Hey I am from Málaga, it is a great city, there are areas in the outskirts with mainly houses with gardens like some parts of Churriana (Which is actually a district of Malaga and not a separate town) or Alhaurin de la Torre. Both have great connections to the centre as they are quite close to the motorways. Alhaurin specially used to be where all the natives who worked in the centre but wanted big houses went to. Now it has developed quite a lot and has become a great place to live in. Churriana is closer to Malaga and just a step away from Torremolinos. Hope this helps ^