I think people need a way to differentiate between the concrete 5 lane highway and parking lot requirements that make it impossible to walk anywhere, versus towns with small roads and businesses spread out that one can walk around easily. I would interpret the word suburb to describe an area where you must use a car to get around and walking is not an option, versus a small town where you don't need a car and can walk around to do most routine activities.

> I would interpret the word suburb to describe an area where you must use a car to get around and walking is not an option, versus a small town where you don't need a car and can walk around to do most routine activities.

The problem with this binary division is that plenty of real communities outside of metropolitan coresñ.ñ would be a blend of “small town” and “suburb” by this description, varying on a continuum between being nearly purely “small town” in their local core (which might or might not be styled as a “downtown”) to pure “suburb” as you get further from that core.