Handicapped people are more affected by the inverse. Small cities are great, car-centric communes are terrible for them. They've worked out their own mobility issues, but those solutions are interrupted when the crosswalks and pedestrian bridges are affected. If the "solution" involves getting in and out of a car repeatedly, it's often cumbersome for people in wheelchairs.

The point on kids really relates more to neighborhood safety, and how often people interact with a community. Often, kids should be trusted to go down the street to the park. All our old Saturday newspaper comics involve kids going places themselves on foot or bike instead of constantly "being dropped off".