Early history

The earliest appearance of suburbs coincided with the expansion of the first urban settlements. Large walled cities were often the focus around which smaller villages grew in a symbiotic relationship with the market town. The word suburbani was first used by the Roman statesman in reference to the large villas and estates built by the wealthy patricians of Rome on the outskirts of the city.

Towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty (until 190 AD, when Dong Zhuo razed the city) the capital, Luoyang, was occupied mainly by the emperor and important officials; The city's inhabitants mostly lived in small towns just outside Luoyang, which were suburbs in all but name.[6]​.

As the population grew during the Early Modern Period in Europe, cities swelled with a constant influx of people from the countryside. In some places, nearby settlements were swallowed up by the expansion of the main city. The peripheral areas of the city were often inhabited by the poorest.[7]

Origins of the modern suburb

Due to the rapid migration of the rural poor to the industrializing cities of England at the turn of the century, a reverse trend began to develop, whereby newly wealthy members of the middle classes began to purchase estates and villas on the outskirts of London. This trend accelerated throughout the century, especially as cities such as London and Birmingham grew rapidly, and the first suburban districts emerged around city centers to accommodate those who wanted to escape the miserable conditions of industrial cities. At first, this growth occurred along railroad lines in the form of ribbon development, as suburban residents could commute by train to the city center to work. In Australia, where Melbourne would soon become the second largest city in the British Empire,[8]

The distinctively Australian suburb, with its loosely aggregated quarter-acre sections, developed in the 1850s.[9]

and ended up becoming a component of the Australian dream.

Towards the end of the century, with the development of public transportation systems, such as subways, trams, and buses, it became possible for the majority of a city's population to live outside of it and travel downtown to work.[7]​.

In the middle of the century, the first large suburban areas emerged around London, as the city (then the largest in the world) became overcrowded and unhealthy. An important catalyst for suburban growth was the opening of the Metropolitan Railway in the 1860s. The line later linked the financial heart of London with what would become the suburbs of Middlesex.[10] The line reached Harrow station in 1880.

Unlike other railway companies, which had to dispose of surplus land, the London Met was allowed to retain land it deemed necessary for future railway use.[11] Initially, surplus land was managed by the Land Committee,[12] and, from the 1880s, land was developed and sold to domestic buyers in places such as Willesden Park Estate, Cecil Park, near Pinner") and at Wembley Park.

In 1912 it was suggested that a specially formed company take over from the Surplus Land Committee and develop suburban estates near the railway. However, the First World War (1914–1918) delayed these plans until 1919, when, with the expectation of a post-war property boom, Metropolitan Railway Country Estates Limited (MRCE) went on to develop housing estates at Kingsbury Garden Village nearby. of Neasden"), Wembley Park"), Cecil Park and Grange Estate in Pinner") and Cedars Estate in Rickmansworth and to found places such as Harrow Garden Village").[14]​[15]​.

The Met's marketing department coined the term "Metro-land" in 1915, when the Guide to the Extension Line became the Metro-land guide, priced at 1d. This guide promoted the land served by the Metro to the walker, the visitor and, later, the house hunter.[13] Published annually until 1932 (the Met's last full year of independence), the guide extolled the benefits of "The good air of the Chilterns", using language like this: "Every lover of Metroland can have his own favorite wood of beech and bush - all the quivering green beauty in spring and russet and gold in October". in large areas of new construction in north-west London.[18]​.

Interwar suburban expansion in England

Suburbanization in the interwar period in England was greatly influenced by Ebenezer Howard's garden city movement and the creation of the first garden suburbs at the turn of the century. Hampstead Heath estate, they established trusts in 1904 which purchased 243 acres of land along the newly opened northern line extension to Golders Green and created the Hampstead Garden Suburb. The suburb attracted the talents of architects such as Raymond Unwin and Sir Edwin Lutyens, and eventually grew to encompass more than 800 acres.[20]​.

During the First World War in England the Tudor Walters Committee was tasked with making recommendations for post-war reconstruction and housing construction. In part, this was a response to the shocking lack of physical fitness among many recruits during the First World War, attributed to poor living conditions; a belief summed up in a housing poster of the time "you can't expect to get an A1 population out of C3 houses" - referring to military fitness classifications of the time.

The committee's report of 1917 was taken up by the government, which approved the Housing, Urban Planning, etc. Act. of 1919, also known as the Addison Act after Dr Christopher Addison, then Minister of Housing. The Act permitted the construction of large new housing estates in the suburbs after the First World War,[21] and marked the beginning of a century-long tradition of state-owned housing, which would later evolve into council estates.

