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Every western country went through a similar transition in the last 20 years with a generation remembering the days when kids would bike to their friends house,
by deanCommie 10y ago
Every western country went through a similar transition in the last 20 years with a generation remembering the days when kids would bike to their friends house, people knew each other in neighborhoods even in large cities, and communities just felt tighter.
It remains to be seen whether this is reversible and we can still bring it back, whether we actually replaced it with something better (replacing few strong social bonds with many more weaker bonds), or even whether it's just artificial nostalgia that ignores the poverty, discrimination and segregation of the past.
- CalRobert 10y agoI biked to my friend's houses when I was a kid, but any more it seems like the suburbs are just too spread out to make that practical for a lot of kids. The traffic is also fast-moving and unaccustomed to looking for road users who aren't also in cars.
- DashRattlesnake 10y agoSuburbs also used to have sidewalks, which made it easier and safer for younger children to explore a little. It just seems so bizarre to me to see newer ones with either sidewalks only on one side or the street or no sidewalks at all. I remember being very young and forbidden from crossing the street, but I pretty much had free reign of the sidewalk on the block I lived on.