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For children especially, cities can be tough. You can't exactly "play" in your frontyard if you live on a busy street. There's less serendipity and unstructure

• smileysteve 8y ago
  There was another hacker news article that has the opposite conclusions; Poor people in cities do play in their streets. But anecdotally, I know of families who live on a street where cars routinely go 45mph to get to the neighborhood inside a neighborhood, so can't play in the street in the suburbs.
  • wahern 8y ago
    I visited Vancouver, BC recently, including a few days driving around. I was amazed at how slow people drove there. I mean, it's really only slow compared to the NASCAR driving typical across the U.S. But it was really enjoyable and much less stressful. I remember when Americans drove like that, before we rescinded the national 55mph cap. Over the past few decades things have gotten so bad here. Urban, suburban, and rural areas. Small neighborhoods and highways. Both coasts and everywhere in between. We just drive ridiculously fast. I think of all the roads I walked (to meet friends, to get to school, to play catch) in Illinois, Florida, Alabama, D.C., and Virginia.... I've been back to all those places and they're way more dangerous.