Suburb

{{Short description|Human settlement within a metropolitan area}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{redirect-multi|3|Suburbs|Suburbia|Suburban}}
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[[File:WeilerswistSued.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Weilerswist]], a suburb of [[Cologne]], Germany]]
[[File:Männistö.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Männistö]], a suburban neighborhood in [[Kuopio]], Finland]]
[[File:Matkusniemi 3.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Saaristokaupunki (Archipelago city), a new suburban area in [[Kuopio]], Finland]]
[[File:RAJUK Uttara Apartment Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[RAJUK]] Uttara Apartment complex at [[Uttara (Town)|Uttara]], a suburb of [[Dhaka]], Bangladesh]]
[[File:Husby Kista.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The [[Sweden|Swedish]] suburbs of [[Husby, Stockholm|Husby]], [[Kista]], and [[Akalla]] are built according to the typical [[city planning]] of the [[Million Programme]]]]
A '''suburb''' (more broadly '''suburban area''') is an area within a [[metropolitan area]] which often contains most of the area's [[Economy|economic activity]], which may include [[Commercial area|commercial]] and [[mixed-use development|mixed-use]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDPALL29510|title=St Louis City Gross Domestic Product|publisher=Fred economic data|access-date=October 7, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NGMP41180|title=St Louis MO-IL metro area Gross Domestic Product|publisher=Fred economic data|access-date=October 7, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDPALL06075|title=San Fransisco City GDP|publisher=Fred economic data|access-date=October 7, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NGMP41860#|title=San Fransisco-Oakland-Hayward MSA Gross Domestic Product|publisher=Fred Economic Data|access-date=October 7, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.naahq.org/cities-and-suburbs-and-gray-areas-between|title = Cities suburbs and the gray area in between}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.findlaw.com/realestate/land-use-laws/types-of-zoning.html|title=Types of Zoning}}</ref> A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate political entity. The name describes an area that is either more or less densely populated than an inner city.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://statisticalatlas.com/metro-area/Missouri/Kansas-City/Population#figure/place/population-density | title=The Demographic Statistical Atlas of the United States - Statistical Atlas }}</ref> <!-- It may happen that suburbs be as dense, or denser than those.  --> In many metropolitan areas suburbs rise in population during the day and are where most jobs are located; being major commercial and job hubs,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newgeography.com/content/005264-suburbs-continue-dominate-jobs-and-job-growth|title=suburbs continue to dominate jobs and job growth}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.opkansas.org/files/dw/api/Docs/11362|title=Comprehensive Annual Financial Report}}</ref> many suburbs also exist as separate residential communities within [[commuting]] distance of a larger city (cf. "[[commuter town]]"). Suburbs can have their own political or legal jurisdiction, especially in the United States, but this is not always the case, especially in the United Kingdom, where most suburbs are located within the administrative boundaries of cities.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the City|last=Caves|first=R. W.|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=9780415252256|pages=640}}</ref> In most [[English-speaking world|English-speaking countries]], suburban areas are defined in contrast to [[core city|central city]] or [[inner city]] areas, but in [[Australian English]] and [[South African English]], ''suburb'' has become largely synonymous with what is called a "[[neighborhood]]" in the U.S., but it is used in contrast with inner city areas.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jain |first=Shri V. K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRYsEAAAQBAJ&dq=but+in+Australian+English+and+South+African+English%2C+suburb+has+become+largely+synonymous+with+what+is+called+a+%22neighborhood%22+in+other+countries&pg=PA348 |title=Applied Ecology and Sustainable Environment |date=2021-04-30 |publisher=BFC Publications |isbn=978-93-90880-19-5 |language=en}}</ref>

In the United States, due to historical trends such as [[white flight]], some suburbs have a higher population and higher incomes than their nearby inner cities.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america|title=A forgotten history of how the US Government Segregated America|publisher=NPR|access-date=30 Nov 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://demographicsbyradius.com/missouri/kansas-city-mo|access-date=28 November 2023|title= Demographics for 5 mile radius around Kansas City mo
|publisher=demographics by radius}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://demographicsbyradius.com/kansas/overland-park-ks|access-date=28 November 2023|title= Demographics for a 5 mile radius around Overland Park Kansas|publisher=demograpbics by radius}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://demographicsbyradius.com/michigan/detroit-mi|publisher=demographics by radius|title=Demographics for a 5 mile radius around Detroit|access-date=28 November 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://demographicsbyradius.com/michigan/southfield-township-oakland-county-mi|title=Demographics for 5 mile radius around Southfield, Michigan|publisher=demographics by radius|access-date=28 November 2023}}</ref>

In some areas, such as India, China, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, and parts of the United States, new suburbs are routinely [[municipal annexation|annexed]] by adjacent cities due to [[urban sprawl]]. In others, such as [[Morocco]], France, and much of the United States, many suburbs remain separate municipalities or are [[local government|governed locally]] as part of a larger metropolitan area such as a county, district or [[borough]]. In the United States, regions beyond the suburbs are known as "exurban areas" or [[exurb]]s; exurbs have less population density than suburbs, but still more than rural areas. Suburbs and exurbs are sometimes linked to the nearby city economically, particularly by commuters.

Suburbs first emerged on a large scale in the 19th and 20th centuries as a result of improved rail and road transport, which led to an increase in commuting.<ref name="Hollow 2011">{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/1593132 |title=Suburban Ideals on England's Interwar Council Estates |first=Matthew |last=Hollow |year=2011 |access-date=29 December 2012 |journal=Journal of the Garden History Society |language=en}}</ref> In general, they are less densely populated than inner city neighborhoods within the same metropolitan area, and most residents routinely commute to city centers or [[business districts]] via [[private transport|private vehicle]]s or [[public transit]]s; however, there are many exceptions, including [[industrial suburb]]s, [[planned communities]], and [[satellite cities]]. Suburbs tend to proliferate around cities that have an abundance of adjacent flat land.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2t2P4t8fkJMC ''The Fractured Metropolis: Improving the New City, Restoring the Old City, Reshaping the Region'']{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} by Jonathan Barnett, via Google Books.</ref>

==Etymology and usage==
The English word is derived from the [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|subburbe}}, which is in turn derived from the Latin {{lang|la|suburbium}}, formed from {{lang|la|sub}} (meaning "under" or "below") and {{lang|la|urbs}} ("city"). The first recorded usage of the term in English, was by [[John Wycliffe]] in 1380, when the form {{lang|enm|subarbis}} was used, according to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''.

===Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa===
[[File:View over Griffith NSW 1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Suburban housing in the regional city of [[Griffith, New South Wales]]]]
In Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, suburban areas (in the wider sense noted in the lead paragraph) have become formalized as geographic subdivisions of a city and are used by postal services in addressing. In rural areas in both countries, their equivalents are called localities (see [[Suburbs and localities (Australia)|suburbs and localities]]). The terms ''inner suburb'' and ''outer suburb'' are used to differentiate between the higher-density areas in proximity to the city center (which would not be referred to as 'suburbs' in most other countries), and the lower-density suburbs on the outskirts of the urban area. The term 'middle suburbs' is also used. [[Inner suburbs]], such as [[Te Aro]] in Wellington, [[Eden Terrace]] in Auckland, [[Prahran, Victoria|Prahran]] in Melbourne and [[Ultimo, New South Wales|Ultimo]] in Sydney, are usually characterized by higher density apartment housing and greater integration between commercial and residential areas.

In New Zealand, most suburbs are not legally defined, which can lead to confusion as to where they may begin and end.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://fyi.org.nz/request/7543-suburb-boundaries|title=Suburb boundaries – a Official Information Act request to Christchurch City Council|date=30 March 2018|work=FYI|access-date=20 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420070632/https://fyi.org.nz/request/7543-suburb-boundaries|archive-date=20 April 2018|url-status=dead|language=en}}</ref> A geospatial dataset defining suburbs for use by emergency services is developed and maintained by [[Fire and Emergency New Zealand]] and is published<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fire and Emergency NZ Localities – Fire and Emergency NZ {{!}} {{!}} GIS Data Map Mapping {{!}} LINZ Data Service|url=https://data.linz.govt.nz/layer/104830-fire-and-emergency-nz-localities/|access-date=2021-09-21|website=data.linz.govt.nz}}</ref> under an open license.

===In the United Kingdom and Ireland===
[[File:Highfields2.jpg|thumb|[[Upper middle class]] suburban housing in [[Swords, Dublin]], Ireland. ]]
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the term ''suburb'' simply refers to a residential area outside the city center, regardless of administrative boundaries.<ref name="Hollow 2011"/> Suburbs, in this sense, can range from areas that seem more like residential areas of a city proper to areas separated by open countryside from the city center. In large cities such as London and Leeds, many suburbs are formerly separate towns and villages that have been absorbed during a city's expansion, such as [[Ealing]], [[Bromley]], and [[Guiseley]]. In Ireland, this can be seen in the Dublin suburban areas of Swords, [[Blanchardstown]], and [[Tallaght]].

===In North America===
In the United States and Canada, ''suburb'' can refer either to an outlying residential area of a city or town or to a separate municipality or [[unincorporated area]] outside a town or city.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Although a majority of Americans regard themselves as residents of suburban communities, the federal government of the United States has no formal definition for what constitutes a ''suburb'' in the United States, leaving its precise meaning disputed.<ref>{{cite news |last=Montgomery |first=David |date=7 July 2020 |title=How to Tell If You Live in the Suburbs |newspaper=Bloomberg.com |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-07/how-to-define-american-suburbs}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Brasuell |first=James |date=November 21, 2018 |title=According to the Federal Government, the Suburbs Don't Exist |url=https://www.planetizen.com/news/2018/11/101632-according-federal-government-suburbs-dont-exist |website=Planetizen}}</ref>

In Canada, the term may also be used in the British sense, especially as cities annex formerly outlying areas.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

== History ==
The history of suburbia is part of the study of [[urban history]], which focuses on the origins, growth, diverse typologies, culture, and politics of suburbs, as well as on the gendered and family-oriented nature of suburban space.<ref name="cite crabgrass"/><ref>{{cite journal|author=Ruth McManus, and Philip J. Ethington|title=Suburbs in transition: new approaches to suburban history|journal=Urban History|year= 2007|volume=34 |issue= 2|pages= 317–337|doi=10.1017/S096392680700466X|s2cid=146703204}}</ref> Many people have assumed that early-20th-century suburbs were enclaves for middle-class whites, a concept that carries tremendous cultural influence yet is actually stereotypical. Some suburbs are based on a society of working-class and minority residents, many of whom want to own their own house. Meanwhile, other suburbs instituted "explicitly racist" policies to deter people deemed as "other", a practice most common in the United States in contrast to other countries around the world.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Adams|first=L. J.|date=1 September 2006|title=Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism|journal=Journal of American History|volume=93|issue=2|pages=601–602|doi=10.2307/4486372|jstor=4486372|issn=0021-8723}}</ref> Mary Corbin Sies argues that it is necessary to examine how "suburb" is defined as well as the distinction made between cities and suburbs, geography, economic circumstances, and the interaction of numerous factors that move research beyond acceptance of stereotyping and its influence on scholarly assumptions.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Mary Corbin Sies|title=North American Suburbs, 1880–1950|journal=Journal of Urban History|year= 2001|volume= 27 |issue =3|pages=313–46|doi=10.1177/009614420102700304 |s2cid=144947126}}</ref>

===Early history===
The earliest appearance of suburbs coincided with the spread of the first urban settlements. Large walled towns tended to be the focus around which smaller villages grew up in a symbiotic relationship with the [[market town]]. The word ''suburbani'' was first employed by the [[Rome|Roman]] statesman [[Cicero]] in reference to the large villas and estates built by the wealthy patricians of Rome on the city's outskirts.

