenous everywhere you go.

I’m a suburban high schooler who really enjoys the DIY music scene in my city, and I also really wanna get behind causes (fighting homelessness, ICE, etc.) but I don‘t have a fucking car. I haven’t seriously prompted my parents, but all of my friends are apparently not allowed to take the busses in our town that go to the city. Doing actual research, this seems weird. Most kids in the city take public transport alone around 12, right? Why is it so taboo here?

edit: realizing most of said problems probably stem from me just being a really stupid sheltered kid. Which like… fair. Frustrating but fair

edit 2: my mom does not care apparently. she‘s chill with it I just haven’t thought about using the bus all that much because my friends have never used it or been really allowed and the schedules are bad

I would start by saying Miami/South Florida cities on the Atlantic coast are horrid. everything is bunched together and on one road. it’s frustrating and an eye sore because that pretty much allows crime to be everywhere as there really is no seperation between business facilitie/stores and housing. Very much like NYC

- I don’t mean to throw shade at Florida but this is simply just my observation of living here.

I live in an "old" suburb. At one point in the 1950s it would have been the newest subdivision of my city but 70 years later it's basically just outside of the downtown core. I guess you'd call it "midtown".

Anyways, most of the houses on my street were built with the exact same 1.5 story design. Obviously 70 years of modifications and different owners means that each house looks a bit different than the other but they are all essentially the same exterior shape and floor plan.

This isn't a new thing. Why is this sun so against it? I'm sure the cookie cutter suburbs of today will also evolve and look as diverse as the ones where I live soon.