Let's say the whole world was made up of suburbs?

Well, all of the new suburbs that would be needed to house the people that could no longer live in cities would eat up all of the remaining open space.

Population density is a good thing.

Where would everybody work?Where would we grow food or get our clothin. How about cars and computers? The burbs would not exist if there were no cities where people could find work. Suburbs came after cities for a reason.

I think it would cause a whole slew of issues. The footprint of the housing required would be enormous if you had to take all the people in apartments and high rises and put them in single family homes. That would impact wet lands and create water shed issues. Water consumption would increase dramatically for all the new lawns and gardens and pools. There would all sorts of unintended consequences from eliminating densely populated areas.

either everyone would have to drive a lot more (and deal with the traffic) or there would need to be a real push to get everyone on bicycles. My personal experience with living in the suburbs is that the bus service is lousy because things are so spread out, most people are not within walking distance of a bus line or other transit.

Cities are the most efficient way for people to live. There is less travel distance to do anything. You don’t even need a car. You can get everywhere you want to go using public transportation.

Suburban living is the worst. You have to have a car to do anything. Cars are the most inefficient, polluting way to travel. You have travel much further to get to anything. It is also isolating in the sense of community. You barely see your neighbors. You drive somewhere to meet people, for the most part.

Suburbs are hellish enough with a city nearby to go to. A world made up only of suburbs would be true hell. Thanks for ruining my day! :(

The primary flaw of the suburb is that it’s designed around the car – there’s no store that you can walk to, no entertainment even within biking distance, etc. Cities (older cities, at least) are difficult to drive and park in, so a lot of people walk and take more public transit.