Key Issue 4: Why Do Suburbs Face Distinctive Challenges?

Suburbanization:• Suburbs: Residential areas on the outskirts of a

city or large town. Most modern suburbs are commuter towns with many single-family homes. Many suburbs have some degree of political autonomy and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods.

• Auto oriented society:– mass transit peaked in 1920’s– shortage of consumer goods during WWII– declining friction of distance– GI Bill

• Baby boom• Pull forces (low crime, quiet, less crowded, less

pollution and noise)

What was the American dream

in the 1950s?

Changes in Cities in the U.S. U.S. population has been moving out of the city centers to the

suburbs: suburbanization and counter-urbanization

Overview of Suburbanization

Year Percent Urban

Percent Suburban

Percent Rural

1950 40% 20% 40%

2000 30% 50% 20%

Government InterventionG.I. Bill

– Provided numerous opportunities for veterans to transition to civilian life

– Subsidized tuition, fees, books, educational materials for veterans desiring college

– Provided low interest loans to veterans for the purchase of single family homes

Veterans return from WWII

HousingAmericans previously suffered from financial

constraints such as ten year mortgages and 80% down payments

Federal Housing Authority: allowed thirty year mortgages and approve mortgages with only 10% down

The Levitt Brothers• Took advantage of new market

for houses• Purchased land once used to

grow potatoes and constructed in Hempstead, Long Island the first of three Levittowns (later Pennsylvania and New Jersey)

• Applied Fordist approach and mass produced houses to reduce costs

• Later added baseball fields, shopping centers, schools, parks, and churches to neighborhoods

The Peripheral Model• The central city is surrounded by a ring road,

around which are suburban areas and edge cities, shopping malls, office parks, industrial areas, and service complexes

• Suburbs (peripheral areas) lack inner-city problems, but have to deal with sprawl and segregation

Cost of Suburban Sprawl:

• Sprawl: progressive spread of development over the landscape; not contiguous

• Undesirable traits:– Wastes land– Higher taxes and home prices

• Greenbelts: rings of open space (London, Birmingham)

Why Are Urban Areas Expanding?• The Cost of Suburban Sprawl

– A flattening of the density gradient for a metropolitan area means that its people and services are spread out over a larger area.

• U.S. suburbs are characterized by sprawl, the progressive spread of development over the landscape.

• Suburban Segregation– The modern residential suburb is segregated in

two ways:1.Social Class

– Similarly priced houses are typically built in close proximity to one another, thus attracting a specific range of income earners.

HOUSING SEGREGATION: GATED COMMUNITY Dana Point, California, a Los Angeles suburb, has a gated community called Lantern Bay.

Why Are Urban Areas Expanding?• Suburban Segregation

– The modern residential suburb is segregated in two ways cont’d.:2. Land Uses

–Residents are separated from commercial and manufacturing activities that are confined to compact, distinct areas.

»Zoning ordinances enacted in the early 20th century have contributed most notably to the segregation of land uses associated with suburban areas.

Why Are Urban Areas Expanding?• Urban Transportation– Public Transit

• Benefits– In larger cities, public transit is better suited than

motor vehicles to move large numbers of people, because each transit traveler takes up less space.

– More cost effective than privately operated vehicles

– Emits relatively less pollutants than privately operated vehicles

– More energy efficient than privately operated vehicles

• Limitations– Most people in the U.S. overlook the benefits of

public transit, because they place higher value on the privacy and flexibility of schedule offered by a car.

– Not offered in most U.S. cities

BOSTON PUBLIC TRANSIT Boston’s subway system, known as “the T,” includes heavy rail (top) and light rail (bottom).

Europe versus U.S. Cities: Sprawl

European cities, including this hypothetical U.K. example, tend to restrict suburban development, thereby concentrating new development in and around existing concentrations. This leaves large rings of open space, so-called greenbelts.

Northampton, United Kingdom:

There is usually a sharp boundary between an urban area in the U.K., such as Northampton, and the surrounding rural area.

Density Gradient:

• Density gradient: change in density in an urban area; the number of houses per unit of land diminishes as distance from the center city increases

• However in recent years:–Less people living in center city–Less density difference within urban areas

Cleveland, Ohio Density Gradient

1900-1990

• The density gradient in Cleveland shows the expansion of dense population outward from the city center over time. In 1990, population dispersed over a wider area with less variation in density than before.

Suburban Segregation:• Residents are separated from commercial

and manufacturing activities that are confined to compact, distinct areas

• Housing in a given suburban community is usually built for people of a single social class

• Zoning ordinances: a law that limits the permitted uses of land and maximum density of development in a community– Encouraged spatial separation

• Transportation and suburbanization– Motor vehicles

• More than 95 percent of all trips are made by car– Public transit

• Advantages of public transit– Transit travelers take up less space– Cheaper, less pollutant, and more energy

efficient than an automobile– Suited to rapidly transport large number of

people to small area• Public transit in the United States

– Used primarily for rush-hour community for workers into and out of CBD

– Small cities-minimal use– Most Americans prefer to commute by

automobile

Contribution of Transportation to Suburbanization

• Urban sprawl makes people more dependent on transportation (work, shopping)

• Motor vehicles had led to large scale development of suburbs; more flexibility

• U.S. government has paid 90% of the cost of limited access high-speed interstate highways

• ¼ of land of city is roads and parking lots

Contribution of Transportation to Suburbanization

• Rush-hour commuting: heaviest traffic because large numbers of people are reaching small areas of land at the same time

• Public transportation is cheaper, less polluting and more energy efficient

Average American loses 36 hours per year sitting in traffic jams and wastes 55

gallons of gasoline

Contribution of Transportation to Suburbanization:

• The public transportation heavily used is rapid transit (subways, streetcars)

• Subways have been modernized across the country

• Not everyone without a car has access to public transportation (especially if live in city, but have suburban job)

Central London Traffic Sign

This sign near Marble Arch in London warns motorists that they are about to enter the Congestion Zone. A charge is levied for driving a private vehicle into central London from 7 AM to 6:30 PM.

Tram Line in Brussels

A Line 92 tram on the Rue Royale in Brussels.

Urban Realms Model:• Developed by Vance based on San Francisco Bay

area and metropolis• Describes spatial components of modern

metropolis• Includes independent suburban downtowns within

the sphere of influence of the central city and CBD• Depends on:

– Overall size of metropolitan region– Amount of economic activity in each urban realm– Topography and major land features– Accessibility of each realm

Includes a central

business district, central

city, new downtown, and

suburban downtown

Edge City