Suburbs And City Design

Running head: SUBURBS AND CITY DESIGN 1

Suburbs and City Design

Name

Institution

SUBURBS AND CITY DESIGN 2

Suburbs and City Design

Suburbs are majorly outlying residential district areas that are part of cities. Suburban

areas consist of residential communities that live within commuting distances of cities. This

gives a visible indication that the location of suburban areas may be on the outskirts of cities.

The physical comparison of the outlook of a suburban area and a city show major variations

(Monti, 2015). Cities are mostly associated with wealth whereas suburban areas have an

association with wretchedness. This perception makes people commute from suburban areas to

cities in search of jobs and means to better their financial status. Their shift in position to the

cities is mainly to escape the poverty levels that are still quite vital in brandishing suburban areas

(Levine, 2015). The probabilities of getting a well-paying job in the city are relatively higher as

opposed to the suburban areas since cities are more developed and stable economically.

There has been rapid development in the economy of nations which causes the

controversy of whether the suburban areas still exist. Research and reassurances have been

carried out to affirm to their existence. The studies are still underway, and in its course, most of

the people staying in both developed and developing nations would not agree to be aware of the

existence of these suburban areas (Levine, 2015). This is mainly because most people would not

identify a suburban area even when they saw one. However, many academic works of literature

have been digging deep into the issue, and they give a strong suggestion that affirms to the

existence of suburban areas (Ross & Levine, 2015). Identifying them has been tough lately due

to the rapid improvement in their states.

The suburbs are among the most treasured stereotypes in the United States of America.

According to most articles relating to the suburbs, they are either a suffocating nightmare that

alludes to sameness or the culmination of the big picture in the American dream. However, the

SUBURBS AND CITY DESIGN 3

articles had one thing in common within them, and that is the fact that they give recognition to

suburbs being a home to middle-class people and values (Levine, 2015). The clear definition of

the characteristics that pertain to the suburbs links them to poverty, diversity, and noise.

Concisely, the suburbs are characteristically on the verge of vanishing (Monti, 2015). The later

makes them represent the locus of a retreat from the tumult that is clearly a part of the American

life.

Fig 1: Ross, B. & Levine, (2015)

Contrary to anticipations, the suburbs have seen a rapid improvement in their states

making them compete at the same level with cities. In comparison to the rates of employment in

the towns, those in the cities are relatively higher. This fact makes the suburbs a home to

numerous immigrants who go there for better lifestyles. The employment opportunities that may

be available in the major metropolitan areas can only be at a distance of three miles from the

traditional downtown. These opportunities only stand at the rate of twenty-two percent (Monti,

2015). There are more chances to get employment, but they are twice away from the

SUBURBS AND CITY DESIGN 4

metropolitan areas that people stay. This is quite discouraging, and that is why approximately

60% of the total population chooses to live in the suburbs (Levine, 2015).

U.S. Population living in Metropolitan areas and their Central Cities and Suburbs, 1900-

1990 (percentage)

U.S. Population Living in:

Metropolitan Population Living in:

Year

Metropolitan Areas

Central Cities

Suburbs

Central Cities

Suburbs

1900

25.5

19.7

5.8

77.3

22.7

1910

28.3

21.7

6.6

76.7

23.3

1920

34.0

25.3

8.7

74.4

25.6

1930

44.6

30.8

13.8

69.1

30.9

1940

47.8

32.5

15.3

68.0

32.0

1950

56.1

32.8

23.3

58.5

41.5

1960

63.3

32.3

30.9

51.0

49.0

1970

69.0

31.4

37.6

45.5

54.5

1980

74.8

30.0

44.8

40.1

59.9

1990

77.5

31.3

46.2

40.4

59.6

Fig 2: Ross, B. & Levine, (2015)

Just like any other place, the suburban areas also major issues facing them. Poverty is

sometimes just like the air; it chooses to be almost everywhere. Apart from those who come to

seek for better chances in the suburban areas, the poverty levels for the original inhabitants of

these places languish in high levels of poverty (Levine, 2015). The lifestyles of those who intend

to come better their lives find a way coming through with their plans whereas the inhabitants still

stay below the poverty line. Even though some of these families have secure employment

opportunities, poverty still has its way of weighing them down. There is also the issue of

mortgage that only serves to worsen the situation instead of helping the people (Monti, 2015).

Governments in 15 Largest Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas, 1997

Metropolitan

Areas

Total

Governments

Governments/ 100,000

Population

General-Purpose Governments/

100,000 Population

Anaheim

147

6.1

1.3

Atlanta

261

8.8

4.3

Boston

1,000

17.9

7.0

Chicago

1,458

19.7

6.3

Dallas

326

12.2

5.8

Detroit

378

8.9

5.1

SUBURBS AND CITY DESIGN 5

Houston

790

23.8

2.6

Los Angeles-Long

Beach

354

4.0

1.0

Minneapolis-St.

Paul

549

21.6

13.5

New York

213

2.5

1.0

Philadelphia

877

17.8

7.4

Riverside-San

Bernadino

309

11.9

1.9

San Diego

181

7.2

0.8

St. Louis

789

31.7

12.5

Washington, D.C.

