It's not necessarily that there are no sidewalks. Walking through retail/commercial-zoned suburbia can be mind-numbingly boring. Straight roads, boring 'archit

It's not necessarily that there are no sidewalks. Walking through retail/commercial-zoned suburbia can be mind-numbingly boring. Straight roads, boring 'architecture', giant parking lots between the sidewalk and the retail buildings. Compare Atherton, UK - nice, homely "typical UK" town with busy high-street. https://www.google.com/maps/@53.523623,-2.491372,3a,75y,92.91h,79.92t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1syXIRpfOyHa4wcDjYuz3_oQ!2e0 https://www.google.com/maps/@53.523623,-2.491372,3a,75y,92.9... Now, San Jose, CA, USA suburbia: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.323192,-121.972195,3a,75y,251.1h,82.98t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s0MEXDG0d7IWP8J9vm13ykQ!2e0 https://www.google.com/maps/@37.323192,-121.972195,3a,75y,25... Boring. Thankfully planners seem to have recognized this, and now the trend is to build high-density housing, and right out to the street. James Howard Kunstler has a FANTASTIC Ted talk about this subject, which cracks me up every time. Highly recommended: http://www.ted.com/talks/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_suburbia?language=en http://www.ted.com/talks/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_subu...