Suburbia Eliminates the Public Realm

I don't believe automobile suburbs are an adequate replacement for cities, since the motive force behind suburbia has been the exaltation of privacy and the elimination of the public realm. Where city life optimizes the possibility of contact between people, and especially different kinds of people, the suburb strives to eliminate precisely that kind of human contact. - James Howard Kunstler, "The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape", page 189

Traditional city life optimizes the possibility of contact between people, like here on Österlånggatan at Gamla stan in Stockholm.

See too:

"What's the Secret of Making a Happy City?"

Larger resolution here.