Suburb

=== United States ===
[[File:Jefferson Parish Suburbs of New Orleans.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Big-box store|Big box]] [[shopping centers]] in suburban [[New Orleans]], Louisiana]]
In the 20th century, many suburban areas, especially those not within the political boundaries of the city containing the central business area, began to see independence from the central city as an asset. In some cases, suburbanites saw self-government as a means to keep out people who could not afford the added suburban property maintenance costs not needed in city living. Federal [[subsidies]] for suburban development accelerated this process as did the practice of redlining by banks and other lending institutions.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0813339529 Comeback Cities: A Blueprint for Urban Neighborhood Revival] By Paul S. Grogan, Tony Proscio. {{ISBN|0-8133-3952-9}}. Published 2002. Page 142. "Perhaps suburbanization was a 'natural' phenomenon—rising incomes allowing formerly huddled masses in city neighborhoods to breathe free on green lawn and leafy culs-de-sac. But, we will never know how natural it was, because of the massive federal subsidy that eased and accelerated it, in the form of tax, transportation and housing policies."</ref> In some cities such as [[Miami]], [[San Francisco]], and [[Washington, D.C.]], the main city is much smaller than the surrounding suburban areas, leaving the city proper with a small portion of the metro area's population and land area.

[[Mesa, Arizona]], and [[Virginia Beach, Virginia]], the two most populous suburbs in the U.S., are actually more populous than many core cities, including Miami, [[Minneapolis]], New Orleans, [[Cleveland]], [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]], [[St. Louis]], [[Pittsburgh]], [[Cincinnati]], and others. Virginia Beach is now the most populous city in Virginia, having long since exceeded the population of its neighboring primary city, [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]]. While Virginia Beach has slowly been taking on the characteristics of an urban city, it will not likely achieve the population density and urban characteristics of Norfolk. A second suburban city in Virginia, [[Chesapeake, Virginia|Chesapeake]], has also exceeded the population of adjacent Norfolk.  With only a few large commercial areas and no definitive downtown area, Chesapeake is primarily residential in nature with vast rural areas remaining within the city limits.

Cleveland, Ohio, is typical of many American central cities; its municipal borders have changed little since 1922, even though the Cleveland urbanized area has grown many times over.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} Several layers of suburban municipalities now surround cities like Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Dallas, [[Denver]], [[Houston]], New York City, San Francisco, [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]], [[Atlanta]], Miami, [[Baltimore]], [[Milwaukee]], Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]], Norfolk, St. Louis, [[Salt Lake City]], [[Las Vegas]], Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C..

Suburbs in the United States have a prevalence of usually [[Detached house|detached]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=uULJlcYkJ1oC Land Development Calculations] 2001 Walter Martin Hosack.  "single-family detached housing" = "suburb houses" p133</ref> [[Single-family house|single-family]] homes.<ref>[http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/recs/recs2005/hc2005_tables/hc1housingunit/pdf/tablehc2.1.pdf "Housing Unit Characteristics by Type of Housing Unit, 2005"] Energy Information Association</ref>

They are characterized by:

* Lower [[urban density|densities]] than central cities, dominated by single-family homes on small [[Land lot|plots of land]] – anywhere from 0.1 acres<ref name="cite crabgrass">{{harvnb|Jackson|1985}}.</ref> and up – surrounded at close quarters by very similar dwellings.
* Zoning patterns that separate residential and commercial development, as well as different intensities and densities of development.  Daily needs are not within walking distance of most homes.
* A greater percentage of [[White Americans|whites]] (both [[Non-Hispanic whites|non-Hispanic]] and, in some areas, [[White Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic]]) and lesser percentage of citizens of [[ethnic groups in the United States|other ethnic groups]] than in urban areas. However, [[African Americans|black]] suburbanization grew between 1970 and 1980 by 2.6% as a result of central city neighborhoods expanding into older neighborhoods vacated by whites.<ref>{{Cite book| last=Barlow | first=Andrew L. | title=Between fear and hope: globalization and race in the United States | year=2003 | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield | location=Lanham, Maryland (Prince George's County) | isbn=0-7425-1619-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2gJhgr0BrooC}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last=Noguera | first=Pedro| title=City schools and the American dream: reclaiming the promise of public education | year=2003 | publisher=Teachers College Press | location=New York  | isbn=0-8077-4381-X | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bfuFosKIPeEC}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| last=Naylor | first=Larry L. | title=Problems and issues of diversity in the United States | year=1999 | publisher=Bergin & Garvey | location=Westport, Conn.  | isbn=0-89789-615-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7-EyumYyCUC}}</ref>
* [[Subdivision (land)|Subdivisions]] carved from previously rural land into multiple-home developments built by a single [[Real estate developer|real estate company]].  These subdivisions are often [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregated]] by minute differences in home value, creating entire communities where family incomes and demographics are almost completely homogeneous.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Carissa Moffat |last2=Blevins |first2=Audie |date=2005-03-01 |title=Battlement Mesa: a case study of community evolution |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2004.11.001 |journal=The Social Science Journal |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.1016/j.soscij.2004.11.001 |s2cid=143677128 |issn=0362-3319}}</ref>
* Shopping malls and [[strip mall]]s behind large parking lots instead of a classic downtown [[shopping district]].
* A road network designed to conform to a [[street hierarchy|hierarchy]], including culs-de-sac, leading to larger residential streets, in turn leading to large collector roads, in place of the [[grid pattern]] common to most central cities and pre-World War II suburbs.
* A greater percentage of one-[[storey|story]] administrative buildings than in urban areas.
* Compared to rural areas, suburbs usually have greater population density, higher standards of living, more complex road systems, more franchised stores and restaurants, and less farmland and wildlife.

By 2010, suburbs increasingly gained people in racial minority groups, as many members of minority groups gained better access to education and sought more favorable living conditions compared to inner city areas.{{original research inline|date=September 2023}}{{opinion|date=September 2023}}

Conversely, many white Americans also moved back to city centers. Nearly all major city downtowns (such as [[Greater Downtown Miami|Downtown Miami]], [[Downtown Detroit]], [[Center City, Philadelphia|Downtown Philadelphia]], [[Downtown Roanoke]], or [[Downtown Los Angeles]]) are experiencing a renewal, with large population growth, residential apartment construction, and increased social, cultural, and infrastructural investments, as have suburban neighborhoods close to city centers. Better public transit, proximity to work and cultural attractions, and frustration with suburban life and [[gridlock]] have attracted young Americans to the city centers.<ref>Yen, Hope. "[https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100509/ap_on_re_us/us_changing_suburbs White flight? Suburbs lose young whites to cities]." ''[[Associated Press]]'' at ''[[Yahoo! News]]''. Sunday 9 May 2010. Retrieved on 10 May 2010.</ref>