I'm not assuming that. If anything, I assumed that most people defending them are American, and that Americans are wrongly interpreting "American suburbs suck" as "suburbs suck" because American suburbs are the only ones they know.

Some people like them, sure. I suspect that much of it is just cultural momentum at this point, though, where people are unaware of the possibility of a different format, or don't have the option available, and that given a choice to live in a Euro-style or American-style suburb that were otherwise in a similar situation, many Americans would choose the European-style one. Might even split 50/50.