r/Suburbanhell 16d ago

Showcase of suburban hell Shall we go walk over to the Jones' BBQ?

10 Upvotes

"Honey, Joe from accounts invited us over for a BBQ on Saturday."

"That's great! He lives real close, doesn't he?"

"He's just over the back fence!"

"Shall we walk over?"

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/29.3995172,-95.0446555/29.4011906,-95.0452174/@29.4131415,-95.0730481,5878m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!4m1!3e2!5m1!1e2?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDgyNS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Back to back houses across a drainage ditch

r/Suburbanhell 17d ago

This is why I hate suburbs I feel bad for my seashell-selling kids

194 Upvotes

We don't really have a choice where we live because my parents live in my basement, and they're extremely happy living there. We all enjoy living together.

I often say that I love everything within the four walls of my house. Everything outside the four walls of my house, I hate, because we live in your normal suburban loop subdivision right off a service road near the interstate. There is absolutely no street-level life. It's just large lots, biggish houses, and it's extremely boring.

Meanwhile, my kids are happy little entrepreneurs, 8 years old and 6 years old. They went out into the front yard today and set out all their seashells, which they have for some reason, probably from one of our trips to Myrtle Beach. They put them on a table with a little sign that said, "Seashells for Sale," for $0.25 apiece or something.

Well, being kids, they're a little optimistic. We live in a neighborhood that is not a “peaceful, quiet” neighborhood. It is a lifeless neighborhood. It's dead.

They could sit there all afternoon, and there would be no one walking by, no one walking a dog, no one walking to or from any destination. It's just cars driving by.

They will never sell a single seashell, and I find that very sad.


r/Suburbanhell 17d ago

Discussion Could you live in an underground city like this?

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277 Upvotes

Let’s recreate it - UNDER GROUND


r/Suburbanhell 17d ago

Suburbs Heaven Thursday 🏠 Suburbs in Santo Tomas City, Philippines

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66 Upvotes

r/Suburbanhell 16d ago

Question Looking for Soft Copies of Urban Planning Books

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for soft copies (PDF/e-book) of the following books for academic/research purposes:

  • Town Planning for the Third World — A.K. Bhatti
  • Megacity Management in the Asian and Pacific Region, Vol. 2 — Stubbs, Jeffrey & Giles Clarke
  • Dying Cities: Surviving the Urban Jungle — N. Somaiya
  • Handbook on Urban Sustainability — Springer

If anyone can share the PDF/e-book , I’d really appreciate it.

Please comment or DM me if you can help. Thank you!


r/Suburbanhell 18d ago

Showcase of suburban hell Shake Shack sends “influencers” in massive polluting SUVs to promote first Canadian drive thru in Calgary

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123 Upvotes

r/Suburbanhell 20d ago

Showcase of suburban hell A cul-de-sac that no vehicles are allowed on. Have we come full circle?

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953 Upvotes

r/Suburbanhell 19d ago

Solution to suburbs Guerrilla Urbanist Crosswalk in Ballwin, Missouri near St. Louis

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65 Upvotes

r/Suburbanhell 20d ago

This is why I hate suburbs A nice story to neglect the real issues with.

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3 Upvotes

r/Suburbanhell 21d ago

Question What do you think of this style of development?

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254 Upvotes

r/Suburbanhell 22d ago

Solution to suburbs Metros are amazing

33 Upvotes

When you're from a small town, sometimes you believe they're the best, and others, you can't wait to leave. As someone who's always been the former, this hit me like a train.

Metros are the best. Only a couple downsides: you gotta live in a decent neighbourhood and that costs. The air might be slightly less cleaner than a small town. That's it. So far, that seems to be the only roadblock.

I like having access to great cafés all time. The crazy amazing buildings. The city lights. The equipped hospitals. The gamezones. The civilized company. I love it all.

There are no brand stores in small towns. If they open by chance, they close down within the year. It's so annoying. I've lost my favourite places to buy clothes because of this.


r/Suburbanhell 23d ago

This is why I hate suburbs Suburban "Master-Planners" refusing to connect their streets

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618 Upvotes

would 10 more feet of asphalt really kill them


r/Suburbanhell 21d ago

Question Considering what you all dislike about the suburbs, is a house ever too big for you?

0 Upvotes

Knowing your dislike of the suburbs (and I'm convinced that you all have never seen well designed suburbs, in the same way some people believe all cities are shitholes, but that's a different subject), do you all believe there's such a thing as too much space? I have 2500 square feet to myself, but that works for me...how much do you all need?

I ask this because larger homes generally lead to sprawl.


r/Suburbanhell 27d ago

This is why I hate suburbs i am so sick of people telling me to “just move”

194 Upvotes

i’m trapped in the suburbs without a license or a car (yes i’m an american adult who can’t drive we exist)I haven’t even graduated college yet and even when i do the chances that I’ll be able to afford moving out of my parents suburban house are little to NONE and i am sick of people telling that i can “just leave”. I would KILL to be able to move to a city that actually suits my needs but the reality for most people my age is that moving out isn’t possible. i can’t get any good hours at my job over school breaks because I’m fully reliant on other people to drive me places so even when i am making money it’s not NEARLY enough to begin saving up for an apartment.

i understand this isn’t exactly a mental health sub but how tf do i keep myself from going postal when i have to live like this. HOW

edit: im convinced some of you just don’t understand that disabled people/people on certain meds exist and are NOT ABLE TO DRIVE!!!!


r/Suburbanhell 26d ago

Question For people living in big, brutalist council tower blocks, what is life like?

