The Suburbian Nightmare

"I am not interested in living in the suburbs, end of story"-me

"I'm just going to warn you Rebecca, and please take this to heart, if you say things like that then you will never get married"-Grandma



Living in the suburbs. Been there, done that, not interested in repeating it.

Take, as yet another illustration, the following excerpt from Duany, Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck's Suburban Nation:

The plight of the suburban housewife was powerfully conveyed in a letter we received in 1990 from a woman living outside of Tulsa:

Dear Architects:

I am a mother of four children who are not able to leave the yard because of our city's design. Ever since we have moved here I have felt like a caged animal only let out for a ride in the car. It is impossible to walk even to the grocery store two blocks away. If our family wants to go for a ride we need to load two cars with four bikes and a baby cart and drive four miles to the only bike path in this city of over a quarter million people. I cannot exercise unless I drive to a health club that I had to pay $300 to, and that is four and a half miles away. There is no sense of community here on my street, either, because we all have to drive around in our own little worlds that take us fifty miles a day to every corner of the surrounding five miles.

I want to walk somewhere so badly that I could cry. I miss walking! I want the kids to walk to school. I want to walk to the store for a pound of butter. I want to take the kids on a neighborhood stroll or bike. My husband wants to walk to work because it is so close, but none of these things is possible...And if you saw my neighborhood, you would think that I had it all according to the great American dream.

(p. 117-118)

Really, there is no need for further explanation...