Why American Suburbs are so Creepy (liminal spaces)

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It’s also the lack of trees in all of the images you depicted

Many of these places make me question "is it legal to walk there?".

I came to America in March 2020. Didn’t have a driving license when I arrived, so had to walk through empty highways to my first job site for like 4.5 hours on my first day. Lockdown + no sidewalks + empty giant highways + ugly stroads. No bus or metro before 8 AM. I didn’t get my debit card until two weeks later. Didn’t have no friends who could help with taxi. It was the moment I realized this country is not designed for people. It’s designed to feed capitalism.

I grew up in Los Angeles. My parents who are now both over 75 years old said to me that they used to ride streetcars all over Los Angeles, AS CHILDREN, in the early 1950s in the middle of central L.A., but they disappeared... seemingly all at once. I asked my mom, "well, what happened?" She said they were replaced with buses and more highways were built (destroying many vibrant neighborhoods in the process). I later come to find out that the General Motors company had a nationwide conspiracy to get more people into cars and to buy their vehicles, so they bought up streetcar systems all over the U.S. and replaced them with big, gas-guzzling buses. When the buses proved inefficient in your daily life, you needed to buy a car. The car became de-facto "required" as a means of convenience, plus it was aspirational to own one (along with a suburban home, the car was a sign of "making it and part of achieving the American Dream", riding the bus or taking public transit in many towns was then viewed as socially "undesirable" and "inconvenient" -- and in many cases even derelict). Of course, car ownership shot up. However, the U.S. government FINED General Motors and ruled what they did as a conspiracy. But by then it was already too late. Also General Motors was one of the main lobbies behind the Highway Act which built more and more roads throughout America for its vehicles and to drive sales, under the guise of "convenience," "efficiency" and "modernization". Thanks, General Motors. Oh yeah, the U.S. gov't also bailed out this company not too long ago.

Agreed. I ride my bike to school everyday and it feels so boring tbh. It feels like a desolate wasteland, and also because I'm the ONLY ONE riding a bike. It definitely feels like I'm in a zombie movie or smth. It truly sucks, in no civilized society would you have to drive to a grocery store and not walk there. It seems that the country has been more about making money than putting health first. "Kids, be thankful for your freedom, now get in the car" (I stole this comment)

its wild when i see rows of homes and they dont even have sidewalks. like, those neighborhoods arent even designed for people.

i live in a small Texas town, and there are legit NO SIDEWALKS. if you walk anywhere, ppl will look at you from their cars and be like “why are they walking to _____?” because it’s so denormalized here. i used to live in the bay area, where walking anywhere was completely normal because there were actual sidewalks, smaller roads, and smaller parking lots. it’s actually wild how society functions in some places.

I was delivering food pretty late at around midnight in the outskirts of my city. Passing by seemingly endless amount of houses, all with no lights on, and not a single soul walking or driving. Truly felt like I was utterly alone almost in some sort of twilight zone.

Having grown up in the USA, this video precisely describes how I felt about these places. Its like these places are not places at all like Not Just Bikes says. Being stuck at home feels like being stuck on a remote island surrounded by an inhospitable concrete wasteland. The only practical way to get around is to get in that metal box on wheels. Oh, and you must ask mommy and daddy to take you pretty much anywhere, but to where if everything is just copy-paste chain stores and restaurants.

Holy shit… this explains why people from the suburbs always act like they’re fearful/vulnerable. Like a mouse in the middle of an open field where there is nowhere to run or hide to

as someone living in asia (taiwan) i envy you guys so so so much to have a dedicated living area, low traffic flow outside residential houses, and wide walkable streets. come to taiwan and live, and you will cherish the suburbs in the US again

As someone who lives in suburban Philadelphia I have to say, I cannot relate at all to this video. The town I live definitely has the cookie cutter home style as described in this video, but it does not at all feel “liminal” or “empty” here. The streets are lined with trees and sidewalks, and it is a very active community where I live. People are always walking around outside, walking dogs, riding bikes, etc. There are multiple community parks with biking trails and nature trails within walking distance of my house, as well. We also have state parks that are not too far of a drive away. I guess it’s because the town I live was built before all these zoning laws came into effect is why it feels much different than the places described in this video.

Fact is, if the street is barely wider than two cars, you actually a) need to know how to drive, b) drive slowly and c) be undistracted. Three things many US-citizens seem to be allergic against. Edit: Because some people in the replies think I'm endorsing that, no, it's obviously pathetic.

Fun fact: even though American suburbs are so sprawl they are actually in total taking less space then parking lots in America - which BTW is another alarming statistics. In total there are 8 parking spaces for each car registered in America. In Europe on avarage there's 0.8 parking space for each car registered.

As SCP-079 once stated "That was the day I learned there is no such thing as freedom — there are only bigger prisons".

Driving through suburbs in Massachusetts feels like this. Endless neighborhoods, no open space, suffocating.

It's so depressing seeing America turn into Corporate America with all its blandness and "productive" aesthetics. Especially how creative everything was back then (I'm 33)

Man, the suburbs can be quite a miserable place for teenagers. Literally all of my close friends live outside of my neighborhood, so I rarely, if ever, get invited to the fun things they do. This past winter was really rough. I was planning to learn to snowboard this winter, and possibly go to a ski resort with my best friend, but the cost was too expensive. So while everyone else was having fun during the winter with their friends, I was basically stuck at home. This lead me to borderline addiction to a mobile video game called Clash Of Clans. On some weekends, I’d spend hours and hours raiding people’s villages and earning massive amounts of resources and trophies. I’ve gotten more passive about the game now, but man, was that game my lifeline. Living in the suburbs as a teenager with most fun places being either expensive, too far away, or lonely, is hard. 😔

Everyone’s out at work to pay for their boring empty homes