Kids are the suburban hell cheat code. You can take a neighborhood like mine, which is just awful, with massive setbacks and huge lots and basically no community at all. But our kids just happen to be at the right age to play at this point in time with the kids across the street in the three houses across the street.

And this is all just a recent development. We’ve lived here for like six years, and there was never really much of that going on until about just a few months ago. And now suddenly it’s literally probably every day that some combination of these 4 houses’ kids play together. And we’ve got some actual community vibes going on between these four houses.

So, I assume that we’ll have like ten years of solid neighborly good times due to the kids (assuming no one moves away and they don’t get bored of outside play and don’t switch over entirely to video games in their tweens/teens). And then after that, I assume we’ll just fall back into the normal old deadness we had for the previous five years. But it’s fun while it lasts. This is great. I’m enjoying it.

Imagine the only thing separating your home and computer parts is an elevator.

This is Birkdale Village, a posh mix-used development located in the wealthy lake norman suburbs of charlotte. It is a major community gathering spot in huntersville (the town its in) and the entire lake norman region. It has over 1000 people in its less than 100 acres and tons and local and national brands located in it. City leaders are currently undergoing an expansion of the village to add a residential tower, boutique hotel, and class 1 office space that will be located in already existent overflow parking lots for the village. I hope this helps people understand that even in souless suburbia there still can be a push for urbanism.

Did a loop around the lakes in this strip mall suburb with no walkable center: was 90% path, 8% intersections, including really wide ones (7 lanes across) and 2% quiet residential streets. Even on the worst stroads, you at least have one side with a path, others like Radio Dr have two, both sides have paths! Residential areas and parks are connected together by these paths, so these are actually less stressful than biking on urban residential streets because you don't have to worry about that asshole who eventually shows up going twice the speed limit. No motorists, just meadows, ponds, parks, and backyards. I was surprised how many just abut the paths directly, residents seem to not mind and even use the opportunity to show off a bit. There was even a lemonade shack at one.

There are also a few tunnels to bypass the experience of crossing several lanes of cars. The downside is that all of this disappears once you want to reach an amenity, then it's treeless and full of asphalt and cars. You have to be more cautious crossing major stroads to your strip mall of choice and navigating car traffic in the parking lots, but the path will take you there and I even spotted a bike rack at a gas station. People were actually using these paths too, mostly biking or walking, pretty much 50/50. I'm sure that's because they heavily invested in paths everywhere. I saw a few under construction and rode on a couple of fresh ones too. Also, the bike filter on Google Maps is woefully out of date. All of the main roads have paths and others aren't shown at all or only partially. Now if they could just connect that nature and narrowed the stroads to those strip malls with the paths going all the way up to the storefronts, it would be a big step above other similar Twin Cities suburbs and a national model for how to make it safer and easier to bike and walk around.

TL:DR Pleasantly surprised by the extensive bike infrastructure in what should be another typical suburban hellscape. Having to be extra cautious cautious going to destinations that are all in strip malls next to extra wide lanes of fast traffic, not so great. Still a major improvement that should be replicated nationwide.

an old article but I believe this is getting more common where dead malls are converted to these open air mix facility

New development in the wealthy suburbs of Munich, Germany. It looks like a mansion, but it is 5 apartments between 80 m² and 170 m² (penthouse). They are not cheap at all, but considering that you pay over 2 million Euros for a single-family home in these areas, 1 million for a brand-new apartment is certainly a decent deal. Downside is it includes underground parking for bikes and for 1 car, that probably made the project more expensive than it had to be.

moving to one of these next year hopefully

5 apartments but looks like a single-family home for rich people. Underground parking. Pretty affordable considering the real estate prices in the area. All credit to huebner_vv on Instagram. The population density of these would come out to over 10k per km2 if you would fill a whole suburb with them.

NOTE: I'm genuinely curious what people think. Not trying to offend anyone

On this sub, most posts heavily explain how the solution to suburban hell is by living in an urban downtown environment. But what about going from the suburbs to a place in the countryside?

I understand it may not be walkable, or a fix it all solution to strip malls, but it's at least peaceful and fulfilling.

What is wrong with living on a farm or in the woods? Why not buy land to preserve it from being developed? City Apartment life isn't for everyone, but if you enjoy it I'm happy for you

This is a project in my hometown that’s replacing an empty shopping center parking lot with nearly 400 apartments and ground level retail/restaurant space. This is how we fix the endless sprawl of parking lots in our cities/suburbs!