In the suburbs, the whole neighborhood is basically a park with houses in it. Kids care far less about imaginary lines on a deed than adults do. Consequently, t

In the suburbs, the whole neighborhood is basically a park with houses in it. Kids care far less about imaginary lines on a deed than adults do. Consequently, they bomb around the whole place and they’re all still in earshot as you work in the garage with the door open. By unspoken agreement your neighbors take over when the kids end up in their yard, since their kid is also among the horde. You can yell when dinner is ready. By contrast, the park at the end of the street requires far more ceremony. You round the kids up, and go with them. You have to haul whatever they will play with with you (and back). You sit there as they play. Sure, you chat with folks in the neighborhood, but everyone is a little restless since nothing is getting done other than supervision. Some eventually task nannies with this duty since there aren’t enough hours in the day. It’s basically a space-efficiency vs. time-efficiency tradeoff. I’ve looked at it from a family raising perspective, but you could certainly consider it from a single twenty-something perspective, DINKs, retirees, etc. and have each shown in different light.