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Can you expand on this? Are large businesses spread across the land in these areas?

maxerickson 9y ago
There's little in the way of geographic constraints and they sprawl all over the place.
ocschwar 9y ago
Yes. There are business parks along the highways all over the suburbs, and so everyone has a hellish suburb-to-suburb commute.
- brewdad 9y ago
  And transit can't really pick up the slack since there is no core target that large numbers of people want to reach. Successful transit can take a dispersed residential population to a central core or a centralized population to dispersed employment zones but not both.
  - ocschwar 9y ago
    Which leads to the lovely phenomenon called a lunchtime rush hour, which really belongs around the 4th circle of Hell.
jzymbaluk 9y ago
In addition to what others have said, it's common that the suburbs of sprawling American cities are unwalkable, and completely impossible to live in without access to a car. I grew up in a Suburb in Colorado where the only buildings for miles were other houses. It was impossible to walk to the grocery store or any other amenity. It's extremely isolating, and a hostile and depressing living experience in my experience
- astura 9y ago
  Yes. In a previous life I lived in an area that's mostly a spread out suburb. I got so depressed that I couldn't walk anywhere, I mean, absolutely nowhere. I felt pretty housebound during the summer and yet I felt at the same time there wasn't really any place to go. Jumping in the car every time I needed to leave the house was just not relaxing! Now I live in a small town and boy do I love it! Since it's a small town there's not really any huge roads and very little traffic. The streets beyond the major thru fares are quiet and the neighbors are friendly. If I'm bored and feeling restless I can walk to the park (half mile, maybe), the local watering hole (2 blocks), the coffee shop (1 block), or even the convenience store (about a quarter mile). I mean, just getting up and taking a short walk to the convenience store seems to be really beneficial to my mental health for some reason, yet driving there does the opposite.

There's little in the way of geographic constraints and they sprawl all over the place.

Yes. There are business parks along the highways all over the suburbs, and so everyone has a hellish suburb-to-suburb commute.

brewdad 9y ago
And transit can't really pick up the slack since there is no core target that large numbers of people want to reach. Successful transit can take a dispersed residential population to a central core or a centralized population to dispersed employment zones but not both.
- ocschwar 9y ago
  Which leads to the lovely phenomenon called a lunchtime rush hour, which really belongs around the 4th circle of Hell.

jzymbaluk 9y ago

In addition to what others have said, it's common that the suburbs of sprawling American cities are unwalkable, and completely impossible to live in without access to a car. I grew up in a Suburb in Colorado where the only buildings for miles were other houses. It was impossible to walk to the grocery store or any other amenity. It's extremely isolating, and a hostile and depressing living experience in my experience

astura 9y ago
Yes. In a previous life I lived in an area that's mostly a spread out suburb. I got so depressed that I couldn't walk anywhere, I mean, absolutely nowhere. I felt pretty housebound during the summer and yet I felt at the same time there wasn't really any place to go. Jumping in the car every time I needed to leave the house was just not relaxing! Now I live in a small town and boy do I love it! Since it's a small town there's not really any huge roads and very little traffic. The streets beyond the major thru fares are quiet and the neighbors are friendly. If I'm bored and feeling restless I can walk to the park (half mile, maybe), the local watering hole (2 blocks), the coffee shop (1 block), or even the convenience store (about a quarter mile). I mean, just getting up and taking a short walk to the convenience store seems to be really beneficial to my mental health for some reason, yet driving there does the opposite.