> Most of "car infested suburbia" is void of "ancillary business owners" because it's just miles and miles of tract homes This is a planning and zoning decisio

> Most of "car infested suburbia" is void of "ancillary business owners" because it's just miles and miles of tract homes This is a planning and zoning decision really. It sounds like you're describing the US. In the UK for instance, things are often a lot more mixed up. There are lots of small towns and small cities which have acted as feeder or dormitory towns for London. These all have their town centres which are likely seeing a boost from workers who are in the town a lot more of the week now. And here in Perth (Australia) where I'm not really even in a suburb (we went a bit rural), it's only a mile to my nearest cafe, very easy to do on a bike or scooter. Each of the suburbs proper tend to have one or two areas set aside for retail and food service, small malls or strip-malls or even just a cafe and a pharmacist tucked away somewhere. Plus a decent(ish) network of bike paths. It's very car friendly here compared to the UK but there is still stuff accessible without 100% needing a car. By the way - I'm all for the 15 minute city idea, it sounds great. Seems to me that implies more local centres, more dispersion of ancillary businesses and services out into the suburbs etc. High-density doesn't have to be the only option for that sort of plan if people are actually spending their days in their suburbs, IMHO.