Towards the end of the [[Eastern Han Dynasty]], until 190 AD, when [[Dong Zhuo]] razed the city, the capital [[Luoyang]] was mainly occupied by the emperor and important officials; the city's people mostly lived in small cities right outside Luoyang, which were suburbs in all but name.<ref>{{cite web|title=Luoyang and the Northern Army|url=http://the-scholars.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=23989|website=Scholars of Shen Zhou}}</ref>

As populations grew during the [[Early Modern Period]] in Europe, towns swelled with a steady influx of people from the [[countryside]]. In some places, nearby settlements were swallowed up as the main city expanded. The peripheral areas on the outskirts of the city were generally inhabited by the very poorest.<ref name="infoplease">{{cite web|url=http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/suburb-history-suburbs.html#ixzz2IqMC5s34|title=History of Suburbs|access-date=17 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200320105249/https://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/arts/visual/architecture/suburb/history-of-suburbs#ixzz2IqMC5s34|archive-date=20 March 2020|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===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>

===Interwar suburban expansion in England===
[[File:Mentmore Cottages.gif|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Tudorbethan architecture|Mock Tudor]] semi-detached cottages, built {{circa|1870}}]]
Suburbanization in the interwar period was heavily influenced by the [[garden city movement]] of [[Ebenezer Howard]] and the creation of the first garden suburbs at the turn of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The suburban aspiration in England since 1919 | doi=10.1080/13619460008581576 | volume=14|journal=Contemporary British History|pages=151–174|year=2000 |last1=Clapson |first1=Mark | s2cid=143590157 }}</ref> The first garden suburb was developed through the efforts of [[social reform]]er [[Henrietta Barnett]] and her husband; inspired by Ebenezer Howard and the model housing development movement (then exemplified by [[Letchworth]] garden city), as well as the desire to protect part of [[Hampstead Heath]] from development, they established trusts in 1904 which bought 243 acres of land along the newly opened Northern line extension to [[Golders Green]] and created the [[Hampstead Garden Suburb]]. The suburb attracted the talents of architects including [[Raymond Unwin]] and Sir [[Edwin Lutyens]], and it ultimately grew to encompass over 800 acres.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hgstrust.org/the-suburb/history-of-the-suburb.shtml|title=The History of the Suburb|website=Hgstrust.org|access-date=2 January 2018|archive-date=3 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103072550/http://www.hgstrust.org/the-suburb/history-of-the-suburb.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref>

During World War I, the [[Tudor Walters Committee]] was commissioned to make recommendations for the post war reconstruction and housebuilding. In part, this was a response to the shocking lack of fitness amongst many recruits during World War One, attributed to poor living conditions; a belief summed up in a housing poster of the period "you cannot expect to get an A1 population out of C3 homes" – referring to military fitness classifications of the period.

The committee's report of 1917 was taken up by the government, which passed the [[Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act 1919]], also known as the Addison Act after [[Christopher Addison]], the then Minister for Housing. The Act allowed for the building of large new housing estates in the suburbs after the [[First World War]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/worldwarone/hq/outcomes1_02.shtml|title=Outcomes of the War: Britain|website=Bbc.co.uk|access-date=2 January 2018}}</ref> and marked the start of a long 20th century tradition of state-owned housing, which would later evolve into [[council estate]]s.

The Report also legislated on the required, minimum standards necessary for further suburban construction; this included regulation on the maximum housing density and their arrangement, and it even made recommendations on the ideal number of bedrooms and other rooms per house. Although the [[semi-detached]] house was first designed by the [[John Shaw Sr.|Shaws]] (a father and son architectural partnership) in the 19th century, it was during the suburban housing boom of the interwar period that the design first proliferated as a suburban icon, being preferred by middle-class home owners to the smaller [[terraced house]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.5334/pia.404|journal=[[Papers from the Institute of Archaeology]] |title=The Development of English Semi-detached Dwellings During the Nineteenth Century|volume=22|year=2012 |pages=83–98 |author=Lofthouse, Pamela |doi-access=free }}</ref> The design of many of these houses, highly characteristic of the era, was heavily influenced by the [[Art Deco]] movement, taking influence from [[Tudor Revival architecture|Tudor Revival]], [[Swiss chalet style|chalet style]], and even ship design.

Within just a decade suburbs dramatically increased in size. [[Harrow Weald]] went from just 1,500 to over 10,000 while Pinner jumped from 3,000 to over 20,000. During the 1930s, over 4 million new suburban houses were built, the 'suburban revolution' had made England the most heavily suburbanized country in the world, by a considerable margin.<ref name="Hollow 2011" />

===North America===
[[File:Pf006593-suburbs with cows.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|View of housing development in [[Richfield, Minnesota]], in 1954]]
[[File:NM 2.JPG|thumb|upright=1.1|Suburban [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]]]]
[[File:Dallas skyline and suburbs.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Suburban [[Dallas]], Texas, seen in the foreground]]
[[Boston]] and [[New York City]] spawned the first major suburbs. The streetcar lines in Boston and the rail lines in Manhattan made daily commutes possible.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Ward David | year = 1964 | title = A Comparative Historical Geography of Streetcar Suburbs in Boston, Massachusetts and Leeds, England: 1850–1920 | journal = Annals of the Association of American Geographers | volume = 54 | issue = 4| pages = 477–489 | doi=10.1111/j.1467-8306.1964.tb01779.x}}</ref> No metropolitan area in the world was as well served by railroad commuter lines at the turn of the twentieth century as New York, and it was the rail lines to Westchester from the Grand Central Terminal commuter hub that enabled its development. Westchester's true importance in the history of American suburbanization derives from the upper-middle class development of villages including [[Scarsdale, New York|Scarsdale]], [[New Rochelle, New York|New Rochelle]] and [[Rye, New York|Rye]] serving thousands of businessmen and executives from Manhattan.<ref>Roger G. Panetta, ''Westchester: the American suburb'' (2006)</ref>

==== Postwar suburban expansion ====
The suburban population in North America exploded during the [[post-World War II economic expansion]]. Returning veterans wishing to start a settled life moved in masses to the suburbs. [[Levittown, New York|Levittown]] developed as a major prototype of mass-produced housing. Due to the influx of people in these suburban areas, the amount of shopping centers began to increase as suburban America took shape. These malls helped supply goods and services to the growing urban population. Shopping for different goods and services in one central location without having to travel to multiple locations, helped to keep shopping centers a component of these newly designed suburbs which were booming in population. The television helped contribute to the rise of shopping centers by allowing for additional advertisement through the medium in addition to creating a desire among consumers to buy products that are shown being used in suburban life on various television programs. Another factor that led to the rise of these shopping centers was the building of many highways. The Highway Act of 1956 helped to fund the building of 64,000 kilometers across the nation by having 26 billion dollars on hand, which helped to link many more to these shopping centers with ease.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/outlines/history-1994/postwar-america/the-postwar-economy-1945-1960.php|title=The Postwar Economy: 1945–1960 < Postwar America < History 1994 < American History From Revolution To Reconstruction and beyond|website=Let.rug.nl|access-date=12 December 2021}}</ref> These newly built shopping centers, which were often large buildings full of multiple stores, and services, were being used for more than shopping, but as a place of leisure and a meeting point for those who lived within suburban America at this time. These centers thrived offering goods and services to the growing populations in suburban America. In 1957, 940 shopping centers were built and this number more than doubled by 1960 to keep up with the demand of these densely populated areas.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cohen|first=Lizabeth|title=A Consumer's Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America|publisher=Vintage Books|year=2003|pages=Chapter 6}}</ref>