The Report also legislated for the minimum standards necessary for subsequent suburban construction; This included regulating the maximum density of housing and its layout and even making recommendations on the ideal number of bedrooms and other rooms per house. Although the semi-detached house was first designed by the Shaws (a father and son architectural duo) in the 19th century, it was during the suburban housing boom of the interwar period that the design first proliferated as a suburban icon, being preferred by middle-class homeowners to the smaller semi-detached houses. Tudor Revival architecture"), the chalet style"), and even boat design.

In just a decade, the suburbs increased dramatically in size. Harrow Weald") went from just 1,500 to over 10,000, while Pinner") went from 3,000 to over 20,000. During the 1930s more than 4 million new suburban houses were built, the "suburban revolution" had made England the most suburbanized country in the world, by a considerable margin.

North America

Boston and New York spawned the first major suburbs. Boston's streetcar lines and Manhattan's railroad lines made commuting possible.[23] No metropolitan area in the world was as well served by commuter rail lines at the turn of the century as New York, and it was the rail lines to Westchester from the Grand Central Terminal commuter hub that enabled its development. Westchester's true importance in the history of American suburbanization is due to the development of upper-middle-class towns, such as Carsdale), New Rochelle, and Rye, which served thousands of Manhattan businessmen and executives.[24]

The suburban population in North America exploded during the post-World War II economic expansion. Returning veterans who wanted to start a stable life moved en masse to the suburbs. Levittown") developed as a major prototype of mass housing. Due to the influx of people into these suburban areas, the number of shopping centers began to increase as suburban America took shape. These shopping centers helped supply goods and services to the growing urban population. The purchase of different goods and services in a central location without having to travel to multiple locations, helped maintain shopping centers as a component of these newly designed suburbs that were booming in population. Television contributed to the rise of shopping centers due to the increase in advertising on television, in addition to the desire for products to be shown in suburban life on various television programs. Another factor that led to the rise of these shopping centers was the construction of many highways. The Highway Act of 1956 helped finance the construction of 64,000 kilometers throughout the country by having $26 billion for their use, which helped link many more to these shopping centers with ease.[25] These newly created shopping centers Built, which were often large buildings filled with multiple stores, and services, were being used for more than just shopping, but as a place of leisure and a meeting point for those living within suburban America at this time. These centers prospered by offering goods and services to the growing populations of suburban America. In 1957, 940 shopping centers were built and this number more than doubled in 1960 to meet the demand of these densely populated areas. populated.[26]​.

Very little housing was built during the Great Depression and World War II, except for emergency accommodation near war industries. Overcrowding and inadequate apartments were the common condition. Some suburbs had developed around large cities, where there was rail transportation to downtown jobs. However, the true growth of the suburbs depended on the availability of automobiles, highways, and cheap housing. The population had grown, and families' stash of savings had accumulated money for down payments, cars, and appliances. The product was a great real estate boom. While in the decade from 1930 to 1945 an average of 316,000 new non-agricultural homes should have been built, between 1946 and 1955 1,450,000 were built annually.[27]​ The G.I. Bill guaranteed low-cost loans for veterans, with very low down payments, and low interest rates. With 16 million eligible veterans, the opportunity to buy a home was suddenly within reach. In 1947 alone, 540,000 veterans bought one; Its average price was $7,300. The construction industry kept prices low through standardization; For example, the standardization of the sizes of kitchen cabinets, refrigerators, and stoves allowed for the mass production of kitchen furniture. Developers bought empty lots on the outskirts of town, installed townhouses based on a handful of designs, and provided streets and public services, or local public officials rushed to build schools. The most famous development was Levittown, on Long Island, east of New York City. It offered a new house for $1,000 down and $70 a month; it had three bedrooms, a fireplace, a gas stove and oven, and a lot. 75-by-100-foot landscaped garden, all for a total price of $10,000. Veterans could get one with a much smaller down payment.[29]

At the same time, African Americans were moving rapidly north and west in search of better jobs and educational opportunities than they had in the segregated South. Its arrival en masse in the cities of the North and West, in addition to being followed by racial riots in several large cities such as Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, and Washington D.C., further stimulated suburban migration of whites. The growth of suburbs was facilitated by the development of zoning laws, redlining, and numerous innovations in transportation. Redlining and other discriminatory measures incorporated into federal housing policy furthered racial segregation in the postwar United States, for example by refusing to insure mortgages in and around African-American neighborhoods. The government's efforts were primarily intended to provide housing for middle- or lower-middle-class white families. African Americans and other people of color remained largely concentrated within pockets of declining urban poverty, creating a phenomenon known as white flight.

