American suburbs feature poorly interconnected residential-only areas that sprawl endlessly. You can easily be a ten minute walk from a friend (through yards and across fences, not over a walking path) but a ten or fifteen minute drive away due to the Byzantine road layout.

Commercial zones that have groceries, restaurants, shops, and entertainment are almost always several kilometers away. You could technically bike there, but there are rarely bike lanes. And due to serving the needs of a large, low-density area, you’d have to bike on multi-lane high-speed thoroughfares which is far less safe than being able to use small local streets. Where there are sidewalks, they often end abruptly and don’t actually connect to anywhere or anything.

It is truly hell.