==== Housing ====
[[File:Locust St Upper Darby.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Terraced house]]s in [[Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania]], an inner-ring suburb of [[Philadelphia]].]]
[[File:Suburbia by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|A suburban neighborhood of [[tract housing]] in [[Colorado Springs, Colorado]], United States; [[Dead end (street)|culs-de-sac]] are hallmarks of suburban planning.]]
Very little housing had been built during the Great Depression and World War II, except for emergency quarters near war industries. Overcrowded and inadequate apartments was the common condition. Some suburbs had developed around large cities where there was rail transportation to the jobs downtown. However, the real growth in suburbia depended on the availability of automobiles, highways, and inexpensive housing. The population had grown, and the stock of family savings had accumulated the money for down payments, automobiles and appliances. The product was a great housing boom. Whereas an average of 316,000 new non-farm housing units were constructed from the 1930s through 1945, there were 1,450,000 constructed annually from 1946 through 1955.<ref>U.S. Bureau of the Census, ''Historical Statistics of the United States '' (1976) series H-156</ref> The [[G.I. Bill]] guaranteed low-cost loans for veterans, with very low down payments, and low interest rates. With 16 million eligible veterans, the opportunity to buy a house was suddenly at hand. In 1947 alone, 540,000 veterans bought one; their average price was $7300. The construction industry kept prices low by standardization—for example, standardizing sizes for kitchen cabinets, refrigerators and stoves allowed for mass production of kitchen furnishings. Developers purchased empty land just outside the city, installed tract houses based on a handful of designs, and provided streets and utilities, while local public officials raced to build schools.<ref>Joseph Goulden, ''The Best Years, 1945–1950'' (1976) pp 135–39.</ref> The most famous development was Levittown, in Long Island just east of New York City. It offered a new house for $1000 down and $70 a month; it featured three bedrooms, a fireplace, a gas range and gas furnace, and a landscaped lot of 75 by 100 feet, all for a total price of $10,000. Veterans could get one with a much lower down payment.<ref>Barbara Mae Kelly, ''Expanding the American Dream: Building and Rebuilding Levittown'' (SUNY Press, 1993).</ref>

At the same time, African Americans were [[Second Great Migration (African American)|rapidly moving north and west]] for better jobs and educational opportunities than were available to them in the segregated South. Their arrival in Northern and Western cities en masse, in addition to being followed by race riots in several large cities such as [[1964 Philadelphia race riot|Philadelphia]], [[Watts riots|Los Angeles]], [[1967 Detroit riot|Detroit]], [[1968 Chicago riots|Chicago]], and [[1968 Washington, D.C., riots|Washington, D.C.]], further stimulated white suburban migration. The growth of the suburbs was facilitated by the development of [[zoning]] laws, [[redlining]] and numerous innovations in transport. Redlining and other discriminatory measures built into federal housing policy furthered the racial segregation of postwar America–for example, by refusing to insure mortgages in and near African-American neighborhoods. The government's efforts were primarily designed to provide housing to White middle-class and lower-middle-class families. African Americans and other people of color largely remained concentrated within decaying cores of urban poverty creating a phenomenon known as [[white flight]].<ref name="Rothstein, Richard 2017">Rothstein, Richard: The Color of Law. A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, Liveright, 2017.</ref>

After World War II, the availability of [[FHA loan]]s stimulated a housing boom in American suburbs. In the older cities of the northeast U.S., [[streetcar suburb]]s originally developed along train or [[tram|trolley]] lines that could shuttle workers into and out of city centers where the jobs were located. This practice gave rise to the term "[[commuter town|bedroom community]]", meaning that most daytime business activity took place in the city, with the working population leaving the city at night for the purpose of going home to sleep.

Economic growth in the United States encouraged the suburbanization of American cities that required massive investments for the new infrastructure and homes. Consumer patterns were also shifting at this time, as purchasing power was becoming stronger and more accessible to a wider range of families. Suburban houses also brought about needs for products that were not needed in urban neighborhoods, such as lawnmowers and automobiles. During this time commercial shopping malls were being developed near suburbs to satisfy consumers' needs and their car–dependent lifestyle.<ref name="Beauregard, Robert A 2006">Beauregard, Robert A. When America Became Suburban. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2006.</ref>

Zoning laws also contributed to the location of residential areas outside of the city center by creating wide areas or "zones" where only residential buildings were permitted. These suburban residences are built on larger lots of land than in the central city. For example, the lot size for a residence in Chicago is usually {{convert|125|ft|m}} deep,<ref>{{cite web|title=Zoning Requirements for Standard Lot in RS3 District|url=http://chicago47.org/zoning-requirements-for-standard-lot-in-rs3-district/|website=47th Ward Public Service website|access-date=27 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814060758/http://chicago47.org/zoning-requirements-for-standard-lot-in-rs3-district/|archive-date=14 August 2014|language=en|url-status=dead}}</ref> while the width can vary from {{convert|14|ft|m}} wide for a row house to {{convert|45|ft|m}} wide for a large stand–alone house.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} In the suburbs, where stand–alone houses are the rule, lots may be {{convert|85|ft|m}} wide by {{convert|115|ft|m}} deep, as in the Chicago suburb of [[Naperville, Illinois|Naperville]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} Manufacturing and commercial buildings were segregated in other areas of the city.

