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In the suburbs kids never stopped playing in the street. This article is written by someone who lives in a city. "In many ways, a world built for cars has mad

by ars 2y ago

In the suburbs kids never stopped playing in the street. This article is written by someone who lives in a city. "In many ways, a world built for cars has made life so much harder for grown-ups." - but this isn't true in a suburb. I've really started to notice who all the articles complaining about cars are written by people who only know what cities are like. Move to a suburb - it's much nicer, and you'll barely see any cars.

ravetcofx 2y ago
I hated growing up in Canadian suburbs, and in most of North America, they are soulless places where kids and youth have not much to do and are forced to rely on parents for going to see friends, family, sports etc. Sure -- tucked away cul-de-sacs and side streets might allow the neighbour kids to play games here or there, but are not conducive places for communities to truly engage as their macro environment which has been generally destroyed for anyone outside a car. If you're lucky enough to live near shops, their usually pedestrian hostile seas of parking-lot asphalt where people fly through to get a specific task done, rather than just exist around other people. Peoples lives turn into monotony of Work->Walmart->Home->Repeat... It's honestly a really vile environment. I understand the desire for a large separated home with a yard where it's quieter, but for the suburbs to actually be functional, municipalities need to re-legalize front-yard shopfronts and more public spaces like plazas, community gardens, gazebos etc.
- morkalork 2y ago
  Vile? That's a little very over dramatic. What of all the kids growing up in the sticks in Canada? Pour one out for those lost souls, biking down the same gravel road with nothing on it for fun in summer, getting up at 6am to wait for a bus in a shack by the highway. Get over yourself.
  - bongodongobob 2y ago
    Sticks and sprawling suburbia are completely different. I lived in the sticks in elementary school, then moved to suburbia. In the sticks, you may have swaths of fields and forests to roam. In suburbia, it can be someone else's fenced in backyards for miles around and you may not be able to get to a park unless you have a car. The freedom of the countryside is nothing like suburbia.
nkrisc 2y ago
I grew up in Chicago and we pretty much only played in the streets and alleys. The alley is where I learned to ride a bike, with garbage cans to cushion the crash when I lost control. The key is you still need quiet residential streets. That’s what many Chicago neighbors did and still do have. Now I live in the suburbs in another state with two kids. Our street is a cul-de-sac but even on the neighborhood streets that lead out to the main road people speed through the neighborhood. It’s no better or worse than Chicago was. Except here you can’t safely leave the neighborhood but by car.
d_sem 2y ago
This comment contrary to my suburban experience, where massive school closures, police being called when kids play unattended, and ageing demographics meant fewer children per sq mile and the collapse of children only culture.
trylfthsk 2y ago
Growing up in one felt like prison. That is, until I started getting away on my bike. Until I got hit by a car.
bongodongobob 2y ago
And you'll barely see any kids. I live in a suburb. I was hanging with a friend on his porch this weekend and we were talking about how we don't see kids outside anymore, ever. We don't see them biking, walking, at the parks, anywhere. They're all inside. 30+ years ago the sidewalks and parks were filled with kids in the summer. They're nowhere to be seen now. I'd argue the more helicoptery parents live in the suburbs, they're afraid of everything that isn't exactly like them. You can't function with that attitude in a city. Well you could, but you'd be completely miserable. They're terrified of sex trafficking, gang violence, child predators, and immigrants. In a Midwest suburban town. It's pathetic. 24/7 news has ruined kids lives more than cars by a long shot.
- parpfish 2y ago
  There’s a double-whammy of helicopter parents that don’t let kids out AND neighborhood busybodies that would call the police about kids being left alone or loitering
  - elzbardico 2y ago
    let's also not forget that people have less kids than in the past. The only people I see having 3 kids and more are the really rich or the strange religious folks.
II2II 2y ago
> In the suburbs kids never stopped playing in the street. There are many different suburbs out there. Some feel like small towns, as they may have been at some point. Others feel like wastelands, places where you won't see many cars driving down the streets since people are either sequestered in their homes or are elsewhere. I suspect that most of the hostile sentiment against suburbia originates from the latter. Of course, there are other reasons for the sentiment. In at least some urban areas, the roads that pass through them are viewed as being destructive to their community. At best, the roads are meant to service those who may come in to work or to shop or to entertain themselves. At worse, they are virtually impassible rifts that divide communities while oozing air and noise pollution. They offer little to the communities that surround them, not even economic benefits, since the vast majority of people are simply passing through rather than stopping in. Perhaps urban/suburban is the wrong dichotomy, but it is an easy one to draw upon. It fits our stereotypes. It fits the stereotypes of both sides since those who are drawn to suburbia can always find an urban concrete wasteland to point to, while those who are drawn to urban places can always find a desolate dystopia of lawns to point to. (Of course both sides can find peachy examples that fit their own preferences.)

