I live in the suburbs but these are homes built in the 1950s and a lot of my neighbors are older. My neighbor and I have ¾ acre backyards that are just divided by a chain link fence. We both have dogs and like to do yard work. He's retired and I work from home. We talk across the fence a few times a week. He'll put surplus items from his vegetable garden on our fence, give our dog treats, and I'll exchange with bread I've baked. We shoot the shit about everything - his childhood growing up in the neighborhood, health, things going on, projects we might want to tackle together...
It's definitely possible with the right neighbor, you just have to be intentional and friendly.
I dunno, I live in Redmond, WA and see my neighbors regularly. Greeted at least three people on the trail on my run this morning, greeted a few more on the dog walk. I'll probably wave at the neighbor across the street at some point when we're mutually outside. People walk by the house all day long. I don't know how much more suburban you're going to get than Redmond (you have to cross water to even get to the city).
Now, I'll qualify that by saying that Redmond in general is a lot more pedestrian-friendly than a lot of suburbs I've experienced. And in the last twenty years or so, it's also quite wealthy. And seeing your neighbors also entails getting outside. ;-)
In the US most people in suburbs only ever walk from their door to their car (which is itself often inside the garage) and then they sit in their steel and glass box to the minimal possible distance from their desk, then do the reverse on the way home.
Idk. I live in a suburb and my little neighborhood is pretty friendly to the point where someone can post to our private Facebook group and ask someone to hold a package or to check out their house while they're on vacation. Really depends on what kind of community you have
What I'm describing is unrelated to friendliness. Our built environment is the number one determinant of encounters with our neighbors. You can be perfectly friendly with people who you rarely see and could never make a routine of greeting (because you rarely see them without prior planning).
Not usually, or if they do, they're merely 'decorative' in that they're not a viable option for pedestrians to get from A to B. They just end without signals or crosswalks. Someone in a wheelchair would literally have to drive in the street in many areas of the south.
I have not seen of a single new development in the US without sidewalks in the last 20 years+. It must be the law in 99% of cities to build a sidewalk anytime a property is developed.
It's definitely possible with the right neighbor, you just have to be intentional and friendly.