Alongside suburbanization, many companies began locating their offices and other facilities in the outer areas of the cities, which resulted in the increased density of older suburbs and the growth of lower density suburbs even further from city centers. An alternative strategy is the deliberate design of "new towns" and the protection of [[green belt]]s around cities. Some social reformers attempted to combine the best of both concepts in the garden city movement.<ref>[http://www.library.cornell.edu/Reps/DOCS/howard.htm Garden Cities of To-Morrow]. Library.cornell.edu. Retrieved on 22 November 2011.</ref>

In the U.S., 1950 was the first year that more people lived in suburbs than elsewhere.<ref>England, Robert E. and David R. Morgan.  ''Managing Urban America'', 1979.</ref> In the U.S., the development of the skyscraper and the sharp inflation of downtown real estate prices also led to downtowns being more fully dedicated to businesses, thus pushing residents outside the city center.

== Worldwide ==
[[File:Clichy sous Bois Chemin des postes.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Mid-rise [[social housing]] in [[Clichy-sous-Bois]], a [[banlieue]] of [[Paris]]]]
While suburbs are often associated with the middle classes, in many parts of the developed world, suburbs can be economically distressed areas, inhabited by higher proportions of recent immigrants, with higher delinquency rates and social problems, reminiscent of the [[inner city|inner cities]] of the U.S. Examples include the ''banlieues'' of France, or the [[Million Programme|concrete suburbs]] of Sweden, even if the suburbs of these countries also include middle-class and upper-class neighborhoods that often consist of [[single-family houses]].

=== Africa ===
Following the growth of the middle class due to African industrialization, the development of middle class suburbs has boomed since the beginning of the 1990s, particularly in cities such as [[Cairo]], [[Nairobi]], [[Johannesburg]], and [[Lagos]].

In an illustrative case of South Africa, [[Reconstruction and Development Programme|RDP]] housing has been built. In much of [[Soweto]], many houses are American in appearance, but are smaller, and often consist of a kitchen and living room, two or three bedrooms, and a bathroom. However, there are more affluent neighborhoods, more comparable to American suburbs, particularly east of the [[FNB Stadium|FNB ("Soccer City") Stadium]] and south of the city in areas like Eikenhof, where the "Eye of Africa" planned community exists.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://eyeofafrica.co.za |title=Eye of Africa |website=Eyeofafrica.co.za |date=2021 |access-date=2021-10-09 }}</ref> This master-planned community is nearly indistinguishable from the most amenity-rich resort-style American suburbs in Florida, Arizona, and California, complete with a golf course, resort pool, [[equestrian facility]], 24-hour staffed gates, gym, and BMX track, as well as several tennis, basketball, and volleyball courts.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://eyeofafrica.co.za/leisure-facilities |title=Eye of Africa |website=Eyeofafrica.co.za |date=2021 |access-date=2021-10-09 }}</ref>

In Cape Town, there is a distinct European style originating from European influence during the mid-1600s when the Dutch settled the Cape. Houses like these are called Cape Dutch Houses and can be found in the affluent suburbs of [[Constantia, Cape Town|Constantia]] and [[Bishopscourt, Cape Town|Bishopscourt]].

=== Australia ===
[[File:Sydney Skyline (5620756401).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The [[Sydney central business district]] from the city's [[Western Suburbs, Sydney|western suburbs]]]]
The Australian usage came about as outer areas were quickly surrounded in fast-growing cities, but retained the appellation ''suburb''; the term was eventually applied to the original core as well. In Australia, Sydney's urban sprawl has occurred predominantly in the [[Greater Western Sydney|Western Suburbs]]. The locality of [[Olympic Park, Sydney|Olympic Park]] was designated an official suburb in 2009.<ref>{{Cite web|title=NSW Place and Road Naming Proposals System|url=https://proposals.gnb.nsw.gov.au/public/geonames/56318973-3b24-47d1-91d0-cd6051507bbe|access-date=2022-01-24|website=proposals.gnb.nsw.gov.au}}</ref>

===Bangladesh===
Bangladesh has multiple suburbs, [[Uttara (town)|Uttara]] & [[Ashulia]] to name a few. However, most suburbs in Dhaka are different from the ones in [[Europe]] & [[Americas]]. Most suburbs in [[Bangladesh]] are filled with high-rise buildings, paddy fields, and farms, and are designed more like rural villages.

=== Canada ===
[[File:Sapperton, New Westminster.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Canada|Canadian]] suburbs often feature high-density nodes, as seen in [[Metro Vancouver]], British Columbia]]
[[File:Mississauga skyline Pearson 2013.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Higher-density development in [[Mississauga]] as seen from Toronto's [[Pearson Airport]]]]
[[File:Murrayville 01 roundabout.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|A typical low-density Canadian suburban scene in [[Langley, British Columbia (city)|Langley, British Columbia]]]]
Canada is an urbanized nation where over 80% of the population lives in urban areas (loosely defined), and roughly two-thirds live in one of Canada's 33 [[census metropolitan area]]s (CMAs) with a population of over 100,000.  However, of this metropolitan population, in 2001 nearly half lived in low-density neighborhoods, with only one in five living in a typical "urban" neighborhood. The percentage living in low-density neighborhoods varied from a high of nearly two-thirds of [[Calgary Region|Calgary CMA]] residents (67%), to a low of about one-third of [[Greater Montreal|Montréal CMA]] residents (34%).

Often, Canadian suburbs are less automobile-centric, and [[public transit]] use is encouraged but can be notably unused.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dependence on cars in urban neighborhoods|url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-008-x/2008001/article/10503-eng.htm#2|website=Statistics Canada|publisher=Government of Canada|access-date=27 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917183546/http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-008-x/2008001/article/10503-eng.htm|archive-date=17 September 2016}}</ref> Throughout Canada, there are comprehensive plans in place to curb sprawl.

Population and income growth in Canadian suburbs had tended to outpace growth in core urban or rural areas, but in many areas, this trend has now reversed. The suburban population increased by 87% between 1981 and 2001, well ahead of urban growth.<ref>[http://www.planetizen.com/node/20741 The Wealthy Suburbs of Canada]. Planetizen. Retrieved on 22 November 2011.</ref> The majority of recent population growth in Canada's three largest metropolitan areas ([[Greater Toronto]], Greater Montréal, and [[Greater Vancouver]]) has occurred in non-core municipalities. This trend is also beginning to take effect in [[Vancouver]], and to a lesser extent, [[Montréal]]. In certain cities, particularly [[Edmonton]] and [[Calgary]], suburban growth takes place within the city boundaries as opposed to in bedroom communities. This is due to annexation and a large geographic footprint within the city borders.
 
