A common definition of a suburb is a community in an outlying section of a city or, more commonly, a nearby, politically separate municipality with social and economic ties to the central city. In the 20th cent., particularly in the United States, population growth in urban areas has spilled increasingly outside the city limits and concentrated there, resulting in large metropolitan areas where the populations of the suburbs taken together exceed that of the central city. As growth of the suburbs continues, cost of labor for common suburban housing
drops increasingly low. Houses are built with cheaper, less expensive materials and are built with the same model of construction
time and time again. As this does no harm financially, the western world loses any uniqueness it once had. Meaning their is a very small
amount of difference between Burnsville,Minnesota and Boone County,Kentucky.
In modern suburbs things like cul-de-sacs and tangle towns are more common to be designed with. This makes it virtually impossible to include a mass transit system into the suburb. Thus, more driving, more gas use, and more emissions created in the atmosphere. A common response to this from a suburban residential is that the city is jam packed with congestion and pollution from stop and go traffic. Yet with cities, they are more dense, highly populated and many of the stop and go traffic is created by workers who live in the suburbs coming into the city at rush hour. One thing that works well in a typical city is mass transit. Things like buses, subways and train systems work well with block by square block areas, but not so with winding curving neighborhoods such as in suburbs. Another reason why mass transit does not play a major roll in the life of one who lives in a suburb is that suburban commuting consists of many different directions and destinations. Where as in the city typical people are commuting into the downtown. A central destination such as a downtown keeps things more conveniently close, and since so many people are making the trip to one single common place then gas can be saved by major carpooling, or in other words mass transit.
An attraction to the suburbs for someone looking to raise a family is the suburbs generally contain less crime, less congestion and more isolation from a fast pace life.
In the book The Great Inversion, author Alan Ehrenhalt reveals the changes that are happing in urban and suburban areas. Alan Ehrenhalt the former editor of Governing Magazine leads us to acknowledge that there is a shift in urban and suburban areas. This revelation comes as the poorer, diverse, city dwellers opt for the cookie cutter, shanty towns at the periphery of American cities known as the suburbs. In similar fashion the suburbanites, whom are socioeconomic advantaged, are looking to migrate into the concrete jungles, of America, to live an urban lifestyle. Also, there is a comparison drawn that recognizes the similarities of cities and their newer, more affluent, residents, and those cities of Europe a century ago and their residents. In essence this book is about the demographic shifts in Urban and Suburban areas and how these changes are occurring.
“Could suburbs prosper independently of central cities? Probably. But would they prosper even more if they were a part of a better-integrated metropolis? The answer is almost certainly yes.” (p. 66)
full employment, a good standard of living, family- focused values and the 'suburban dream' of a
When you encounter a city such as Chicago, it is practically impossible to avoid CTA and Metra trains. From short store errands to long journeys home, the CTA is there as your personal downtown car. If you do not have enough money to put into owning a car or simply do not want to put up with trying to find parking in the congested city, the CTA is there for you. Where more people to use the CTA, the amount of gas polluting the earth would significantly decrease the pollution levels in Chicago. Since there aren't as many cars on the road, it not only decreases the carbon monoxide leaking from cars but the amount of cars on the road, which also decreases the amount of people on the road. Numerous laws state how using the CTA could benefit people in Chicago overall. These are just some of the reasons Metra and the CTA has impacted everything from population to economics and even political and environmental issues.
In this means, what is suburbanization? As indicated by my exploration and studies around there of history I can without a doubt recognize that suburbanization is on an extremely fundamental level the term used to depict the physical advancement of the city at the urban-commonplace fringe, or basically the edges of the city. This in
...on that was created among suburbs, which was not the ideal everyday life that suburbs were designed to create.
Have you ever thought about living in the suburbs? Many surveys that were given to Millennials in the last few years suggest that they are wanting to live in the suburbs. This includes those that are living in the cities and those that already live in the suburbs. Those in the city want more space, while those that live in the suburbs want to keep their way of life the way it is. This will change the way the country will function, so the United States can thrive. Kris Hudson, in the article “Many Millennials Yearn for Suburban Homes,” asked the question “Do Millennials want to remain urbanites or eventually relocate to the suburbs?” (A2). This is one of the biggest question asked among demographers
Herbert Gans piece on the mass production of suburban styled homes like Levittown with its homes on the outskirts of the city and mixed land uses closer within the core “ analyzes the suburbs and makes it evident that they are not a utopia” no matter the societal segregation they represent (Herbert Gans). These areas have their burdens resulting in physical and social isolation, no access to transportation, the start of gender roles, and inadequate decision making. In comparison, Pleasantville was a society of segregation due to the land constraints and urban planning of the society. Its visible that there is an increase in segregation between the suburban population and inner city. The higher class living in the suburbs would remain in that area unless it was for work.
