Week 4: suburbanization

US suburban population in 1950

35 million

US suburban population in 1970

77 million

US suburban population in 2000

140 million

Projected urbanization by 2030

Twice as much land globally will be urbanized as in 2000, most of which is non-central/peripheral

Definition of Suburb

A town or other area where people live in houses near a larger city

Merriam-Webster's definition of Suburb

A smaller community adjacent to or within commuting distance of a city

Definition of Suburbanization

A process whereby people, housing, industry, commerce, and retailing spread out beyond traditional urban areas, forming dispersed landscapes that are still connected to cities by commuting

Characteristics of Suburbia

It symbolizes the fullest, most unadulterated embodiment of contemporary culture, including conspicuous consumption, reliance upon the private automobile, upward mobility, separation of the family into nuclear units, widening division between work and leisure, and tendency toward racial and economic exclusiveness

Jackson's framework for suburbanization

Defines suburbs by low population density, separation of work & residence, high rate of home ownership, open space/yards/'nature', and affluent/middle-class

Consumption-centered approach to suburbanization

Suburbanization is driven by the consumption preferences of the middle class: open space, good schools, access to 'nature,' etc.

Production-centered approach to suburbanization

Suburbanization is driven by locational decisions made by industry and real estate developers (and the government) to maximize profit

Residential suburbanization start year

Roughly 1870

Acceleration of suburbanization post-WWII

The wealthy want to be close to 'nature', open space, and other wealthy people, and far away from disease, crime, poor people, and pollution

Industrial suburbanization

Came much later; industrialists want to be close to natural resources, low tax zones, middle-class workers, and transportation, and far away from expensive land, high taxes, and organized labor

Suburban Housing Morphology

Includes tract houses and subdivisions

Types of Suburban Housing

Ranges from barracks to McMansions

The 'Balloon Frame'

Introduced in Chicago in 1833

Suburban Housing based on transit options

Includes streetcar, rail, and auto

Definition of 'Bedroom communities'

Suburbs primarily composed of residential areas where residents commute to work in nearby urban centers

Christaller's central place theory

Centers around the consumer

The American Dream

Concept associated with suburban living and the pursuit of a better life

Decentralization

The process of moving away from central urban areas

Consumer preference

Built into the structure of the American mortgage system.

Home Owners' Loan Corporation

Established in 1933.

Federal Housing Administration

Established in 1934.

Department of Veterans Affairs

Established in 1944.

Optimization in industrial location

Goal = minimization of transportation costs.

Secondary goal of industrial location

Locate near labor pool.

Incubation economies

Related to the benefits of locating near a labor pool.

Agglomeration economies

Benefits derived from the proximity of firms and industries.

Isotropic planes

Theoretical flat areas where industrial optimization is assumed to occur.

Walker and Lewis

Key authors explaining that the real world does not work on perfect isotropic planes.

Varignon Frame

A concept discussed in relation to industrial location and suburbanization.

Parallel development

The simultaneous march of industry and cities outward.

Polymorphism in suburbanization

Involves successive eruptions and waves of investment/expansion.

Urban geographical industrialization

Industry and the city grow together as a unified process.

Industry's role in city creation

Industry does not just locate in the city; it helps create the city.

Urban expansion

Based on the ability of industrialization and capital accumulation to create places while making commodities, building factories, raising a labor force, and introducing new technologies.

Parallel development and polymorphism

The simultaneous march of industry and cities outward involving successive eruptions and waves of investment/expansion.

Profits and land speculation

Profits increase with distance from the fringe, leading to exaggerated demand for peripheral sites, tempting industry and residents to move to the suburbs.

Industrial decentralization

Suburbanization that is much older than many authors claim, exemplified by places like Brooklyn, NY and Oakland, CA.

Investment cycles

Refers to booms and busts in economic activity, which can be described as 'bursts'.

Opportunistic development

Development that occurs often along transit corridors and/or in edge cities, commonly in leap-frogging patterns.

Edge cities

Characterized by five million square feet of leasable office space or more, and a population that increases at 9 A.M. on workdays, marking the location as primarily a work center.

Automobility

A term that combines autonomy and mobility, referring to modes of self-directed movement in vehicles that provide speed, mobility, and act as private spaces.

SUV Model of Citizenship

Describes a form of connectedness that can be banished beyond the shell of the eight-foot bubble carried in SUVs.

Zoning

The practice of dividing a city or region into tracts of land for land-use planning, assigning permitted uses such as residential, commercial, or industrial.