Calgary is unusual among Canadian cities because it has developed as a '''unicity''' – it has annexed most of its surrounding towns and large amounts of undeveloped land around the city. As a result, most of the communities that Calgarians refer to as "suburbs" are actually inside the city limits.<ref>{{cite web | title=CALGARY, AB an overview of development trends | url=http://theoryandpractice.planning.dal.ca/_pdf/suburbs/development_trends/calgary_trends.pdf | access-date=15 December 2018 }}</ref> In the 2016 census, the City of Calgary had a population of 1,239,220, whereas the Calgary Metropolitan Area had a population of 1,392,609, indicating the vast majority of people in the Calgary CMA lived within the city limits. The perceived low population density of Calgary largely results from its many internal suburbs and the large amount of undeveloped land within the city. The city actually has a policy of densifying its new developments.<ref>{{cite web | title=THE CITY OF CALGARY Municipal Development Plan | url=http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/pd/Documents/municipal-development-plan/mdp-municipal-development-plan.pdf | access-date=15 December 2018 }}</ref>

=== China ===
[[File:Beijing suburb (Original picture enhanced).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Apartments in suburban [[Beijing]], China]]
In China, the term suburb is new, although suburbs are already being constructed rapidly. Chinese suburbs mostly consist of rows upon rows of [[apartment block]]s and condos that end abruptly into the countryside.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinaurbandevelopment.com/?p=499|title=(Mis)understanding China's Suburbs|date=23 February 2011|access-date=25 February 2013|publisher=China Urban Development Blog}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/02/is-this-beijings-suburban-future/71017/|title=Is This Beijing's Suburban Future?|date=10 February 2011|access-date=25 February 2013|magazine=The Atlantic}}</ref> Also new town developments are extremely common. Single family suburban homes tend to be similar to their Western equivalents; although primarily outside Beijing and Shanghai, also mimic Spanish and Italian architecture.<ref>Nasser, Haya El. (18 April 2008) [https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-04-15-suburbia_N.htm Modern suburbia not just in America anymore]. Usatoday.com. Retrieved on 22 November 2011.</ref>

==== Hong Kong ====
In Hong Kong, however, suburbs are mostly government-planned new towns containing numerous public housing estates. However, other new towns also contain private housing estates and low density developments for the upper classes.

=== Italy ===
In the illustrative case of Rome, Italy, in the 1920s and 1930s, suburbs were intentionally created ''ex novo'' to give lower classes a destination, in consideration of the actual and foreseen massive arrival of poor people from other areas of the country. Many critics have seen in this development pattern (which was circularly distributed in every direction) also a quick solution to a problem of [[public order]] (keeping the unwelcome poorest classes together with the criminals, in this way better controlled, comfortably remote from the elegant "official" town). On the other hand, the expected huge expansion of the town soon effectively covered the distance from the central town, and now those suburbs are completely engulfed by the main territory of the town. Other newer suburbs (called [[exurb]]s) were created at a further distance from them.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

=== Japan ===
In Japan, the construction of suburbs has boomed since the end of World War II and many cities are experiencing the [[urban sprawl]] effect.

=== Latin America ===
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2021}}
In Mexico, suburbs are generally similar to their United States counterparts. Houses are made in many different architectural styles which may be of European, American and International architecture and which vary in size. Suburbs can be found in [[Guadalajara]], Mexico City, [[Monterrey]], and most major cities. [[Lomas de Chapultepec]] is an example of an affluent suburb, although it is located inside the city and by no means is today a suburb in the strict sense of the word. In other countries, the situation is similar to that of Mexico, with many suburbs being built, most notably in Peru and Chile, which have experienced a boom in the construction of suburbs since the late 1970s and early 1980s. As the growth of middle-class and upper-class suburbs increased, low-class squatter areas have increased, most notably [[Shanty town#Examples|"lost cities"]] in Mexico, [[Campamento (Chile)|campamentos]] in Chile, [[Pueblos jóvenes|barriadas]] in Peru, [[villa miseria]]s in Argentina, [[asentamiento]]s in Guatemala and [[favela]]s of Brazil.

Brazilian affluent suburbs are generally denser, more vertical and mixed in use [[inner suburb]]s. They concentrate infrastructure, investment and attention from the municipal seat and the best offer of mass transit. True sprawling towards neighboring municipalities is typically empoverished – {{lang|pt|periferia}} (''the periphery'', in the sense of it dealing with [[Spatial planning|spatial]] [[Social exclusion|marginalization]]) –, with a very noticeable example being the rail suburbs of [[Rio de Janeiro]] – the North Zone, the [[Baixada Fluminense]], the part of the West Zone associated with SuperVia's Ramal de Santa Cruz. These, in comparison with the inner suburbs, often prove to be remote, violent [[food desert]]s with inadequate sewer structure coverage, saturated mass transit, more precarious running water, electricity and communication services, and lack of urban planning and landscaping, while also not necessarily qualifying as actual {{lang|pt|favelas}} or slums. They often are former agricultural land or wild areas settled through squatting; suburbs grew and expanded due to the mass [[rural exodus]] during the years of the military dictatorship. This is particularly true of [[São Paulo]], Rio de Janeiro and [[Brasília]], which grew with migration from more distant and impoverished parts of the country and deal with overpopulation as a result.

