To me as a European who lives in a medium-sized city the US-style suburb model sounds very claustrophobic. The suburbs aren’t walkable, you can’t cycle anywhere either. The only way to get around is by car. Commercial areas are the same, shops are separated by streets and large parking lots, if you want to visit another shop you have to go by car.
It’s like each house or store is a little island and you can only island-hop using your car. Once you get out of your car, you’re stuck on yet another island. It’s like one of those older computer games from when they didn’t have the tech to stream large open worlds yet, just a bunch of small areas and a loading screen (car) in between.
I’m assuming there are suburbs that have these problems, but I think that’s a city planning problem.
I live in a suburb and enjoy it a lot. It’s very walkable and people bike around the neighborhood all the time. We have a walking/biking path that connects to a larger trail that goes for a miles.
I don’t have access to everything within walking distance, but I have access to a lot within a 10 minute walk.
I live in a suburb and enjoy it a lot. It’s very walkable and people bike around the neighborhood all the time. We have a walking/biking path that connects to a larger trail that goes for a miles.
But have you got anything to walk/bike to?
A bike trail for sports is nice and all, but is it not just a larger island? What if you wanted to go to the supermarket, can you do that by bike/walking or do you run into obstacles like e.g. a highway that you can’t safely cross?
Say you wanted to cycle or walk to the other side of the country (assuming you have the time), could you do that? How far can you go without a car?
Yeah, I had another reply in this post where I talk about it. My subdivision is next to a commercial area so I can walk within 10 minutes to a grocery store, pharmacy, restaurants, fast food, gym, dry cleaners, banks, and to a bus stop for public transit.
IDK I we have what you’re calling “US style suburbs” but none of that is true here. I’m an avid cyclist, with several bikes, one of which is a cargo bike. Dedicated bike infrastructure could be better but its hyperbole to suggest you’re “stuck on an island”.
Trying seriously to bike anywhere on my city’s painted bike lanes is taking your life in your hands. I’m on the city bicycle commission and when we tried to pressure the city engineers to put in some flexible bollards to keep drivers out of the bike lane, they complained that they get broken all the time and they’re hard to keep up on. Someone else on the commission beat me to the punch and said “if those bollards get broken too often, imagine what it’s like to be a cyclist on that lane”.
Yeah. Look, I’ve got to be honest with you, this is a huge problem in regional Western Australia also.
If you ride every day then one or two times a week you’re going to encounter some asshole driver who genuinely believes that you shouldn’t be on the road and at times these interactions are dangerous and upsetting.
I spend a lot of time pondering people’s attitude to riders. My supposition is that it’s a combination of a bunch of things, but a large part of it is simply that people would prefer not to be reminded of the fact that they are sedentary and don’t exercise.
Personally, I think this is a problem with people, lifestyles, and culture, rather than a problem inherent to suburbia. It’s worth pointing out that these are the people you need to convince that walkable cities are superior. I think our micromobility brethren, on escooters and so on, will help us by putting more “sedentary” type people into the bike lane.
I’d argue that the sedentary…uh…ness(?) is inherent to the car-dependent suburban lifestyle. The way our suburbs are, you’ve got to REALLY want to use a bike, like you’re either making a statement or too broke to do anything else, to choose to bike anywhere. It’s just too dangerous and inconvenient to be practical. There’s no reason to walk or bike anywhere in walking or biking distance, and plenty of reasons not to (many of them to do with the urban design and zoning codes). People living in walkable and bikeable cities don’t walk and bike because they want to, they walk and bike because it’s more practical than driving.
he’s not wrong the burbs I grew up in the 90s sure I could bike to the store but my current neighborhood has all the stores on a stroad, before kids I still weaved in and out of traffic with a bike or euc but now with kids I would never risk their lives vs these massive lifted pickups it just takes one drunk maga voter to knock into your hippie bike to end it all
To me as a European who lives in a medium-sized city the US-style suburb model sounds very claustrophobic. The suburbs aren’t walkable, you can’t cycle anywhere either. The only way to get around is by car. Commercial areas are the same, shops are separated by streets and large parking lots, if you want to visit another shop you have to go by car.
It’s like each house or store is a little island and you can only island-hop using your car. Once you get out of your car, you’re stuck on yet another island. It’s like one of those older computer games from when they didn’t have the tech to stream large open worlds yet, just a bunch of small areas and a loading screen (car) in between.
As an American, having lived where I can bike to the store I don’t want to go back
You are describing exactly why fast travel is bad in video games too. Convenience isn’t the blessing everyone thinks it to be.
I’m assuming there are suburbs that have these problems, but I think that’s a city planning problem.
I live in a suburb and enjoy it a lot. It’s very walkable and people bike around the neighborhood all the time. We have a walking/biking path that connects to a larger trail that goes for a miles.
I don’t have access to everything within walking distance, but I have access to a lot within a 10 minute walk.
But have you got anything to walk/bike to?
A bike trail for sports is nice and all, but is it not just a larger island? What if you wanted to go to the supermarket, can you do that by bike/walking or do you run into obstacles like e.g. a highway that you can’t safely cross?
Say you wanted to cycle or walk to the other side of the country (assuming you have the time), could you do that? How far can you go without a car?
Yeah, I had another reply in this post where I talk about it. My subdivision is next to a commercial area so I can walk within 10 minutes to a grocery store, pharmacy, restaurants, fast food, gym, dry cleaners, banks, and to a bus stop for public transit.
IDK I we have what you’re calling “US style suburbs” but none of that is true here. I’m an avid cyclist, with several bikes, one of which is a cargo bike. Dedicated bike infrastructure could be better but its hyperbole to suggest you’re “stuck on an island”.
Trying seriously to bike anywhere on my city’s painted bike lanes is taking your life in your hands. I’m on the city bicycle commission and when we tried to pressure the city engineers to put in some flexible bollards to keep drivers out of the bike lane, they complained that they get broken all the time and they’re hard to keep up on. Someone else on the commission beat me to the punch and said “if those bollards get broken too often, imagine what it’s like to be a cyclist on that lane”.
Yeah. Look, I’ve got to be honest with you, this is a huge problem in regional Western Australia also.
If you ride every day then one or two times a week you’re going to encounter some asshole driver who genuinely believes that you shouldn’t be on the road and at times these interactions are dangerous and upsetting.
I spend a lot of time pondering people’s attitude to riders. My supposition is that it’s a combination of a bunch of things, but a large part of it is simply that people would prefer not to be reminded of the fact that they are sedentary and don’t exercise.
Personally, I think this is a problem with people, lifestyles, and culture, rather than a problem inherent to suburbia. It’s worth pointing out that these are the people you need to convince that walkable cities are superior. I think our micromobility brethren, on escooters and so on, will help us by putting more “sedentary” type people into the bike lane.
I’d argue that the sedentary…uh…ness(?) is inherent to the car-dependent suburban lifestyle. The way our suburbs are, you’ve got to REALLY want to use a bike, like you’re either making a statement or too broke to do anything else, to choose to bike anywhere. It’s just too dangerous and inconvenient to be practical. There’s no reason to walk or bike anywhere in walking or biking distance, and plenty of reasons not to (many of them to do with the urban design and zoning codes). People living in walkable and bikeable cities don’t walk and bike because they want to, they walk and bike because it’s more practical than driving.
he’s not wrong the burbs I grew up in the 90s sure I could bike to the store but my current neighborhood has all the stores on a stroad, before kids I still weaved in and out of traffic with a bike or euc but now with kids I would never risk their lives vs these massive lifted pickups it just takes one drunk maga voter to knock into your hippie bike to end it all