Also a perfectly normal thing in cities in most of the world.

In the ones that have an "outside" for the kids, sure. In my experience, most of the bigger cities in Europe just don't have the space for the kids to hang out. Sure there are parks with playgrounds here and there, but they are separated by kilometers of concrete and stone. At least suburbs have the spaces and the clean air.

Cities have a lot more for kids to do within a kilometer or two, IME. In a suburb you may have "space" but it's all just people's lawns and strips of grass next to the road.

Not all suburbs are set up like that. Mine has a nice “downtown” area in walking distance with plenty to do. There’s mid-rise buildings, shops, restaurants, bars, and a train station to the city if you get bored.

You need density for that kind of "downtown", which is in fundamental tension with this notion of "space". I used to live in Ealing, which calls itself "Queen of the suburbs", but I don't think that's the kind of place iakov was talking about.

To me it seems whole "urban culture" (graffiti and skateboards (i know i'm probably shallow by generalising it as such)) has developed from lack for playgrounds and green spaces (especially for older kids).

In Lithuania lots of soviet buildings actually had somewhat of a common yard, which in past 20 years has been replaced with a parking lot.