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Notes -
Given the property values in outer Redmond, realistically anyone who lives there is going to afford and own a car, unless for whatever reason they can't drive. The developments east of Redmond are there because it's rural-adjacent. It's up a substantial hill, and far enough away from the transit center to keep out the riffraff.
Is the criteria "urban means they cannot afford a car" or is the criteria "urban means they don't need a car for 90% of the time?"
The second one?
I'm just saying, who wants to live without a car somewhere that's only reachable by hourly bus before 7pm? Unless you're shelling out for ubers every time you want to go out, which would presumably be affordable to you... but I just don't see it.
As others have mentioned, isolation is the point. As the suburbs around Seattle become denser and more connected to the urban core by public transportation, the historically rural river valleys east of Seattle are all getting suburban developments dropped in them in places sufficiently isolated to deter any of Seattle's negative externalities from finding their way there. Many of these are technically reachable by bus... but it takes 1.5-2 hours hours from Seattle one-way, not including any other walking. It would definitely be a lifestyle.
I wonder what it looks like in American cities where urban crime is deterred...
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