Suburbia, with all their HOAs and such are the physical manifestation of the cultural preferences of a large majority of Americans.<p>The following quote perfect illustrates the goals:<p>&quot;The idea, of course, is that the peaceful slumber of the suburbanite should not be interrupted by the noise generated by the transaction of commerce or any other public-sphere human activities&quot;<p>Most Americans want to have an estate where they aim to live independently and completely unaffected by their neighbors. They don&#x27;t want to hear them, see them, or ever have to directly interact with them unless desired.<p>This can be often rationalized as safer because if other people are physically less likely to interact in any fashion they are less likely to cause harm. It can also be rationalized as better financial sense as these &quot;ticky-tacky&quot; boxes are designed to be bland and therefore have mass appeal. HOAs especially help this as they prevent your neighbor&#x27;s choices from impacting your resale value.<p>As long as Americans continue to value trying to live a life as separate and as unaffected as possible you will have something very much like Suburbia<p>Most who rail against suburbs (like me), do so because we have a different set of values and beliefs about community. For those who like suburbs it&#x27;s about trying to build a personal community that you opt in to be part of.<p>This idea that community or your social network is something each gets to determine for themselves is seen in a lot of political debates. This fuels charter schools, school vouchers, zoning laws, etc. It&#x27;s interesting because it cuts across political boundaries.