[haswell]

I live in a major city. Most people I know who moved to the burbs did so for a single reason: kids.

They want enough space to raise kids. They want a back yard. They want to still be close enough to restaurants and other amenities. They want to be in better school districts. They want to be around less crime.

But no one I know who moved to the burbs is particularly happy about it. They see it as a necessary evil.

[badpun]

You’ve listed excellent reasons for wanting to live in suburbs, which confirms my suspicion (suspicion because I don’t live in the US, so I don’t have any experience with US-style suburbs) that OP’s claim that suburbs make life worse on every possible metric is BS.

[haswell]

Yeah I don’t think it’s fair to say life is worse on every possible metric.

The trouble for me personally is that it’s worse on most of the metrics that matters to me.

There are just some things about suburbia that are fundamentally worse and never won’t be. But that involves tradeoffs, and good luck finding or affording a place with a yard in the city. It’s just a bummer that the tradeoffs can be so severe.

[HeyLaughingBoy]

> affording a place with a yard in the city

At risk of stating the obvious: it depends on what city!