Suburbanization

Suburban Neighborhood

Resilience Planning for Suburban Growth

Whether or not the suburban shift accelerated by the pandemic continues, policymakers can implement climate resilience strategies and guide sustainable growth in both cities and exurbs.

April 12, 2022 - Brookings

Pedestrian Infrastructure

Census Data: Black Americans Leaving Cities for Suburbs

The trend of Black Americans leaving urban areas for suburban communities mirrors the White Flight of the mid-20th century but for vastly different reasons and with vastly different consequences.

March 18, 2022 - Associated Press via Los Angeles Times

Chicago River

COVID-19 and Big, Dense Cities That Aren't New York

As in metropolitan New York, big, dense cities don't always suffer from coronavirus to a greater extent than their car-oriented suburbs.

April 28, 2020 - Michael Lewyn

Metro Rapid Bus

Causes of the Pre-COVID Decline in Bus Ridership

Even before the effects fo the coronavirus pandemic drastically reduced ridership, transit riders were declining in cities across the country. The reasons for the downward trend were varied.

April 8, 2020 - The New York Times

Virginia State Government

Election 2019: Changing Demographics Explain Democrats' Victory in Virginia

It's not suburbs vs. cities but inner vs. outer suburbs that determined the outcome of elections in Virginia last Tuesday that flipped the General Assembly from red to blue.

November 12, 2019 - The New York Times

Sprawl

The Return of Suburbanization

The "back to the city" movement of the past decade or so could prove to be the outlier, as Census data shows population growth slowing in the biggest cities while suburban areas lead population growth in more metropolitan areas.

June 9, 2019 - Brookings Institution

Downtown Freeway

In Sprawling Charlotte, Traffic Jams Point to Climate Solutions

A look at the relationship between sprawl and climate change mitigation in the fast-growing North Carolina city.

June 22, 2018 - Yale Climate Connections

Empty Train

Mapping the Decline of the New York City Subway

A writer weaves a "decade by decade" story, complete with diagrams, of how not to manage a public transit system.

April 19, 2018 - CityLab

San Antonio Riverwalk

Back to the Suburbs: Most Metropolitan Are Getting Less Dense

A closer look at the data reveals a country that continues to sprawl.

May 23, 2017 - The New York Times

Texas

Design Activism, Texas-Style

With suburban sprawl a long-standing issue in Texas, one San Antonio-based architecture firm is aiming to strengthen and revitalize its city's downtown core.

April 10, 2017 - Doggerel

Growth Chart

Population Analysis—Explained and Exemplified

Yonah Freemark provides a comprehensive explainer of the nuts and bolts of population analysis, applying that expertise to an examination of downtown population change.

July 12, 2016 - the transport politic

Deep Ellum

Left Behind in Dallas' Suburban Boom: the Urban Core

Some planners and government officials in Dallas are concerned about the suburban boom occurring in counties north of Dallas. The reasons why are reminiscent of the Rust Belt in the 1960s.

May 25, 2015 - The Dallas Morning News

Study: Distance Between Homes and Jobs Increasing

A new study finds that the first decade of the 21st century exhibited a mass migration—of U.S. jobs moving farther away from where U.S. residents live.

March 26, 2015 - Brookings Institution

America’s Top Arrested Developments, In Honor of Sunday's Season 4 Premiere

After a seven-year hiatus, Netflix is bringing back the critically acclaimed television series Arrested Development, and with it memories of the Great Recession.

May 25, 2013 - Architizer

Little Boxes on the Hillside, in China and Beyond

Nate Berg offers his take on the replicas of Western subdivisions that have come to define social status in the burgeoning economies of the Middle and Far East.

April 7, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

In Canada, Suburbs Growing Fast

In an analysis of newly released census data, Wendell Cox outlines recent population trends in the fastest-growing country in the G-8.

February 15, 2012 - newgeography

How will the Suburbs Cope with Poverty?

The terms Central city, Inner city and urban have long been synonymous with the poorer, disadvantaged minority sections of metropolitan areas. Conversely, the suburbs have been associated with whites, affluence and job growth. For a long time, however, this dichotomy has failed to capture the gradual blurring of distinctive patterns that demarcate city from suburb. A recent Brookings report by Kenya Covington, Michael Stoll and yours truly underscores this point. The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, the single largest affordable housing program in the country is almost as prevalent in the suburbs as in central cities.

October 13, 2011 - Lance Freeman

The Kibbutz Goes Suburban

The Israeli kibbutz, long a bastion of modest communal living, is being co-opted by suburban-style development that wants the benefits of socialist coexistence and single-family homes, writes reporter Shanee Shiloh in Ha'aretz.

June 20, 2011 - Ha'aretz

Lack of Transit Intensifies Suburban Poverty

In the last ten years, more than two thirds of poverty growth has happened in suburban areas of American cities. According to Brookings', social services such as transit have failed to keep up in the face of decreasing tax revenue.

October 16, 2010 - The Next American City

Suburbs Go Head To Head With The City

"With cities worldwide busy repurposing their industrial districts and docklands as upmarket housing and waterfront retail centres, the suburbs need to find a new competitive edge," writes Sarah Murray.

September 12, 2010 - Financial Times

News from HUD User

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Call for Speakers

Mpact Transit + Community

New Updates on PD&R Edge

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.