Infrastructure

The underlying framework that supports urban development, including transportation, utilities, and communication systems.

Housing

Refers to the structures and accommodations provided for people to live in, which are influenced by urban planning and zoning.

Transit corridors

Routes that facilitate public transportation and are often sites for opportunistic development.

Edge cities characteristics

A history where the site was overwhelmingly residential or rural in character 30 years ago, now serving as a mixed-use destination.

Self-steering autonomy

The capacity to navigate independently, often associated with the experience of driving.

Comforting protected spaces

The notion that vehicles provide a sense of safety and privacy while traveling.

Mixed use

A development approach that combines residential, commercial, and entertainment spaces in a single area.

Political control of space

The governance aspect of urban planning that seeks to manage and regulate land use and development.

Suburbanization

The process of population movement from urban areas to the suburbs, often linked to industrial decentralization.

Home Rule

The dominance of municipal governance in determining social amenities & setting conditions of residence.

Exclusionary zoning

Became 'the chief weapon in the suburban arsenal & has effectively rebuffed invasion by unwanted peoples and uses.'

Zoning laws

'Figurative walls defining the boundaries and borders of community.'

Maintaining 'rural character'

Woodside, CA objects to state and local demands for new housing and declares the entire town 'Mountain Lion Habitat,' barring new development.

Home Rule as racial zoning

Tuskegee, AL; state legislature remunicipalized to exclude middle-class Black voters.

Tavistock, NJ

Municipality = a single golf course (no taxes for schools now).

Victory Gardens, NJ

Example of local municipalization.

Racial Zoning

The practice of designating certain areas for specific racial groups, often leading to segregation.

Tuskegee, AL

A city where the state legislature remunicipalized to exclude middle-class Black voters.

Suburban Home Rule

Local governance in suburban areas that can lead to localized border patrol and gated communities.

Racial Profiling

A term coined in New Jersey referring to the discriminatory practice of targeting individuals based on their race.

Anti-Immigrant Ordinances

Local laws that target immigrant populations, often arising in suburban areas.

Multi-Cultural Suburbs

Suburban areas characterized by a diverse population, though not a new phenomenon.

Suburbanization of Poverty

The trend of increasing poverty levels in suburban areas from 1980 to 2000.

Hipsturbia

A term describing trendy suburban areas that attract young professionals and artists.

Suburbanization in India

The unique postcolonial trajectories of suburban development in India.

Ethnic Diversification of Suburbs

The ongoing process since the 1970s where suburbs have become more ethnically diverse yet remain segregated.

Willingboro, NJ

An example of a suburb known as Levittown III, significant for testing anti-discrimination laws.

Blockbusting

The practice of using racial fear by real estate agents to drive out white households and flip homes for profit.

Levittown, PA

A suburb that is approximately 88% white, contrasting with nearby Willingboro, which is 17% white.

Ethnoburbs

Multi-ethnic communities that are suburban in appearance but urban in political, culinary, and educational values.

Diverse Suburbs

Suburban areas where the majority of minorities lived, surpassing the population in cities by 2010.

Census Tracts

Geographic regions defined for the purpose of statistical analysis, particularly in relation to poverty.

Allard 2017: 37

A reference indicating that the number of high poverty suburban census tracts nearly doubled from 1980 to 2000.

The tipping point

In 2008, the number of suburban poor exceeded the number of urban poor by 1.5 million.

Suburban poverty

The number of people living in suburban poverty areas doubled from 2000 to 2010, affecting both white and nonwhite populations.

Causes of suburban poverty

Driven by job loss, lack of poverty support services, and challenges of mobility.

Vertical poverty

A new concern that ignores economic causes and stigmatizes places, leading to the ghettoization of ethnic suburbs.

Suburban dystopia

National anxiety about 'the new poor' in the wake of the Great Recession.

Dystopian projection

Terms like 'slum,' 'blight,' and 'ghetto' have been applied to suburbs, creating the concept of 'slumurbia.'

The End of Suburbia

Characterized by the decline of the nuclear family, decline of automobile-centric culture, and rise of New Urbanism.

Features of hipsturbia

Involves social media and digital lifestyles that create new (sub)urban sociality.

Creative class

The creative class is trying to recreate urban life in the suburbs (Williams 2013).

Gentrification

A topic to be discussed in the next week's session.

References

Includes works by Roger Keil, Wei Li, Scott Allard, David Kirp and Larry Rosenthal, Alex Schafran, and Richard Walker & Robert Lewis.