After World War II, the availability of FHA loans stimulated a housing boom in American suburbs. In older cities in the northeastern United States, streetcar suburbs originally developed along train or streetcar lines that could move workers to and from city centers where jobs were located. This practice gave rise to the term "commuter town", meaning that most daytime commercial activity took place in the city, and the working population left it at night to go home to sleep.

The economic growth of the United States encouraged the suburbanization of American cities, requiring enormous investments in new infrastructure and housing. Consumption patterns were also changing at this time, as purchasing power was increasingly stronger and accessible to a greater number of families. Suburban housing also brought with it needs for products that were not needed in urban neighborhoods, such as lawnmowers and automobiles. During this era, shopping centers were developed near the suburbs to meet the needs of consumers and their car-dependent lifestyle.[31]​.

Zoning laws also contributed to the location of residential areas outside the city center, creating large areas or "zones" in which only residential buildings were permitted. These suburban residences are built on larger lots than in the city center. For example, the lot size for a residence in Chicago typically has a depth of 125 feet (38.1 m),[32] while the width can vary from 14 feet (4.3 m) wide for a townhouse to 45 feet (13.7 m) wide for a large detached house. In the suburbs, where detached houses are the norm, lots may be 85 feet (25.9 m) wide by 115 feet (35.1 m) deep, as in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. In other areas of the city, industrial and commercial buildings were segregated.

Along with suburbanization, many companies began to locate their offices and other facilities in the outer areas of cities, leading to the increase in the density of older suburbs and the growth of lower-density suburbs even further from urban centers. An alternative strategy is the deliberate design of "new cities" and the protection of the green belt around cities. Some social reformers attempted to combine the best of both concepts in the garden city movement.[33]​.

In the United States, 1950 was the first year in which more people lived in the suburbs than elsewhere.[34] In the US, the development of skyscrapers and the strong inflation of downtown real estate prices also led to downtowns becoming more devoted to business, thus pushing residents out of the city center.

Early history

The earliest appearance of suburbs coincided with the expansion of the first urban settlements. Large walled cities were often the focus around which smaller villages grew in a symbiotic relationship with the market town. The word suburbani was first used by the Roman statesman in reference to the large villas and estates built by the wealthy patricians of Rome on the outskirts of the city.

Towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty (until 190 AD, when Dong Zhuo razed the city) the capital, Luoyang, was occupied mainly by the emperor and important officials; The city's inhabitants mostly lived in small towns just outside Luoyang, which were suburbs in all but name.[6]​.

As the population grew during the Early Modern Period in Europe, cities swelled with a constant influx of people from the countryside. In some places, nearby settlements were swallowed up by the expansion of the main city. The peripheral areas of the city were often inhabited by the poorest.[7]

Origins of the modern suburb

Due to the rapid migration of the rural poor to the industrializing cities of England at the turn of the century, a reverse trend began to develop, whereby newly wealthy members of the middle classes began to purchase estates and villas on the outskirts of London. This trend accelerated throughout the century, especially as cities such as London and Birmingham grew rapidly, and the first suburban districts emerged around city centers to accommodate those who wanted to escape the miserable conditions of industrial cities. At first, this growth occurred along railroad lines in the form of ribbon development, as suburban residents could commute by train to the city center to work. In Australia, where Melbourne would soon become the second largest city in the British Empire,[8]

The distinctively Australian suburb, with its loosely aggregated quarter-acre sections, developed in the 1850s.[9]

and ended up becoming a component of the Australian dream.

Towards the end of the century, with the development of public transportation systems, such as subways, trams, and buses, it became possible for the majority of a city's population to live outside of it and travel downtown to work.[7]​.

In the middle of the century, the first large suburban areas emerged around London, as the city (then the largest in the world) became overcrowded and unhealthy. An important catalyst for suburban growth was the opening of the Metropolitan Railway in the 1860s. The line later linked the financial heart of London with what would become the suburbs of Middlesex.[10] The line reached Harrow station in 1880.

Unlike other railway companies, which had to dispose of surplus land, the London Met was allowed to retain land it deemed necessary for future railway use.[11] Initially, surplus land was managed by the Land Committee,[12] and, from the 1880s, land was developed and sold to domestic buyers in places such as Willesden Park Estate, Cecil Park, near Pinner") and at Wembley Park.