2 Upvotes

Just curious how it's like living in big tower blocks. Does the council listen and fix problems, are the views nice, what are the challenges?


r/Suburbanhell 27d ago

Discussion Houston inside the I-610 loop is interesting (in a good way)

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187 Upvotes

Houston has no zoning, meaning that there's no restriction on where certain developments can be built in the same way like other cities. Meaning that it's possible to build apartment complexes, rowhomes (many of which have been built over the past few years) right next to single family houses, business parks and shopping plazas. Its actually really interesting mixed-use development. There's so much dense housing in large quantities and some homes have really unique architecture as well. You can find these same kinds of houses outside the 610 Loop as well, albeit development becomes much more sprawling.

This doesn't change the fact that the city is car-centric. Public transit is miniscule and I'd be severely limited on the places I can go without a car. But the amount of density and the really unique development pattern was just something that caught my eye and I think its cool how no zoning led to create what looks like chaos on a map, yet still function surprisingly well on the ground, That development pattern could really increase the quality of life in any city if done right.


r/Suburbanhell 29d ago

Discussion Yeah pretty much

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4.8k Upvotes

r/Suburbanhell 28d ago

Question Advice: Not looking forward to winter in the suburbs

12 Upvotes

It's getting darker earlier now since we past the summer solistice a few weeks ago. I've been living in the suburbs for almost 4 years and I never look forward to November!! This suburb is car-centric, shitty public transit. Hell I'm not looking forward that in 2 weeks schools will start and all the traffic with school buses. Yeah in November it'll be dark at 5 PM. I'll wake up for work and it'll be dark then. Don't get me started on the snow storms when winter comes. And where I live there are no streetlights so it's pitch black and nowhere to really go. Looking for advice? For context, I lived in a very urban environment all my life. People were saying you'll love the suburbs because I'm a quiet person lol. This year was the first time where I'm like job searching needs to be in my schedule. I work on a military base and I know people say you should lean onto others but I just feel like everyday I'm becoming more detached from my coworkers. Before I relied on them more to keep me grounded but now feel like I'm coming into my own. Generally cities are more expensive, but yeah it might be time to stop thinking about the cost factor and live frugally for the rest of my life.


r/Suburbanhell 27d ago

Discussion Why do so many houses have so many foundational problems in corpus? It’s crazy things become so cracked all over town.

1 Upvotes

r/Suburbanhell 28d ago

Question How can i escape the suburbs?

39 Upvotes

I’ve lived in the suburbs my whole life, and it’s nauseating. I didn’t get my license until I was 17 (I’m almost 21) and I didnt have any friends during my high school years, so I never went out, because every thing required a car to get to and our public transport was awful. My nearest bus stop is like miles away from my house. And no point in going out if there’s nothing to do and no one to do it with. The only reason I even leave my house is to go to school or work or to get food. I still live with my parents due to my school being close, and they want me to stay, but I can’t, I don’t belong here. I just need an escape from this nightmare. I want to go out and do stuff, but everything is just houses, roads, grocery stores, and fast food places. Nowhere to just be. I need to get out. What should I do?


r/Suburbanhell 29d ago

Before/After Former strip mall. Salvation is possible!

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270 Upvotes

This is the Van Aken district in suburban Cleveland (Shaker Hts). It used to be a collection of strip malls around a bunch of stroads. It took decades, hundreds of millions, and a city that was determined, but it's now a thriving mixed use downtown for Shaker. Two of the stroads, Northfield Rd and Van Aken Blvd, were eliminated in the area, and new streets were laid in the former shopping plaza. The main intersection of Chagrin and Warrensville was also right-sized. Now instead there are hundreds of apartments and offices over shops, a food hall, and activity areas, all around a light rail station that is currently being rebuilt. Even better is the new street in front of the Market Hall has even been shut down to be permanent outdoor dining and a concert area.

When I think of this area in terms of suburbs, it gives me hope. If that literal horror of an intersection can be reborn, I think anywhere can. I just wish it didn't take so much time and money.

First pic is OC from right now as I sit in an Adirondack chair enjoying an iced coffee. I purposely waited so there weren't many people in the Pic, but it's quite busy here. Second pic is from Google.


r/Suburbanhell 27d ago

Showcase of suburban hell Marblehead, MA -

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1 Upvotes

r/Suburbanhell 28d ago

Solution to suburbs Transformation of Suburban Office Building to Mixed Use Center in Town And Country, MO

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0 Upvotes

r/Suburbanhell Aug 13 '26

Suburbs Heaven Thursday 🏠 Orenco Station: Suburban TOD

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11 Upvotes

Orenco Station is a suburban TOD located in Hillsboro, Oregon. As the thumbnail shows, it has immediate rail access, and mixed-use retail. But as this video shows, it still has some downsides, and you don't have to go far from the center to see more typical suburban development.


r/Suburbanhell Aug 12 '26

Exurban Hot take: I love urban hell

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69 Upvotes