The author writes that, because he grew up there, because the "bland" (olive garden, strip mall, ...) suburbs are familiar to him, therefore, he belongs there. I think it's more a lesson about people get used to pretty much anything, even non-descript places like the typical american suburb. It's about how childhood shapes your comfort zone, and you'll carry it with you all your life.
(you could write the same article about any place, just change the markers; growing up in kowloon, growing up in a cabin in the woods ...). It's an article about human nature, nostalgia, _not_ about the suburbs or their merits.
America is in a place where people can actually make it happen as turning a suburb in a 15-min city is much easier than turning an existing city into a livable space that is not a crime-ridden concrete dystopia.