In 1912 it was suggested that a specially formed company take over from the Surplus Land Committee and develop suburban estates near the railway. However, the First World War (1914–1918) delayed these plans until 1919, when, with the expectation of a post-war property boom, Metropolitan Railway Country Estates Limited (MRCE) went on to develop housing estates at Kingsbury Garden Village nearby. of Neasden"), Wembley Park"), Cecil Park and Grange Estate in Pinner") and Cedars Estate in Rickmansworth and to found places such as Harrow Garden Village").[14]​[15]​.

The Met's marketing department coined the term "Metro-land" in 1915, when the Guide to the Extension Line became the Metro-land guide, priced at 1d. This guide promoted the land served by the Metro to the walker, the visitor and, later, the house hunter.[13] Published annually until 1932 (the Met's last full year of independence), the guide extolled the benefits of "The good air of the Chilterns", using language like this: "Every lover of Metroland can have his own favorite wood of beech and bush - all the quivering green beauty in spring and russet and gold in October". in large areas of new construction in north-west London.[18]​.

Interwar suburban expansion in England

Suburbanization in the interwar period in England was greatly influenced by Ebenezer Howard's garden city movement and the creation of the first garden suburbs at the turn of the century. Hampstead Heath estate, they established trusts in 1904 which purchased 243 acres of land along the newly opened northern line extension to Golders Green and created the Hampstead Garden Suburb. The suburb attracted the talents of architects such as Raymond Unwin and Sir Edwin Lutyens, and eventually grew to encompass more than 800 acres.[20]​.

During the First World War in England the Tudor Walters Committee was tasked with making recommendations for post-war reconstruction and housing construction. In part, this was a response to the shocking lack of physical fitness among many recruits during the First World War, attributed to poor living conditions; a belief summed up in a housing poster of the time "you can't expect to get an A1 population out of C3 houses" - referring to military fitness classifications of the time.

The committee's report of 1917 was taken up by the government, which approved the Housing, Urban Planning, etc. Act. of 1919, also known as the Addison Act after Dr Christopher Addison, then Minister of Housing. The Act permitted the construction of large new housing estates in the suburbs after the First World War,[21] and marked the beginning of a century-long tradition of state-owned housing, which would later evolve into council estates.

The Report also legislated for the minimum standards necessary for subsequent suburban construction; This included regulating the maximum density of housing and its layout and even making recommendations on the ideal number of bedrooms and other rooms per house. Although the semi-detached house was first designed by the Shaws (a father and son architectural duo) in the 19th century, it was during the suburban housing boom of the interwar period that the design first proliferated as a suburban icon, being preferred by middle-class homeowners to the smaller semi-detached houses. Tudor Revival architecture"), the chalet style"), and even boat design.

In just a decade, the suburbs increased dramatically in size. Harrow Weald") went from just 1,500 to over 10,000, while Pinner") went from 3,000 to over 20,000. During the 1930s more than 4 million new suburban houses were built, the "suburban revolution" had made England the most suburbanized country in the world, by a considerable margin.

North America

Boston and New York spawned the first major suburbs. Boston's streetcar lines and Manhattan's railroad lines made commuting possible.[23] No metropolitan area in the world was as well served by commuter rail lines at the turn of the century as New York, and it was the rail lines to Westchester from the Grand Central Terminal commuter hub that enabled its development. Westchester's true importance in the history of American suburbanization is due to the development of upper-middle-class towns, such as Carsdale), New Rochelle, and Rye, which served thousands of Manhattan businessmen and executives.[24]

The suburban population in North America exploded during the post-World War II economic expansion. Returning veterans who wanted to start a stable life moved en masse to the suburbs. Levittown") developed as a major prototype of mass housing. Due to the influx of people into these suburban areas, the number of shopping centers began to increase as suburban America took shape. These shopping centers helped supply goods and services to the growing urban population. The purchase of different goods and services in a central location without having to travel to multiple locations, helped maintain shopping centers as a component of these newly designed suburbs that were booming in population. Television contributed to the rise of shopping centers due to the increase in advertising on television, in addition to the desire for products to be shown in suburban life on various television programs. Another factor that led to the rise of these shopping centers was the construction of many highways. The Highway Act of 1956 helped finance the construction of 64,000 kilometers throughout the country by having $26 billion for their use, which helped link many more to these shopping centers with ease.[25] These newly created shopping centers Built, which were often large buildings filled with multiple stores, and services, were being used for more than just shopping, but as a place of leisure and a meeting point for those living within suburban America at this time. These centers prospered by offering goods and services to the growing populations of suburban America. In 1957, 940 shopping centers were built and this number more than doubled in 1960 to meet the demand of these densely populated areas. populated.[26]​.

