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Comment by mcculley | Hacker News Reader

Suburbs can also be hostile to pedestrians. In many designs, neighbors only see each other when one or both is inside of a car.

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Suburbs are not hostile to pedestrians. They are hostile to getting anyplace on foot so cars are common. However they are great places to walk for exercise and many people who live there do that. (see the sibling comment about walking the dog)

My experience with suburbs is different from yours. I have lived in places where walking is downright dangerous because the architecture is oriented around cars and the drivers are not accustomed to yielding to pedestrians.

Many homes are designed such that the inhabitants rarely use the front door, using only the garage.

That doesn't sound like suburbs I know. The streets are so empty you can safely walk down the middle of them most of the time. People don't, but you could. (kids used to play baseball/basketball in the streets, stopping play when cars come). Of course to get anywhere you need to leave and so it is never far for a major road that is dangerous to be near.

I am sure that you have seen some pedestrian friendly suburbs. So have I. I never said that they are all hostile to pedestrians. Some are designed for people instead of cars. It is rare.

It also depends on the suburb. I was sad when I lived in Mountain View, heading in sight unseen, but there were a lot of sidewalks and a little main drag with some bars and shops.

A lot of "suburbs" in the Midwest lack sidewalks -- you can have the cops roll on you if you try to walk anywhere.

Where I am in the suburbs, all the dogs know each other, because most of them are on invisible fence lots and they all visit every other dog when on a walk. And it's common for the owner to come out and say hi, too. That being said, I know some of my neighbors by their dog's name ("That's Taj's dad").

When I lived in Ann Arbor, after going to work with a very green sky, I came home to a very weird sound.

Quickly figured out that power was out and the weird sound was neighbors sitting on their front stoop talking.

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