4 ms·

I live in as suburban of an area as you can imagine with master planned communities and what not. I can still walk to 3 grocery stores, multiple bars, fast food

I live in as suburban of an area as you can imagine with master planned communities and what not. I can still walk to 3 grocery stores, multiple bars, fast food restaurants, fast casual restaurants, coffee shops, medical offices, convenience stores, and loads of other services in under 15 minutes. The suburbs built in the 90s and 2000s are not the dystopia people make them out to be.

idontwantthis 7mo ago
Not all are but most are. I too live in a single family zone surrounded by commercial zones in walking distance and it’s fantastic! But most of my city and its surroundings are not like this and you would need to drive to get anywhere. It’s really an almost perfect spot that I’ve found.
- smugma 7mo ago
  Where are these two places?!
  - deleted 7mo ago
    [deleted]
- seanmcdirmid 7mo ago
  It really depends what region of the USA you are in. The south? Ya, things are hard, walkability was never emphasized because of harsh weather. The west coast or northeast will be more reasonable, the intermountain west is more hit or miss.
jjav 7mo ago
Very much this. My neighborhood was built in the late 90s. Single family home small town suburbia. I can walk to just about anything I need in daily life. Within 10 minutes walk there are 2 supermarkets, movies, many restaurants, variety of services, library, parks, theaters, doctors, and more. If we count cycling, I can bike to 99% of what I could need in life. (Problem in practice is lack of safe bike parking but that's not a distance problem.) Most places I've lived in the US in my adult life have been similar. The exception was once when I lived in a very rural area and had to drive 10 minutes to the nearest supermarket. I don't understand these threads that talk about suburbs where you have to drive an hour to the nearest convenience store. I'm skeptical that such places exist. Where are they?
- vel0city 7mo ago
  https://maps.app.goo.gl/xEkHB8ZQiCUAZH7T6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/xEkHB8ZQiCUAZH7T6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/KmSjG465pkAGJia19 https://maps.app.goo.gl/KmSjG465pkAGJia19 https://maps.app.goo.gl/DvCv5oMbhfXRDVAR6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/DvCv5oMbhfXRDVAR6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/14duytarnCn8UPR37 https://maps.app.goo.gl/14duytarnCn8UPR37 They're kind of all over the place. It seems to me non-walkable suburbs are the default from the places I've lived and visited. Unless you're either living near the town square of a small town or adjacent to the downtown area of a big city it's probably not really walkable. An hour to a store is probably hyperbole for most places, but I definitely have friends where it's like 5+ minutes to drive from the middle to the edge of the neighborhood of only single family houses, and then you're just on a street in nearly the middle of nowhere with no shops right outside just other neighborhoods full of houses. https://maps.app.goo.gl/GB7SPqHZoDeRE7eX6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/GB7SPqHZoDeRE7eX6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/zEA7sBQ6Jxccc2fFA https://maps.app.goo.gl/zEA7sBQ6Jxccc2fFA https://maps.app.goo.gl/oZRNZ3Td2NDqH8nw7 https://maps.app.goo.gl/oZRNZ3Td2NDqH8nw7
  - jjav 7mo ago
    The claim at the top of the thread was "essentials being a 30-45m drive away". I clicked on each of those links and asked for directions to food shops and in every case google maps gave me a route less than 10 minutes drive. So I remain unconvinced that suburbs with "essentials being a 30-45m drive away" are somehow a common thing. You need to go pretty far off into the boonies for that to be the case but then it is no longer a suburb.
    - vel0city 7mo ago
      Ah, 30-45m drive, yeah. A lot of these places will still be within 15min or so to a lot of amenities, probably 20min most to most things. There are still some that are pretty way out there, easily 20+ minutes to most real amenities. A couple I can think of close by: https://maps.app.goo.gl/fc2DS3dMQrDJK3na9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/fc2DS3dMQrDJK3na9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/AnygKw17WmFxHkc58 https://maps.app.goo.gl/AnygKw17WmFxHkc58 https://maps.app.goo.gl/kppAZYyDJuJZBGtD6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/kppAZYyDJuJZBGtD6 But a 10 minute walk to most of those amenities is also pretty uncommon. You look up walking directions for most of those places? I'll be amazed if there's a real grocery store within a 10 minute walk.