Very little housing was built during the Great Depression and World War II, except for emergency accommodation near war industries. Overcrowding and inadequate apartments were the common condition. Some suburbs had developed around large cities, where there was rail transportation to downtown jobs. However, the true growth of the suburbs depended on the availability of automobiles, highways, and cheap housing. The population had grown, and families' stash of savings had accumulated money for down payments, cars, and appliances. The product was a great real estate boom. While in the decade from 1930 to 1945 an average of 316,000 new non-agricultural homes should have been built, between 1946 and 1955 1,450,000 were built annually.[27]​ The G.I. Bill guaranteed low-cost loans for veterans, with very low down payments, and low interest rates. With 16 million eligible veterans, the opportunity to buy a home was suddenly within reach. In 1947 alone, 540,000 veterans bought one; Its average price was $7,300. The construction industry kept prices low through standardization; For example, the standardization of the sizes of kitchen cabinets, refrigerators, and stoves allowed for the mass production of kitchen furniture. Developers bought empty lots on the outskirts of town, installed townhouses based on a handful of designs, and provided streets and public services, or local public officials rushed to build schools. The most famous development was Levittown, on Long Island, east of New York City. It offered a new house for $1,000 down and $70 a month; it had three bedrooms, a fireplace, a gas stove and oven, and a lot. 75-by-100-foot landscaped garden, all for a total price of $10,000. Veterans could get one with a much smaller down payment.[29]

At the same time, African Americans were moving rapidly north and west in search of better jobs and educational opportunities than they had in the segregated South. Its arrival en masse in the cities of the North and West, in addition to being followed by racial riots in several large cities such as Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, and Washington D.C., further stimulated suburban migration of whites. The growth of suburbs was facilitated by the development of zoning laws, redlining, and numerous innovations in transportation. Redlining and other discriminatory measures incorporated into federal housing policy furthered racial segregation in the postwar United States, for example by refusing to insure mortgages in and around African-American neighborhoods. The government's efforts were primarily intended to provide housing for middle- or lower-middle-class white families. African Americans and other people of color remained largely concentrated within pockets of declining urban poverty, creating a phenomenon known as white flight.

After World War II, the availability of FHA loans stimulated a housing boom in American suburbs. In older cities in the northeastern United States, streetcar suburbs originally developed along train or streetcar lines that could move workers to and from city centers where jobs were located. This practice gave rise to the term "commuter town", meaning that most daytime commercial activity took place in the city, and the working population left it at night to go home to sleep.

The economic growth of the United States encouraged the suburbanization of American cities, requiring enormous investments in new infrastructure and housing. Consumption patterns were also changing at this time, as purchasing power was increasingly stronger and accessible to a greater number of families. Suburban housing also brought with it needs for products that were not needed in urban neighborhoods, such as lawnmowers and automobiles. During this era, shopping centers were developed near the suburbs to meet the needs of consumers and their car-dependent lifestyle.[31]​.

Zoning laws also contributed to the location of residential areas outside the city center, creating large areas or "zones" in which only residential buildings were permitted. These suburban residences are built on larger lots than in the city center. For example, the lot size for a residence in Chicago typically has a depth of 125 feet (38.1 m),[32] while the width can vary from 14 feet (4.3 m) wide for a townhouse to 45 feet (13.7 m) wide for a large detached house. In the suburbs, where detached houses are the norm, lots may be 85 feet (25.9 m) wide by 115 feet (35.1 m) deep, as in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. In other areas of the city, industrial and commercial buildings were segregated.

Along with suburbanization, many companies began to locate their offices and other facilities in the outer areas of cities, leading to the increase in the density of older suburbs and the growth of lower-density suburbs even further from urban centers. An alternative strategy is the deliberate design of "new cities" and the protection of the green belt around cities. Some social reformers attempted to combine the best of both concepts in the garden city movement.[33]​.

In the United States, 1950 was the first year in which more people lived in the suburbs than elsewhere.[34] In the US, the development of skyscrapers and the strong inflation of downtown real estate prices also led to downtowns becoming more devoted to business, thus pushing residents out of the city center.