In rural environments, you go outside and interact with nature; in urban environments, you go outside and interact with people. In the suburbs, you go outside, interact with nothing, wonder why you bothered, and go back inside. Suburbs are supposed to be safe, not interesting. Real estate investments from beginning to end, they focus entirely on private property, wasting space on public amenities only to whatever minimum is necessary to avoid alienating potential buyers. Suburbs are empty, tedious places unless you have a car you can escape in: raise a kid there and you're either committing them to the boob tube or taking up a second career as a taxi driver.

My parents moved to a suburb of Sacramento when I was 8. I didn't mind at first, but it was a real letdown when I realized, after a few years, that we weren't going to be moving on this time. I couldn't understand why, when we'd been to so many interesting places, they chose THAT one to settle in! I grew to loathe the place and could not get far enough away when I was finally able to leave. To this day, I don't even like to visit suburban areas. I live a mile and a half from the center of Seattle and it still feels too suburban sometimes. I'd be a lot closer in if I could have afforded it when I was shopping for a house. I would not ever want to put a child of my own through a suburban upbringing.