idontwantthis 7mo ago

Not all are but most are. I too live in a single family zone surrounded by commercial zones in walking distance and it’s fantastic! But most of my city and its surroundings are not like this and you would need to drive to get anywhere. It’s really an almost perfect spot that I’ve found.

smugma 7mo ago
Where are these two places?!
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
seanmcdirmid 7mo ago
It really depends what region of the USA you are in. The south? Ya, things are hard, walkability was never emphasized because of harsh weather. The west coast or northeast will be more reasonable, the intermountain west is more hit or miss.

jjav 7mo ago

Very much this. My neighborhood was built in the late 90s. Single family home small town suburbia. I can walk to just about anything I need in daily life. Within 10 minutes walk there are 2 supermarkets, movies, many restaurants, variety of services, library, parks, theaters, doctors, and more. If we count cycling, I can bike to 99% of what I could need in life. (Problem in practice is lack of safe bike parking but that's not a distance problem.) Most places I've lived in the US in my adult life have been similar. The exception was once when I lived in a very rural area and had to drive 10 minutes to the nearest supermarket. I don't understand these threads that talk about suburbs where you have to drive an hour to the nearest convenience store. I'm skeptical that such places exist. Where are they?

vel0city 7mo ago
https://maps.app.goo.gl/xEkHB8ZQiCUAZH7T6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/xEkHB8ZQiCUAZH7T6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/KmSjG465pkAGJia19 https://maps.app.goo.gl/KmSjG465pkAGJia19 https://maps.app.goo.gl/DvCv5oMbhfXRDVAR6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/DvCv5oMbhfXRDVAR6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/14duytarnCn8UPR37 https://maps.app.goo.gl/14duytarnCn8UPR37 They're kind of all over the place. It seems to me non-walkable suburbs are the default from the places I've lived and visited. Unless you're either living near the town square of a small town or adjacent to the downtown area of a big city it's probably not really walkable. An hour to a store is probably hyperbole for most places, but I definitely have friends where it's like 5+ minutes to drive from the middle to the edge of the neighborhood of only single family houses, and then you're just on a street in nearly the middle of nowhere with no shops right outside just other neighborhoods full of houses. https://maps.app.goo.gl/GB7SPqHZoDeRE7eX6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/GB7SPqHZoDeRE7eX6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/zEA7sBQ6Jxccc2fFA https://maps.app.goo.gl/zEA7sBQ6Jxccc2fFA https://maps.app.goo.gl/oZRNZ3Td2NDqH8nw7 https://maps.app.goo.gl/oZRNZ3Td2NDqH8nw7
- jjav 7mo ago
  The claim at the top of the thread was "essentials being a 30-45m drive away". I clicked on each of those links and asked for directions to food shops and in every case google maps gave me a route less than 10 minutes drive. So I remain unconvinced that suburbs with "essentials being a 30-45m drive away" are somehow a common thing. You need to go pretty far off into the boonies for that to be the case but then it is no longer a suburb.
  - vel0city 7mo ago
    Ah, 30-45m drive, yeah. A lot of these places will still be within 15min or so to a lot of amenities, probably 20min most to most things. There are still some that are pretty way out there, easily 20+ minutes to most real amenities. A couple I can think of close by: https://maps.app.goo.gl/fc2DS3dMQrDJK3na9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/fc2DS3dMQrDJK3na9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/AnygKw17WmFxHkc58 https://maps.app.goo.gl/AnygKw17WmFxHkc58 https://maps.app.goo.gl/kppAZYyDJuJZBGtD6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/kppAZYyDJuJZBGtD6 But a 10 minute walk to most of those amenities is also pretty uncommon. You look up walking directions for most of those places? I'll be amazed if there's a real grocery store within a 10 minute walk.