Suburban or Urban? It's all dependent.

I grew up suburban: the suburbs of Chicago. In high school we moved out west to Wheaton, a full-blown suburban environment. If you didn't drive you were trapped in your sub-division. No buses. If there was a cab service, I didn't know about it. It was nice to be out in the "country" (we actually had five horse farms within a 1/2 mile of the house and fox lived up in the forest preserve at the top of the street), but it made you dependent. You had to wander far and explore to find what you needed.

I love Brooklyn, New York. Yes, you need to drive to get to Costco's, but where else can you live where people from Manhattan take a ferry boat to Brooklyn to go to the Ikea store! In my neighborhood of Park Slope, I walk everywhere. I have everything I need to survive within 4 blocks of the apartment: 2 dry cleaners, 4 bodegas, chinese/thai/italian/diner/pita/american/bagel food, a hospital, a post office, a video store, an office supply store, 2 pharmacies, 2 Opticians, a liquor store, a car service, a jeweler, an ice cream store, a bar and access to 3 subway lines in case I need to go anywhere. Hmmm...maybe my life in Park Slope doesn't force me to wander far or explore. Have I become dependent in an entirely different way?