This is a very strong piece. I love cities and I love small towns but have always been bothered by suburbia, including the one where I grew up. As a young child, I would beg my parents to leave their home and move in with my Manhattan-dwelling grandparents. No luck. But I have been a city dweller since the age of 17. It's interesting what you say about the increase in strip malls. Here, in New York, retail has been so hard hit by Amazon (and yes, I am a guilty party) that there are numerous sad-looking empty storefronts. It's appalling that the Salt Lake is drying up as the suburbanites grow.