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I grew up in a place that started as kind of a rural hick town and gradually grew into a suburb. It's absolutely a suburb now, but it was pretty near there by the time I left.
It has been both interesting and sad and sometimes good to see the changes in my hometown. Where once there was nothing but farm now there are rows and rows of yes, similar looking houses as far as the eye can see. Where once there was nothing but a stop sign and fields in every direction there's now a 30-screen multiplex, two grocery stores, a gas station, a McDonalds, and a Starbucks. AND a Caribou Coffee.
I grew up in an area of town that used to be resort land. It's right around the lake. I still love walking around to look at the houses, because this area and the downtown are the only spots where all the houses actually are different. And many of them are just beautiful. There's no more room to build here, and it can't be zoned for business use so it looks just like it did when I was 6 years old.
I used to yearn for more to do in my town when I was growing up. And the things I yearned for were decidedly suburban. Why couldn't I live near a better mall? Or cooler (chain) restaurants? I was perpetually jealous of my neighbors just a hare closer to Chicago. To this day I am envious of the teens who can now browse Borders and Barnes & Noble all afternoon, when I never had that option.
With the exception of a dreary year spent in my parents' house, it's been a decade since I've lived in my hometown. And you can take the girl out of the suburbs, but you'll never take all of the suburbs out of the girl. Part of me will always be suburban in some respect. I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I wouldn't deny it either.
Unless forced by necessity, I will always seek to avoid the suburbs. I like towns with a little more character. Right now I'm sick to death of the big city but I solved that by moving to a quirky smaller town with plenty to do. I don't like to have to drive everywhere so I always consider that when I move as well.
Still, I have friends who love the suburbs and I say, "Whatever floats your boat." My best friend, who DOESN'T like the suburbs lives in one with her husband and infant son. It sounds depressing but it isn't at all. Every time I visit their house, I feel like I'm at some sort of island. Of course, they're weirdos and I'm sure that has something to do with it.  She also claims to have read that when the suburbs as we know them were first being built, cars weren't selling as well as the auto industry wanted and they are the ones who pressured to design cities so you'd have to drive everywhere.
I do think that suburbs can alienate people but I think one is as judgemental as those suburbanites they condemn when they say that suburbs are the Great Void. Any place is what you make of it. True, some places lend themselves to creativity and exploration more easily than other places, but again, it's up to the individual to break through.
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