=== Malaysia ===
[[File:Bangsar.JPG|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Bangsar]], a suburb outside of downtown [[Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia]]]]
In Malaysia, suburbs are common especially in [[Klang Valley]], the largest [[conurbation]] in the country.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Aiken |first1=S. Robert |last2=Leigh |first2=Colin H. |title=Malaysia's Emerging Conurbation |journal=Annals of the Association of American Geographers |date=December 1975 |volume=65 |issue=4 |pages=546–563 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8306.1975.tb01062.x |jstor=2562422 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2562422 |access-date=24 June 2023}}</ref> These suburbs also serve as major housing areas and commuter towns. [[Terraced house#In Malaysia and Singapore|Terraced houses]], semi-detached houses and [[shophouse]]s are common concepts in suburban planning. In certain places such as [[Klang, Malaysia|Klang]], [[Subang Jaya]] and [[Petaling Jaya]], suburbs form the core. The latter one has been turned into a [[Satellite town|satellite city]] of [[Kuala Lumpur]]. Suburbs are also evident in other major conurbations in the country such as [[Penang Island]] ([[Butterworth, Seberang Perai|Butterworth]], [[Bukit Mertajam]]), [[Johor Bahru]] ([[Skudai]], [[Pasir Gudang]]), [[Ipoh]] ([[Simpang Pulai]]), [[Malacca City|Kota Melaka]] ([[Ayer Keroh]]), [[Kuching]] ([[Petra Jaya]]) and [[Alor Setar]] ([[Anak Bukit]]).

=== Russia ===
In Russia, until recently, the term suburb refers to high-rise residential apartments which usually consist of two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and a living room. However, since the beginning of the 21st century in Russia there has been a "cottage boom", as a result of which a huge number of cottage villages appeared in almost every city of the country (including Moscow), no different from the suburbs in western countries.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

=== United Kingdom ===
In the United Kingdom suburbs are located between the exurbs and inner cities of a [[metropolitan area]]. The growth in the use of trains, and later cars and highways, increased the ease with which workers could have a job in the city while [[commuting]] in from the suburbs. In the United Kingdom, as mentioned above, railways stimulated the first mass exodus to the suburbs. The Metropolitan Railway, for example, was active in building and promoting its own housing estates in the north-west of London, consisting mostly of detached houses on large plots, which it then marketed as "Metro-land".<ref>[http://www.transportdiversions.com/publicationshow.asp?pubid=5800 London's metroland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016074321/http://transportdiversions.com/publicationshow.asp?pubid=5800 |date=16 October 2007 }}. Transportdiversions.com. Retrieved on 22 November 2011.</ref> In the UK, the government is seeking to impose minimum densities on newly approved housing schemes in parts of [[South East England]]. The goal is to "build sustainable communities" rather than housing estates. However, commercial concerns tend to delay the opening of services until a large number of residents have occupied the new neighborhood.

=== 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>

== Traffic flows ==
{{Multiple issues|section=yes|
{{Globalize|article|USA|2name=the United States|date=August 2016}}
{{more citations needed|section|date=December 2021}}
}}
Suburbs typically have longer travel times to work than traditional neighborhoods.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kneebone; Holmes |first=Elizabeth; Natalie |title=The growing distance between people and jobs in metropolitan America |url=https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/srvy_jobsproximity.pdf |access-date= |website=Bicycleuniverse.info}}</ref> Only the traffic ''within'' the short streets themselves is less. This is due to three factors:{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} [[automobile dependency|almost-mandatory automobile ownership]] due to poor suburban [[commuter bus|bus]] systems, longer travel distances and the hierarchy system, which is less efficient at distributing traffic than the traditional [[Grid plan|grid]] of streets.

In the suburban system, most trips from one component to another component requires that cars enter a [[collector road]]{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}, no matter how short or long the distance is. This is compounded by the hierarchy of streets, where entire neighborhoods and subdivisions are dependent on one or two collector roads. Because all traffic is forced onto these roads, they are often heavy with traffic all day. If a traffic crash occurs on a collector road, or if road construction inhibits the flow, then the entire road system may be rendered useless until the blockage is cleared. The traditional "grown" grid, in turn, allows for a larger number of choices and alternate routes.

Suburban systems of the sprawl type are also quite inefficient for cyclists or pedestrians, as the [[as the crow flies|direct route]] is usually not available for them either{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}. This encourages car trips even for distances as low as several hundreds of yards or meters (which may have become up to several miles or kilometers due to the road network). Improved sprawl systems, though retaining the car [[detour]]s, possess [[cycle path]]s and footpaths connecting across the arms of the [[suburban sprawl|sprawl]] system, allowing a more direct route while still keeping the cars out of the residential and side streets.

More commonly, central cities seek ways to tax nonresidents working downtown – known as commuter taxes – as property tax bases dwindle. Taken together, these two groups of taxpayers represent a largely untapped source of potential revenue that cities may begin to target more aggressively, particularly if they're struggling. According to struggling cities, this will help bring in a substantial revenue for the city which is a great way to tax the people who make the most use of the highways and repairs.

Today more companies settle down in suburbs because of low property costs.

==Criticism==
{{excerpt|Criticism of suburbia|only=paragraphs}}

==In popular culture==
{{Multiple issues|section=yes|
{{in popular culture|date=May 2019}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2019}}
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Suburbs and suburban living have been the subject for a wide variety of films, books, television shows and songs.

French songs like ''La Zone'' by [[Fréhel]] (1933), ''Aux quatre coins de la banlieue'' by [[Marie-Louise Damien|Damia]] (1936), ''Ma banlieue'' by [[Reda Caire]] (1937), or ''Banlieue'' by [[Robert Lamoureux]] (1953), evoke the suburbs of Paris explicitly since the 1930s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fremeaux.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=74&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=506&option=com_virtuemart|title=Chanson francaise La banlieue 1931–1953 Anthologie|website=Fremeaux.com|access-date=2 January 2018}}</ref> Those singers give a sunny festive, almost bucolic, image of the suburbs, yet still few urbanized. During the fifties and the sixties, French singer-songwriter [[Léo Ferré]] evokes in his songs popular and proletarian suburbs of Paris, to oppose them to the city, considered by comparison as a bourgeois and conservative place.

[[French cinema]] was although soon interested in urban changes in the suburbs, with such movies as ''[[Mon oncle]]'' by [[Jacques Tati]] (1958), ''[[L'Amour existe]]'' by [[Maurice Pialat]] (1961) or ''[[Two or Three Things I Know About Her]]'' by [[Jean-Luc Godard]] (1967).

In his one-act opera ''[[Trouble in Tahiti]]'' (1952), [[Leonard Bernstein]] skewers American suburbia, which produces misery instead of happiness.

