Aging Suburban Communities Cope With Urban Problems

"In Tomorrow's Cities, Tomorrow's Suburbs, University of Virginia urban studies professors William Lucy and David Phillips argue that the older suburbs are actually far worse off than many inner cities for several reasons."

The authors site the difficultlly of policing suburban communities without a street grid, and the low quality of mass produced housing of the 50s, 60s and 70s.

"Nationally, the ranks of suburban poor are increasing. So much so that authors Lucy and Phillips identified 155 suburbs across the country with a higher concentration of poverty than the city of Detroit, notoriously one of the poorest cities in the United States."

"I agree that the challenge of these areas in the future may be more than the challenge in city neighborhoods," says Tom Jacobson, Chesterfield County’s director of community revitalization. "The houses are not cute, in many respects. The neighborhood infrastructure is basic: no sidewalks, no curb and gutter, no neighborhood parks, not close to a lot of services that you have in city neighborhoods."