At the same time, for kids to play together, you need to get lucky and have other kids live nearby. A grid system is much easier to navigate for kids, even if their friends live 4 blocks over East and then 2 blocks North. In a cul-de-sac neighborhood, that same distance if drawn with a straight line is impossible to walk that way. It can quickly become daunting for kids to follow neverending mazes, often without any sidewalks.

Sidewalks are another issue. In car-oriented neighborhoods they are often non-existent, or an afterthought on only one side of the street. Sometimes they just randomly end, only to start again half a mile down the road. In older grid neighborhoods, sidewalks are wide, often separated from the street with a tree line, and are on both sides of the street. They are almost inviting kids to come play on them.