The modern story of developed areas is a move from the inner city to the suburbs. This decentralization of metropolitan areas has left urban areas neglected. Such a transformation has had negative consequences, because it has inherently meant the abandonment of those left behind in urban centers. Furthermore, the issue is complicated by the fact that the distinction between those moving to the suburbs and those left behind has been defined largely by race. As Kain notes,
...hing, more prominent than the effect on the farms. The automobile has radically changed city life by accelerating the outward expansion of population into the suburbs. The suburban trend is emphasized by the fact that highway transportation encourages business and industry to move outward to sites where land is cheaper, where access by car and truck is easier than in crowded cities, and where space is available for their one or two story structures. Better roads were constructed, which further increased travel throughout the nation. As with other automobile-related phenomena, the trend is most noticeable in the United States but is rapidly appearing elsewhere in the world.
Within the past century, the automobile have had a large impact on cities. One of the effects of the automobile that people don't always think about is the formation of suburbs. Suburbs began being built heavily in the 19th and 20th centuries. “Levittown was the first pre-fabricated community, it was built in 1949.” (Automobile in American Life). Levittown was the first of the largest mass produced suburbs. Cars allowed for people to live outside of the city and still be able to commute to work. This greatly reduced city crowding. The expansion of city boundaries required an expansion of roadways. Highways and Interstates were formed because of this. Highways allowed for travel between cities and interstate allowed for travel across state lines. (Automotive History). Along with this new expansion came new opportunities. Some of these opportunities include drive-in movie theaters and restaurants, drive-thru banks and restaurants, motels, and convenience stores. 7 Eleven was the first extended hour convenience store (Impact of the Automobile). This impacted american culture and travel greatly. It was the first store with extended hours. The new hours were from 7 am - 11pm. That in fact, is how the store got its name (7 Eleven). Motels p...
We take them for granted when driving miles to the closest mall. We are unconscious of their usefulness when traveling to see a distant relative by car. We can't take a moment to stop and admire their beauty and usefulness; the architectural wonders that are highways and their interchanges; which have such a rich history embedded in the American suburbia of today. Let's go back to the early 1900's, when the automobile was starting to become a dominate part of the American life (Morton, 2014). Around this time; a shift began to occur towards private transportation over public by influencing policies in their favor (Nicolaides and Wiese, 2006). One of these polices was created by the Federal Aid Highway of 1925; the United States Highway System which basically expanded the highways across the United States connecting one another, creating new opportunities for growth in many areas (Weingroff, 1996). This had many effects on different factors of the American way of life; specifically suburbia (Morton, 2014). After the war, the private home that was a luxury a few years prior, was now becoming affordable for many thanks to low interest rates and flexible payments through the National Housing Act of 1934, created by the Federal Housing Administration (Fishman, 1987). Perfect example of a policy acting towards private over public was the Los Angles Master Plan of 1941, which pushed the direction of private automobiles and singles households: there being 1.16 million cars (2.4 people per car) and having 31 percent of the city land dedicated for single family homes, this was really solidifying the post suburbia lifestyle (Fishman, 1987). In Los Angeles alone around this time, 900 square miles were transformed to tract development homes ...
Creation of highway networks outside the city and subsequent growth of suburban communities transformed the way citizens worked lived and spent their leisure time. Downtown businesses closed or moved to malls inducing a reduction in downtown shopping and overall downtown commercial traffic.
Have you ever had a dream of moving outside the city and living with your wife, husband or kids with about an acre of land. Well if your dream becomes reality, than you are participating in Urban Sprawl. Urban Sprawl is the expanding of a city over its rural land with single-family homes in low-density neighborhoods. Low-density neighborhoods, with no transportation options are increasing energy costs. My cure is multiple story housing inside the city. Urban Sprawl is negative, because it causes bad health and environmental effects on society.
In discussions of Gentrification, one controversial issue has been with displacement. Gentrification is the process of renovating and repairing a house or district so that it complies to wealthier residents (Biro, 2007, p. 42). Displacement is a result of gentrification, and is a major issue for lower income families. Gentrification is causing lower-income residents to move out of their apartments because they’re being displaced by upper class residents who can afford high rent prices and more successful businesses. Throughout out the essay, I will discuss how gentrification affects lower income residents and how it results in displacement. Then I will follow on by discussing some positive and negative effects that take place because of Gentrification.