If you read "death and life of great American cities", Jane Jacobs touches on this quite a bit. Urban centers do offer a lot to children growing up. It offers f

If you read "death and life of great American cities", Jane Jacobs touches on this quite a bit. Urban centers do offer a lot to children growing up. It offers freedom and unstructured play time, which is important. kids are able to explore easily in an urban environment, if it is walkable, and safe. Safety comes from mixed use urban planning that adds many eyes and feet on the street that keep areas safe and welcoming. This also benefits children since even if they come across a Bully, there are multiple escape paths, and a plethora of adults to around to step in. Large open spaces lead to fewer adults around during unstructured play. Children need both unstructured and structured time.