It feels odd to hear suburbia praised, but an urban historian, writer and lecturer named Joel Kotkin, who lives in a burb of Los Angeles, has been doing just that. In a conversation we had recently about the state of the American suburb, he offered a defense that had not occurred to me.

"There were certainly things to be critical of in suburbia. Some of these places were mind-bogglingly dull. Yet, we created a great environment for families on an unprecedented scale, and if anything proves it, it's all the people who've moved onto your block from places all around the world..."

But when I recently mapped out a two-day, 30-mile urban hike for a Seattle P-I story (Getaways, Nov. 23), I didn't give a second's thought to the suburbs: My route was strictly Seattle...

The Seattle hike and the conversation with Kotkin have me wondering whether it's possible to merge these two qualities, to create suburbs that are good places to live at the same time that they're interesting places to explore. Or another way to ask the question: What should the burbs be learning from the city?...

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