The American [[photojournalist]] [[Bill Owens (photographer)|Bill Owens]] documented the culture of suburbia in the 1970s, most notably in his book ''[[Suburbia (book)|Suburbia]]''. The 1962 song "[[Little Boxes]]" by [[Malvina Reynolds]] lampoons the development of suburbia and its perceived [[bourgeois]] and [[Conformity|conformist]] values,<ref>{{cite book |title=[[Little Boxes: The Architecture of a Classic Midcentury Suburb]] |first=Rob |last=Keil |location=Daly City, CA |publisher=Advection Media |year=2006 |isbn=0-9779236-4-9}}</ref> while the 1982 song ''[[Subdivisions (song)|Subdivisions]]'' by the Canadian band [[Rush (band)|Rush]] also discusses suburbia, as does [[Rockin' the Suburbs]] by [[Ben Folds]]. The 2010 album ''[[The Suburbs (album)|The Suburbs]]'' by the Canadian-based alternative band [[Arcade Fire]] dealt with aspects of growing up in suburbia, suggesting aimlessness, apathy and endless rushing are ingrained into the suburban culture and mentality. ''Suburb The Musical,'' was written by Robert S. Cohen and David Javerbaum. [[Over the Hedge]] is a syndicated comic strip written and drawn by Michael Fry and T. Lewis. It tells the story of a raccoon, turtle, a squirrel, and their friends who come to terms with their woodlands being taken over by suburbia, trying to survive the increasing flow of humanity and technology while becoming enticed by it at the same time. A film adaptation of [[Over the Hedge (film)|Over the Hedge]] was produced in 2006.

British television series such as ''[[The Good Life (1975 TV series)|The Good Life]]'', ''[[Butterflies (TV series)|Butterflies]]'' and ''[[The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin]]'' have depicted suburbia as well-manicured but relentlessly boring, and its residents as either overly conforming or prone to going [[Stir crazy (condition)|stir crazy]]. In contrast, U.S. shows such as ''[[Knots Landing]]'', ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' and ''[[Weeds (TV series)|Weeds]]'' portray the suburbs as concealing darker secrets behind a façade of manicured lawns, friendly people, and beautifully kept houses. Films such as ''[[The 'Burbs]]'' and ''[[Disturbia (film)|Disturbia]]'' have brought this theme to the cinema.

== See also ==
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|
* [[Exurb]]
* [[Bibliography of suburbs]]
* [[Criticism of suburbia]]
* [[Boomburb]]s
* [[Ethnoburb]]
* [[Faubourg]]
* [[Microdistrict]]
* [[Developed environments]]
* [[Human settlement|Settlement types]]
* [[Rural–urban fringe]]
* [[Slum]]
* [[Subdivision (land)|Subdivision]]
* [[List of satellite cities by population]]
}}

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{sfn whitelist |CITEREFJackson1985}}
{{Main list|Bibliography of suburbs}}
{{refbegin}}
* Archer, John; Paul J.P. Sandul, and Katherine Solomonson (eds.), ''Making Suburbia: New Histories of Everyday America.'' Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2015.
* Baxandall, Rosalyn and Elizabeth Ewen. ''Picture Windows:  How the Suburbs Happened.'' New York:  Basic Books, 2000.
* Beauregard, Robert A. '' When America Became Suburban''.  University of Minnesota Press, 2006.
* {{cite book |last1=Boyd |first1=Robin |year=1960 |title=The Australian Ugliness |location=Melbourne |publisher=Penguin Books}}
* Fishman, Robert.  ''Bourgeois Utopias: The Rise and Fall of Suburbia''.  Basic Books, 1987; in U.S.
* {{cite book|last=Foxell|first=Clive|title=Chesham Shuttle: The Story of a Metropolitan Branch Line|edition=2nd|year=1996|publisher=Clive Foxell|isbn=0-9529184-0-4}}
* Galinou, Mireille. ''Cottages and Villas: The Birth of the Garden Suburb'' (2011), in England
* {{cite book|last=Green|first=Oliver|year=1987|title=The London Underground: An illustrated history|publisher=[[Ian Allan Publishing|Ian Allan]]|isbn=0-7110-1720-4}}
* {{cite book|title=Metro-Land|edition=British Empire Exhibition 1924 reprinted|year=2004|isbn=1-904915-00-0|editor-first=Oliver|editor-last=Green|publisher=Southbank Publishing|url=http://www.southbankpublishing.com/9781904915003/introduction.php|access-date=22 April 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20080628202202/http://www.southbankpublishing.com/9781904915003/introduction.php|archive-date=28 June 2008|url-status=dead}}
* Harris, Richard. ''Creeping Conformity: How Canada Became Suburban, 1900–1960'' (2004)
* Hayden, Dolores.  ''Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820–2000''.  Vintage Books, 2003.
* {{cite book|last=Horne|first=Mike|title=The Metropolitan Line|year=2003|publisher=Capital Transport|isbn=1-85414-275-5|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/metropolitanline00mike}}
* {{cite crabgrass}}
* {{cite book|title=London's Metropolitan Railway|last=Jackson|first=Alan|year=1986|publisher=David & Charles|isbn=0-7153-8839-8}}
* {{cite book|title=The English landscape in the twentieth century|last=Rowley|first=Trevor|year=2006|publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group|Hambledon Continuum]]|isbn=1-85285-388-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/englishlandscape0000rowl}}
* {{cite book|last=Simpson|first=Bill|title=A History of the Metropolitan Railway. Volume 1: The Circle and Extended Lines to Rickmansworth.|publisher=Lamplight Publications|year=2003|isbn=1-899246-07-X}}
* Stilgoe, John R.  ''Borderland: Origins of the American Suburb, 1820–1939''.  Yale University Press, 1989.
* [[Jon C. Teaford|Teaford, Jon C.]]  ''The American Suburb: The Basics''.  Routledge, 2008.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100105102559/http://knol.google.com/k/steven-chong/a-future-vision-for-the-north-american/2e3144udfqrpg/5 A Future Vision for the North American Suburb]
* [http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/research/suburban-studies Centre for Suburban Studies]
* [http://www.hgs.org.uk/mystreet/index.html Images of a mature north London suburb illustrating a wide range of domestic architecture]
* [http://www.endofsuburbia.com/ The end of suburbia] (documentary film)

{{Cities}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:City]]
[[Category:Neighbourhoods|*]]
[[Category:Suburbs| ]]
[[Category:Types of populated places]]
[[Category:Urban planning]]
[[Category:Squatting]]