by ars 2y ago

ravetcofx 2y ago

I hated growing up in Canadian suburbs, and in most of North America, they are soulless places where kids and youth have not much to do and are forced to rely on parents for going to see friends, family, sports etc. Sure -- tucked away cul-de-sacs and side streets might allow the neighbour kids to play games here or there, but are not conducive places for communities to truly engage as their macro environment which has been generally destroyed for anyone outside a car. If you're lucky enough to live near shops, their usually pedestrian hostile seas of parking-lot asphalt where people fly through to get a specific task done, rather than just exist around other people. Peoples lives turn into monotony of Work->Walmart->Home->Repeat... It's honestly a really vile environment. I understand the desire for a large separated home with a yard where it's quieter, but for the suburbs to actually be functional, municipalities need to re-legalize front-yard shopfronts and more public spaces like plazas, community gardens, gazebos etc.

morkalork 2y ago
Vile? That's a little very over dramatic. What of all the kids growing up in the sticks in Canada? Pour one out for those lost souls, biking down the same gravel road with nothing on it for fun in summer, getting up at 6am to wait for a bus in a shack by the highway. Get over yourself.
- bongodongobob 2y ago
  Sticks and sprawling suburbia are completely different. I lived in the sticks in elementary school, then moved to suburbia. In the sticks, you may have swaths of fields and forests to roam. In suburbia, it can be someone else's fenced in backyards for miles around and you may not be able to get to a park unless you have a car. The freedom of the countryside is nothing like suburbia.

nkrisc 2y ago

I grew up in Chicago and we pretty much only played in the streets and alleys. The alley is where I learned to ride a bike, with garbage cans to cushion the crash when I lost control. The key is you still need quiet residential streets. That’s what many Chicago neighbors did and still do have. Now I live in the suburbs in another state with two kids. Our street is a cul-de-sac but even on the neighborhood streets that lead out to the main road people speed through the neighborhood. It’s no better or worse than Chicago was. Except here you can’t safely leave the neighborhood but by car.

d_sem 2y ago

This comment contrary to my suburban experience, where massive school closures, police being called when kids play unattended, and ageing demographics meant fewer children per sq mile and the collapse of children only culture.

trylfthsk 2y ago

Growing up in one felt like prison. That is, until I started getting away on my bike. Until I got hit by a car.

bongodongobob 2y ago

And you'll barely see any kids. I live in a suburb. I was hanging with a friend on his porch this weekend and we were talking about how we don't see kids outside anymore, ever. We don't see them biking, walking, at the parks, anywhere. They're all inside. 30+ years ago the sidewalks and parks were filled with kids in the summer. They're nowhere to be seen now. I'd argue the more helicoptery parents live in the suburbs, they're afraid of everything that isn't exactly like them. You can't function with that attitude in a city. Well you could, but you'd be completely miserable. They're terrified of sex trafficking, gang violence, child predators, and immigrants. In a Midwest suburban town. It's pathetic. 24/7 news has ruined kids lives more than cars by a long shot.

parpfish 2y ago
There’s a double-whammy of helicopter parents that don’t let kids out AND neighborhood busybodies that would call the police about kids being left alone or loitering
- elzbardico 2y ago
  let's also not forget that people have less kids than in the past. The only people I see having 3 kids and more are the really rich or the strange religious folks.

II2II 2y ago

> In the suburbs kids never stopped playing in the street. There are many different suburbs out there. Some feel like small towns, as they may have been at some point. Others feel like wastelands, places where you won't see many cars driving down the streets since people are either sequestered in their homes or are elsewhere. I suspect that most of the hostile sentiment against suburbia originates from the latter. Of course, there are other reasons for the sentiment. In at least some urban areas, the roads that pass through them are viewed as being destructive to their community. At best, the roads are meant to service those who may come in to work or to shop or to entertain themselves. At worse, they are virtually impassible rifts that divide communities while oozing air and noise pollution. They offer little to the communities that surround them, not even economic benefits, since the vast majority of people are simply passing through rather than stopping in. Perhaps urban/suburban is the wrong dichotomy, but it is an easy one to draw upon. It fits our stereotypes. It fits the stereotypes of both sides since those who are drawn to suburbia can always find an urban concrete wasteland to point to, while those who are drawn to urban places can always find a desolate dystopia of lawns to point to. (Of course both sides can find peachy examples that fit their own preferences.)