A proud suburban resident defends her neighborhood from the criticisms of city-dwellers. It's not walkable, it's not perfect, but it's home.
Suburbs are much-maligned, and there are good reasons for that. But they are still home to untold millions, and a defense of the built environment we have is useful as a counterpoint if nothing else.
After all, suburbs are more urban than rural. Loretta Ellsworth writes, "I didn't grow up in the city or even the suburbs. I grew up in small-town Iowa. When I moved north to the Twin Cities metro, the suburbs felt to me like the big-bad city [...] I've discovered that every suburb is distinct and has its own personality. Too often those who know little about the suburbs group all of them under the same label."
While many suburbs are stereotypically white and well-off, today's demographic inversion is relocating poor people to the suburbs, where they risk being further written off. Ellsworth writes, "And as far as poverty is concerned [...] poor people living in the suburbs of the Twin Cities now significantly outnumber the needy in Minneapolis and St. Paul."
A suburban life can be interesting, and life can be boring downtown. While building suburbs may have been unwise in the first place, they exist, and people shouldn't be made to feel bad for inhabiting them.
FULL STORY: Dear smug urbanites, stop ridiculing the suburb I love
On Poverty's New Suburban Look
Author Scott Allard debunks lingering myths about how people experience poverty in cities. Poverty's suburbanization, he argues, has more to do with the loss of jobs than migration from "inner cities."
Suburban Poverty Rising in Atlanta
Driven by economic and demographic trends, poverty in "outer ring" suburbs is on the rise. Since 2000, Atlanta's suburbs have seen the highest rate of change in poverty of any comparable metro region.
TIF Shifts to the Suburbs in Minnesota
A common and sometimes controversial funding mechanism is growing in popularity in suburban Minnesota, even as its use in the urban core decreases.
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
Four commercial buildings in the Chicago Loop have been approved for redevelopment into housing in a bid to revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic.
New Park Opens in the Santa Clarita Valley
The City of Santa Clarita just celebrated the grand opening of its 38th park, the 10.5-acre Skyline Ranch Park.
U.S. Supreme Court: California's Impact Fees May Violate Takings Clause
A California property owner took El Dorado County to state court after paying a traffic impact fee he felt was exorbitant. He lost in trial court, appellate court, and the California Supreme Court denied review. Then the U.S. Supreme Court acted.
How Urban Form Impacts Housing Affordability
The way we design cities affects housing costs differently than you might think.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Town of Zionsville
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.
