Living in the suburbs has a lot of benefits. Suburban areas are generally safe, have good schools, and deal with fewer big city problems like noise and pollution. But for teenagers, the suburbs can feel confining.

You can't get anywhere without a car, everything fun is also far away, and your hangout options outside the house are limited to fast food restaurants and sprawling parking lots. Growing up in the suburbs as a teen, it's like you can't even live your life until you get a driver's license.

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Still, families tend to favor the suburbs so they can raise their children in small and safe neighborhoods, even if that comes at the cost of entertainment options, and vehicle reliance. But what if we could design smarter suburbs that take the best pages out of the big city's book, like public transit and recreational activities, while still preserving the charm of a quieter neighborhood? Take notes, city planners, because here's how suburbia can be made better for teens, so it really can become the "best of both worlds" it promises to be.

No Car, No Fun

While one of the main draws of living in the suburbs comes from the peace and quiet of a residential neighborhood farther away from crowded, noisy businesses and attractions, the resulting sprawl of suburbia means that car dependency is real. For teens, this means until you can get a driver's license, you're left relying on parents and older friends for rides if you want to go anywhere at all. But why aren't walking, biking, and transit viable options?

Walking is pretty much out of the picture for the many suburbs which lack simple sidewalks to protect pedestrians from oncoming traffic. And even in suburbs with the luxury of sidewalk-lined streets, "local" businesses are often miles away from homes, making travel by foot impractical and inefficient. Biking may be faster, but it can also suffer from the same lack of safety, with many cities lacking bike lanes, or leaving them as an afterthought startlingly close to parallel lanes of vehicle traffic.

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Suburban areas sometimes have public transit systems, but they're often outdated and underused. Revitalizing this transit would be the first step towards making suburbs less car dependent, as safe and affordable buses or trains would not only give teens the freedom to go places without a car, but would also take more vehicles off the road, protecting the environment by reducing carbon emissions and preventing against the collisions that can come from busy streets.

The Washington D.C. area's metro system is a great example of what big city suburbs should strive for, with their metro connecting suburbs all the way from Virginia to Maryland. This means that teens throughout the area are just a convenient metro ride away from being able to explore the bigger city's attractions from museums to the zoo.

But even in cities where public transit isn't well established, bettering bus systems or bringing forgotten train tracks back to use could go a long way in allowing younger teens to get where they want and need to go without having to burden their parents with another drop-off and pick-up.

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Where are the Third Spaces?

Third spaces, places for social gathering away from the "first place" of home and the "second place" of work (or school for teens), are key to teen life as they provide a spot for teenagers to socialize and spend time together outside the confines of their high school. However, these areas are quietly disappearing, in large part due to the effects of the Internet age.

Watch any 80s and 90s movie, and the mall was the prime place for teenagers to hang out, but a few decades later, our generation is lacking in any spot with that same level of cultural significance. That can be largely attributed to the rise of the Internet and social media, as cellphones provide many teens with a third space of sorts through online communities centered around their interests.

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Yet for teenagers who want to get outside to have fun, there's few options in the suburbs. With online shopping replacing brick and mortar stores and delivery apps like DoorDash taking away from in-person eateries, finding a good and affordable third space as a teen is a tricky endeavor. And it's even harder in the suburbs, where there's fewer entertainment options available and businesses don't exactly profit from teens "hanging out."

The result is that, outside of school related events, teenagers are largely limited to fast food establishments and big department stores like Target if they want to spend some time together without breaking the bank. Don't want to spend any money at all, and you're stuck with even fewer options, the best choices at that point are parking lots or public parks.

Thus, teens would greatly benefit from third spaces being revitalized. Hiking trails, community centers, local beaches, and lakefronts could be brought back to life to provide free, safe third spaces to teens. Bringing back the mall as a centerpiece of teen culture could also be beneficial, and adding public transit routes with stops at shopping centers could support that potential comeback.

The Secret Solution?

While making suburbs better just for teens may seem too specific a goal for cities to take on, there's already suburban areas being developed with qualities that increase livability, and not just for teens. Factors like improved walkability, access to public green spaces, and the establishment of local businesses close to where people live all are beneficial for the whole community.

Such neighborhoods follow the principles of "new urbanism," a trend that promotes communities with walkability, transit-oriented development, and public green spaces. These neighborhoods keep the quiet charm of traditional suburbs, while remedying the car dependency and sprawl of traditional suburbia.

There are already suburban areas built on new urbanism's principles, including Celebration, a town in the Orlando metro area near Walt Disney World. Using such practices when building new suburban developments would make suburbs better for teens, remove car dependency, and offer nearby businesses and green spaces to hang out at. The benefits wouldn't just be enjoyed by teens, but by the environment as well; providing alternatives to car travel would reduce vehicular emissions, and creating green spaces with planted trees would lower surface temperatures and improve air quality.

Even in established neighborhoods, small steps could be taken to go a long way towards making the suburbs more livable for teens, from introducing new entertainment options to opening up more outdoor spaces to the public. And by bringing focus towards the necessity for improvements in suburban areas, we can benefit not just today's teenagers, but many generations to come.