Suburbanization

Suburbanization, or suburbanisation, is a population shift from central urban areas into suburbs, resulting in the formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence of the movement of households and businesses out of the city centers, low-density, peripheral urban areas grow. Sub-urbanization is inversely related to urbanization (urbanisation), which denotes a population shift from rural areas into urban centers. Many residents of metropolitan regions work within the central urban area, but live outside of it, in satellite communities called suburbs, and commute to work by car or mass transit. Others have the opportunity to work from home, due to technological advances. Suburbanization often occurs in more economically developed countries. The United States is believed to be the first country in which the majority of the population lived in suburbs rather than cities or rural areas. Proponents of containing the urban sprawl argue that the sprawl leads to urban decay and a concentration of lower-income residents in the inner city, in addition to environmental harm. In some cases, suburbanization is temporary. As population grows, the zones of the concentric zone model may move outward to escape the increasing density of inward areas. For example, Kings County, New York served New York City as farmland in the 18th century, with boats carrying produce across the East River. The steam ferry later made Brooklyn Heights a commuter town for Wall Street. With streetcars, suburbanization spread through the county, and the City of Brooklyn grew to fill the county. Areas along the river became industrialized and apartment buildings filled the places where factories did not replace the scattered houses. As a result, much of Brooklyn transformed from a suburban economy into an urban economy entirely—many other suburbs followed this same cycle. Cheaper transport in the years after World War II allowed people to live farther apart, in neighborhoods differing from each other. For example, the social situation in the French suburbs came to differ from that of the inner cities.