Suburb

===Origins of the modern suburb===
Due to the rapid migration of the rural poor to the industrializing cities of England in the late 18th century, a trend in the opposite direction began to develop, whereby newly rich members of the middle classes began to purchase estates and villas on the outskirts of London. This trend accelerated through the 19th century, especially in cities like London and [[Birmingham]] that were growing rapidly, and the first suburban districts sprung up around downtowns to accommodate those who wanted to escape the squalid conditions of the industrial towns. Initially, such growth came along rail lines in the form of [[ribbon development]]s, as suburban residents could commute via train to downtown for work. In Australia, where Melbourne would soon become the second-largest city in the British Empire,<ref>{{cite book
 |last1=Goodman |first1=Robin |last2=Buxton |first2=Michael
 |last3=Moloney |first3=Susie
 |chapter=The early development of Melbourne 
 |title=Planning Melbourne: Lessons for a Sustainable City
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3-NDAAAQBAJ
 |quote=By 1890, Melbourne was the second-largest city in the British Empire and one of the world's richest.
 |publisher=CSIRO Publishing |date=2016 |access-date=16 June 2019 |isbn=9780643104747
}}
</ref>
the distinctively Australasian suburb, with its loosely aggregated [[quarter acre|quarter-acre]] sections, developed in the 1850s<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Gilbert
 | first1 = Alan
 | author-link1 = 
 | chapter = The Roots of Australian Anti-Suburbanism
 | title = Australian Cultural History
 | date = 25 July 1989
 | editor1-last = Goldberg
 | editor1-first = Samuels Louis
 | editor2-last = Smith
 | editor2-first = Francis Barrymore
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=eQc5AAAAIAAJ
 | edition = reprint
 | location = Cambridge
 | publisher = CUP Archive
 | publication-date = 1988
 | page = 36
 | isbn = 9780521356510
 | access-date = 26 March 2021
| quote = [...] there has been surprising continuity since the infancy of Australian suburbia in the 1850s in the attitudes, values and motives underlying suburbanization.
}}
</ref> and eventually became a component of the [[Australian Dream]].
[[File:Metro-Land (1921).png|thumb|upright=1.1|The cover of the [[Metro-Land]] guide published in 1921|alt= A painting of a half-timbered house set behind a drive and flower garden. Below the painting the title "METRO-LAND" is in capitals and in smaller text is the price of twopence.]]

Toward the end of the century, with the development of public [[Public transport|transit]] systems such as the [[Rapid transit|underground railways]], trams and buses, it became possible for the majority of a city's population to reside outside the city and to commute into the center for work.<ref name="infoplease" />

By the mid-19th century, the first major suburban areas were springing up around London as the city (then the largest in the world) became more overcrowded and unsanitary. A major catalyst for suburban growth was the opening of the [[Metropolitan Railway]] in the 1860s. The line later joined the capital's financial heart in [[City of London|the City]] to what were to become the suburbs of [[Middlesex]].<ref>{{cite book|last1= Edwards|first1= Dennis|last2= Pigram|first2= Ron|year=1988|publisher= [[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]]|title= The Golden Years of the Metropolitan Railway and the Metro-land Dream|isbn= 1-870630-11-4|page= 32}}</ref> The line reached [[Harrow-on-the-Hill station|Harrow]] in 1880.

Unlike other railway companies, which were required to dispose of surplus land, London's Met was allowed to retain such land that it believed was necessary for future railway use.{{NoteTag|The Land Clauses Consolidation Act 1845 required railways to sell off surplus lands within ten years of the time given for completion of the work in the line's enabling Act.{{sfn|Jackson|1986|p= 134}}}} Initially, the surplus land was managed by the Land Committee,{{sfn|Jackson|1986|pp= 134, 137}} and, from the 1880s, the land was developed and sold to domestic buyers in places like Willesden Park Estate, Cecil Park, near [[Pinner]] and at Wembley Park.

In 1912 it was suggested that a specially formed company should take over from the Surplus Lands Committee and develop suburban estates near the railway.{{sfn|Jackson|1986|p= 240}} However, [[World War I]] (1914–1918) delayed these plans until 1919, when, with the expectation of a postwar housing-boom,{{sfn|Green|1987|p=43}} [[Metropolitan Railway Country Estates| Metropolitan Railway Country Estates Limited]] (MRCE) formed. MRCE went on to develop estates at [[Kingsbury, London|Kingsbury Garden Village]] near [[Neasden]], [[Wembley Park]], Cecil Park and Grange Estate at Pinner and the Cedars Estate at [[Rickmansworth]] and to found places such as [[Harrow Garden Village]].{{sfn|Green|1987|p= 43}}{{sfn|Jackson|1986|pp= 241–242}}

The Met's marketing department coined the term [[Metro-land]] in 1915 when the ''Guide to the Extension Line'' became the ''Metro-land'' guide, priced at 1[[£sd|d]]. This promoted the land served by the Met for the walker, visitor and later the house-hunter.{{sfn|Jackson|1986|p= 240}} Published annually until 1932 (the last full year of independence for the Met), the guide extolled the benefits of "The good air of the Chilterns", using language such as "Each lover of Metroland may well have his own favorite wood beech and coppice&nbsp;— all tremulous green loveliness in Spring and russet and gold in October".{{sfn|Rowley|2006|pp= 206, 207}} The dream as promoted involved a modern home in beautiful countryside with a fast railway-service to central London.{{sfn|Green|2004|loc= introduction}} By 1915 people from across London had flocked to live the new suburban dream in large newly built areas across north-west London.<ref>
{{cite web
|url= http://www.history.co.uk/explore-history/history-of-london/rambles-in-metro-land.html
|title= History of London Metro-Land and London's Suburbs|website= History.co.uk
|access-date= 2 January 2018|url-status= dead
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130712113950/http://www.history.co.uk/explore-history/history-of-london/rambles-in-metro-land.html
|archive-date= 12 July 2013
}}
</ref>