I generally agree, except that the not being able to get around without a car bit is really True in my experience.
edit: It's easy to know your neighbors in suburbia if you're outgoing, and things vary from street to street. But there generally is way less interaction than if you were to have a neighborhood pub at the end of your street, or side-to-side porches everyone lounges on during summer nights.
It tends to be that you know the neighbors you get along with and ignore everyone else. In city environments, it's more like you interact with everyone because, well, no choice.
So what's the attraction towards interacting with everyone? That I might find out one of my neighbours is a kidnapper?
I don't like to talk to everyone I meet or even be in a city for too long as it overstimulates my senses. It is the same reason why I don't like large crowds and prefer living in the suburbs.
> That I might find out one of my neighbours is a kidnapper?
The far more likely scenario is that you find you have some common background, and waste an evening relating stories that you would probably never dredge up again otherwise. The world really is a surprisingly tiny place.
> I don't like to talk to everyone I meet or even be in a city for too long as it overstimulates my senses.
This is a better description of what I was talking about. IMHO, suburbia certainly doesn't make it impossible to know your neighbors, but it kinda subtly discourages it, while more tightly-packed cities subtly encourage it.
The super-outgoing will always know their neighbors, and the super-quiet never will. A little proximity and shared interests/spaces tends to help those in the middle along some.
edit: It's easy to know your neighbors in suburbia if you're outgoing, and things vary from street to street. But there generally is way less interaction than if you were to have a neighborhood pub at the end of your street, or side-to-side porches everyone lounges on during summer nights.
It tends to be that you know the neighbors you get along with and ignore everyone else. In city environments, it's more like you interact with everyone because, well, no choice.