Ref point 3 about high speed metal, moving to a place where things are in walking distance / less car centric could perhaps be a way to better enable independence?
Of all the cities I've been to, Shanghai is where I've had the most independence (Tokyo and Osaka are tied for second.) I could often travel fully underground or using skyways. Subways everywhere that were easy to navigate. They had the blind lines on the ground, though they did sometimes run me into trees and parked bikes.
A typical suburb will often have apartments near retail areas, but residential districts without alternate transit options may as well be deep rural if your only option is walking through intersections without traffic lights.