>Everyone is different, but man... I'm the guy that likes to fire up the bbq and chat with neighbors in the backyard while the kids are who knows where (but saf

>Everyone is different, but man... I'm the guy that likes to fire up the bbq and chat with neighbors in the backyard while the kids are who knows where (but safe) in the sprawl. Seeing a teenager in their first job at an ice cream shop sort of reinvigorates my sense of community. These are things I recognize and grew up with, and everyone has different upbringings, but the suburbs are where I'm happiest. I am not sure any of this is specifically Suburban, there is no reason this same scenarios couldn't play out in a city neighborhood. It just so happens that in America, the suburbs have been sold as the idyllic place to aspire towards, so that's where you find kids and teens, couples move there. Also the picture you're painting is not what passes for suburbs today. Most people can't afford to live in the kind of places where you can BBQ with your neighbor and walk to an ice-cream shop with a teenager at the counter. You might maybe find them at some soulless strip mall working at a similarly soulless ice-cream chain, but I am guessing that's not what you mean? There are true suburbs but they are for rich people. Think places like Bethesda Maryland, Old-Town Alexandria VA, Morristown NJ...these are actual suburbs that have excellent mix of what an idyllic suburb should look like, but they are also mostly for the affluent. What passes for suburbs in today's America, are patches of land with houses on them, basically just real estate development and not much else. Usually there would be some strip mall that is called "Town Center" that is shared between these developments. If your town center has a sign that reads "Town Center", it means you don't live in a town.