169

4.0

2.7

Average

11.9

4.4

Fig 3: Ross, B. & Levine, (2015)

Many factors make a town to earn itself the name a suburban area. Contrary to the

apparent, the trends in suburbanization are very long standing. According to historical sources,

suburbanization has its route back in the early 1880s. However, the significant surge that

encompasses suburbanization has its tracing back in the 1920s (Levine, 2015). The major factors

that are believed to have been behind the rise of suburban areas are the interstate highway

system, the federal mortgage insurance programs that began in the 1950s and the racial tensions,

poverty in the city schools of recent decades and the fear of crime (Monti, 2015). The best way

of explaining suburbanization is through the urban economist model. It was dealing with

improvement in infrastructure and transportation (Monti, 2015). The model was to help reduce

the cost of commuting. Also, the model was to advance technology to create employment

opportunities and long term household incomes. The latter would create decentralization in work

and allow families act in their space preference.

The other means that may be as well be significant in explaining suburbanization is by

the use of the stress push factors that have a relation to both social and fiscal problems that cities

face. These problems may be inclusive of high tax rates, poor city amenities and inadequacy of

public schools to foster better education. This explanation apparently shows that the two

SUBURBS AND CITY DESIGN 6

accounts lack a mutual exclusion point. However, they assist in explaining the daunting

economic challenges that urban areas face. In spite of the various problems that the cities may be

known of, they are the almost the perfect places for revitalization and growth (Monti, 2015). The

interplay point that both opportunities and challenges create, provides a critical task for

researchers and policy makers.

In order for the United States to manage and maintain its place in the global economy, it

is worthwhile to grapple with the opportunities and problems that its suburban areas are facing.

Also, the government should step in and help in the preservation and production of housing at

the rates that may be affordable to the low income earning families (Levine, 2015). The housing

crisis flattens suburban governments. This is because they lack the experience to find solutions to

the vacancies that keep strafing neighborhoods. Also, the governments lack the capacities that

would help them in slowing the tide of foreclosures. Federal governments should allocate funds

to local authorities that would assist in the purchase of foreclosed properties and find the use of

lands that are not having any use at all.

There is a mental line that exists between suburban area and cities. The implementation

of policies does not treat metropolitan areas as a whole. Most of the clusters for high-tech

industries regarding urban areas are not taken all round every area but just the selective few. The

overall understanding of regional groups is that they foster both innovational economic growth

and this makes them not to look pretty in only one of just a few municipalities (Ross & Levine,

2015). This is the main reason most people speak of Route 128 and Silicon Valley instead of

Boston or San Jose (Levine, 2015). Another major issue is that federal job-training funds do not

give a reflection of the manner in which modern economies work.

SUBURBS AND CITY DESIGN 7

Most of the levels of government lack physical landscape reinvent. It is vital to create

communities that are walkable. Also, there is need to put in place a public transport that connects

people within the suburbs to concert halls, schools, sports fields and jobs that are most likely to

be present the next county, neighborhood or municipality. The people living in the suburban

areas are known to be very fond of their SUV vehicles, but then the shift would gladly offer them

a great opportunity for low greenhouse gas emissions, higher housing values, and less traffic

congestion on roads (Levine, 2015). The top rates of housing costs are mainly attributes of the

proximity of the houses to transit.

The developments that are prerequisite in the suburban areas lies in the arms of the

federal government. This is because they play a very crucial role in the lowering of regulatory

hurdles and provision of funds that would help see the development plans and projects through to

their completion. The previous President of the United States, President Barrack Obama was

aware of the challenges that were brought to his attention about suburban areas (Lane, 2015). He,

through the help of other leaders in his tenure, led to the formulation of strategies that would

greatly assist in finding exclusive solutions to the problems that suburban areas are facing. The

necessitation was through his office and the urban policy that made the promise to generate the

implementation strategies to arriving at amicable solutions.

However, leaving the past behind isn’t always such an easy task to undertake. Although

the federal governments may try so hard to put an end to the suburb tradition, it just becomes

harder by the day since the social concerns that the people are so much engrossed in, seem to

follow the society (Lane, 2015) inexorably. These include the demands, compromises and the

pressures of the city life. This makes it difficult for those in authority to put an end to the

suburban areas and even make rational decisions regarding the same. Due to this fact, the leaders

SUBURBS AND CITY DESIGN 8

inclusive of the president have no option but to make mental jumps that would get them across

the urban and the suburban boundary and allow them to catch up with the route that the people in

these areas are taking.

Conclusively, the fight in making the suburban areas should not come to an end anytime

soon until the issue settles. This is because the economic gauging is done inclusive of the people

leading sub-standard lives in these areas. This implies that if they are left to do as they please,

they will keep weighing the country’s economy down. However, if there can be measures that

can be put in place to help curb the situation or even better, bring it to an end, then it’s worth

giving a try. The authorities should develop urban centers and lower the poverty levels by

creating more employment opportunities that would empower the people and boost the economy.

SUBURBS AND CITY DESIGN 9

References

Lane, B. M. (2015). Houses for a new world: Builders and buyers in American suburbs, 1945-

1965.

Levine, M. A. (2015). Urban Politics: Cities and suburbs in a global age.

Monti, D. J. (2015). Urban people and places: The sociology of cities, suburbs, and towns.

Ross, B. H., & Levine, M. A. (2015). Urban Politics: Cities and suburbs in a global age.

Place new order. It's free, fast and safe

Paper type

Deadline

Page count

550 words

Total price: $ 15.00

Our customers say

Jeff Curtis

USA, Student

"I'm fully satisfied with the essay I've just received. When I read it, I felt like it was exactly what I wanted to say, but couldn’t find the necessary words. Thank you!"

Ian McGregor

UK, Student

"I don’t know what I would do without your assistance! With your help, I met my deadline just in time and the work was very professional. I will be back in several days with another assignment!"

Shannon Williams

Canada, Student

"It was the perfect experience! I enjoyed working with my writer, he delivered my work on time and followed all the guidelines about the referencing and contents."