Right now, my wife and I live in Fairmount with our 2 young kids. We like the area, but there is a good chance I will be starting a job in Westchester (Essentially where 202 meets Route 3).

That commute looks to be a killer so a move is in the cards, but I have only lived in the Center City area and know nothing about the surrounding areas.

An ideal place would be
CLose to 202/rt3
An area where you can walk to the store, restaurants, and parks
Schools (public or private) nearby
Plenty of other kids around

Are there places like that? I have no idea where to look.

Why not West Chester the town?! It's a really nice area that has plenty of resturants, bars, shopping that is away from the college area. Pretty nice town with alot of row houses on little streets.

West Chester's nice. A little quite - sometimes spookily so, as in where are all the people in these nice neighborhoods? But it's probably a good bet you'll like it.

West Chester is quite nice, but I don't like the townships around it. Havertown isn't too far away, and it is a nice mix; it is on Route 3.

You might want to think about the areas surrounding Media which is just off route 1. Also certain sections of Springfield Township are walkable. Also Exton, Malvern, Paoli and Devon all have walkable areas and are as far away (or maybe closer) than Havertown. You are looking at pricier neighborhoods so don't get sticker shocked!

Thanks for the suggestions.

What about kids? Are these town center areas filled with families with kids

In my experience, towns that have a village-like atmosphere tend to be a mixture of inhabitants. Typically, I tend to see more families with kids moving in a more suburban direction as witnessed by the many 4 BR 2.5 bath homes. Every community is a little different. If you have some time on your hands I would recommend visiting some of these places on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately we are at a time of year when a lot of people are away, but just driving around and see the mix of people is a good indication of who lives there. Also, I would investigate the location of elementary schools and their proximity to the town center. If the school is there, then there are kids to populate it. Hope this was helpful to you. If you need help with the school reports, etc., just email me.

Downtown West Chester, Wayne, Havertown, Media, and Phoenixville are the only old fashioned walkable towns with good or ok public schools where people can and do walk from home to the downtown area (in Paoli, Exton and others they still have to drive to avoid major roads like Lancaster Avenue, 252, Route 100 and Route 30).

Its usually a catch-22 unless you want to live in a development or closer to the city which puts you further from work...

This helps.
When you say developments., are there "new urbanism" type developments out there? The ones with smaller yards, common areas (park, pool) and some commercial? These have cropped up in a vareity of places (From Charleston to the Midwest) but I'm not sure about this area.

I don't think there currently are except maybe Chesterbrook which you may be able to walk to the small business strip.

I think a luxury development based upon luxury shopping (how ridiculous) is being proposed or built in the KOP area but doesn't exist yet.

Unfortunately most new developments include playgrounds, tennis courts, clubhouses and pools but no shopping.

I think the recent housing mess, economy and fuel prices will result in revitalized inner ring suburbs and city living and the creation of these types of housing developments, but I'm not aware of any around here as of yet...

I have seen semi new urban developments in Lionville/Exton? maybe...just can't remember...had smaller homes closer together, front porches, stoops etc...but honestly it just looked crowded and fake to me...and no businesses...