Suburbs have experienced a sort of renaissance over the last decade. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people fled urban cores in favor of open space and decentralized amenities. For some people, the word “suburb” or “suburbia” flashes images of manicured lawns and rows of identical homes, but what makes a successful suburb may have more in common with cities than you might think.
It’s important to understand what a suburb even is and how it can be defined. In 2017, HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau surveyed more than 75,000 people who were asked to define if their neighborhoods were rural, suburban, or urban. Of this population, 21 percent said that they lived in a rural area, 27 percent said that they resided in an urban area, and 52% identified as living in a suburban neighborhood. Interestingly, when the survey was repeated three years later, many people claimed to be living in suburbia, when their homes were actually identified as being within urban limits. However, the most widely accepted definition of suburbs describes the post-war areas featuring low-density buildings and housing. These areas lie beyond a city’s perimeter and are largely residential.
The way we think of suburbs vs cities is often a polar approach. On one hand, you have people who prefer to live in urban 400-unit skyscrapers versus those who live in suburban single-family homes. While one is not necessarily better than the other, the way we frame these types of living, especially how we think about density and accessibility in our suburbs, will shape how these two lifestyles blend together. When suburban residents hear that their neighborhoods are densifying, they often think that this means that the things they strived for, including safety, large living arrangements, and affordability, will disappear. But when designed well, certain elements can make for successful suburban areas.
The first thing to consider is how cities are able to market the idea of proximity successfully. If you live in a place like New York City, it's easy to have many of your daily activities and necessities within a 15-minute walking distance. Everything you could ever want feels close together, but this isn’t necessarily the case for how many suburbs have historically been designed. Given the reliance on cars, a grocery store, a school, and an office can easily be a more than 15-minute drive apart. By reconsidering what people actually need, and how it impacts their day-to-day lives, it makes sense to build certain programs next to each other so that a suburb can become more successful. It’s possible to live in a home, walk to the park, and also walk to a cafe, all without the hustle and bustle of city life.
One thing that allows cities to have proximity is how they are organized. Navigation of cities is often easier, especially in places that are planned around predictable street grids. Suburbs often don’t follow this type of organization and feature winding cul-de-sacs, major thoroughfares, and highway systems. All of these streets have additional roads that connect each other, forcing places to feel even further away. Successful suburbs also establish a sense of place. Cities, due to their density, are able to have identifiable features in each neighborhood. They adapt their own persona, in a way that suburbs often struggle to do. By creating their own town centers and cores, suburbs can create epicenters of community and commerce.
We often focus on discussions around how we can plan better cities and densify certain areas. Maybe it’s time that we reconsidered how we define suburbs and plan them in a way that takes the best qualities of urban areas, and applies them to suburbia. The future lies in a blend of the characteristics that cause people to seek more space and peace and quiet and the proximity and ease of having everything a short distance away.
