Suburbia in the 21st Century

From Dreamscape to Nightmare?

Paul Maginn, Katrin B. Anacker, Paul J. Maginn, Katrin B. Anacker, Paul Maginn, Paul J. Maginn, Katrin B. Anacker

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781138185913
• eBook ISBN: 9781317288183
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

The majority of the world's population now live in urban areas and the 21st century has been declared as the "urban age". However, closer inspection of where people live in cities, especially within so-called advanced liberal democracies such as Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, reveals that most people live in different types of suburban environments.

Drawing together scholars from across the globe, this book provides a series of national, regional, and local case studies from Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States to exemplify the diverse and dynamic nature and importance of suburbia in 21st century urban studies, city-building, and urbanism.

This book explores the evolving social, physical, and economic character of the suburbs and how structural processes, market dynamics, and government policies have shaped and transformed suburbia around the world. It highlights the continuing importance of the suburbs and the suburban dream, which lives on albeit under increasing challenges, such as the global financial crisis, structural racism, and the Covid-19 pandemic, which have given rise to various suburban nightmares.

1Suburbia in the 21st CenturyFrom Dreamscape to Nightmare?

Paul J. Maginn and Katrin B. Anacker

DOI: 10.4324/9781315644165-1

Introduction

In 2019, more than half (55.7 per cent) of the world’s population (7.7 billion) were deemed to be living in urban areas (United Nations, 2018). The degree of urbanisation in Western liberal democracies such as Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) – countries all featured in this book – ranged from 63.4 per cent (Ireland) to 86.1 per cent (Australia; United Nations, 2018). As shown in Table 1.1, all the aforementioned nations, except Ireland, have been highly urbanised since at least 1950. Ireland, a nation long, and often still, seen as a somewhat rural society, did not emerge as a predominantly urbanised society until 1969 (United Nations, 2018). Different global sub-regions have already become or are projected to become predominantly urbanised at different times. For example, Latin America and the Caribbean region became highly urbanised in 1961. Asia only became a largely urbanised region in 2019. Continental Africa is not projected to be predominantly urban until 2034, although the Southern Africa and Northern Africa sub-regions became highly urbanised in 2000 and 2010, respectively. In sum, by 2050, the majority of the world’s major regions and sub-regions will be predominantly urbanised (United Nations, 2018).

A number of island and other small nations such as Gibraltar, the Holy See/Vatican, Monaco, Anguilla, Singapore Macao, and Belgium have long been what might be termed hyper-urbanised – that is, where at least 90 per cent of the population live in urban areas. The UN (2018) projects that Australia and the UK will be hyper-urbanised by 2044 (90 per cent) and 2050 (90.2 per cent), respectively, and that other nations – Canada (87.3 per cent), France (88.3 per cent), Spain (88 per cent), and the US (89.2 per cent) – will be on the cusp of hyper-urbanisation by 2050. The extent and degree of urbanisation that has transpired since the middle of the 20th century has led various scholars to use descriptors such as a ‘planet of cities’ (Angel et al., 2011), ‘extended urbanisation’ (Monte-Mor, 2014; Keil, 2017a) and ‘planetary urbanisation’ (Brenner, 2014; Brenner & Schmid, 2014; 2015). Put simply, such terms reify the hegemonic position of the city/urban within urban studies. Gleeson (2014), for example, captures the socio-cultural and embeddedness of the urban with his framing of the human species as homo urbanis now that the majority of the world’s population live in urban areas. As noted elsewhere in this volume (see Gordon in this volume), a more nuanced analysis of cities within developed nations such as Australia (Gordon et al., 2015), Canada (Gordon et al., 2018), the UK (Goldsworthy, 2009), and the US (Airgood-Obrycki & Rieger, 2019), reveals that the majority of people in city-regions live in a complex array of suburban environments. Hence, it is arguably more accurate to describe the human species as homo (sub)urbanis.

In the Shadows: The (In)Visibility of the Suburbs

The ‘city’ has long held a privileged position among geographers, sociologists, and planners, especiall...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Endorsement Page
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Contributors
• 1 Suburbia in the 21st Century: From Dreamscape to Nightmare?
• Part I Representations of Suburbia
• Part II To Suburbia and Beyond
• Part III From Dreamscape to Nightmare?
• Conclusions
• Index