> convenience for family

As a late-20s person living in the city, this is a thing I've been pondering. I grew up in typical suburban sprawl living "close" to school, soccer practice and friend's houses... but "close" still meant entirely dependent on my parents for rides to each place (less the 5-10 children my age within a 1-mile walk). It was a huge time sink for the family, and having to be driven everywhere felt isolating as a child (i.e. can't hang out because mom is too busy to drive me). Not every urban neighborhood is inherently walkable, but many cities have inner ring suburbs (usually within city limits) where all of those amenities are at most a 20 minute walk away. Would this type of neighborhood be livable with your requirements?

Maybe. Suburbs streets have so little traffic you can let a 4 year old play games in them. As you get closer and closer in there is more traffic. If I lived on any of the roads near downtown in my tiny city I'd be concerned about my kid running out the door and into the street. While I worry about that anywhere, the odds are in my favor where I live now because there are so few cars, while in the city there are cars all the time.

Surely after 4 or 5 your kid can look for traffic no?

Sure, she looks. It doesn't always register to not run out in traffic though.

Possibly! Depends on the climate. The more mild, the more I’d consider it. I’m not walking 20 minutes in weather below 32F (Chicago) or above 90F (Tampa, Orlando, Miami).

My partner is a stay at home mom who wouldn’t mind providing daily transportation, and after a certain age we’ll just provide electric scooters and bikes to our kids before they’re old enough to drive.

As much as I hate on the old joint family system it definitely took care of this problem