From PlanningWiki

Contents 1 Why do suburbs happen? 2 Pro 3 Cons 4 What can be done against suburbs? 4.1 What can be done for suburbs?

Why do suburbs happen?

Cheap energy combined with the drive to live far away from others on a piece of land unassailable by others have produced a climate of satisfaction along the principle of least action. What is in fact true is that a suburb is far removed from the principle of least action because instead of putting in a new building in a piece of established infrastructure, it is necessary to invest a huge amount of energy to be able to just build the first house - after which it all gets easier. Where a suburb is like a car's development cycle - it required huge initial investment, is profitable for a while and then fades out, an urban area is like computer's life cycle - bits of it are upgraded one piece at a time.

Pro

• Suburbs conform to the standards set by mass industrialisation over the last 100 years. Suburban environments tend to provide a great degree of privacy, quiet, space, and greenery; all things which dense central city cores have largely failed to provide adequate levels of in the eyes of many people.

Cons

• Suburbs require cheap and abundant energy supplies.

• They isolate residents from one another because houses tend to be spaced so far apart that automobile travel is the only convenient way to reach destinations.

• Do not maximize use of land in turn promoting an excessive and wasteful living style draining resources. Lots and divisions tend to be larger than in inner urban areas and very seldom do they provide a mixed use environment further tearing the community fabric apart.

• Increase the carbon footprint left by an individual dramatically.

• Suburbs typically have more traffic congestion and longer travel times than traditional neighborhoods. Only the traffic within the short streets themselves is less. This is due to three factors: almost-mandatory automobile ownership due to poor suburban bus systems, longer travel distances and the hierarchy system, which is less efficient at distributing traffic than the traditional grid of streets.

In the suburban system, most trips from one component to another component requires that cars enter a collector road, no matter how short or long the distance is. This is compounded by the hierarchy of streets, where entire neighborhoods and subdivisions are dependent on one or two collector roads. Because all traffic is forced onto these roads, they are often heavy with traffic all day. If a traffic accident occurs on a collector road, or if road construction inhibits the flow, then the entire road system may be rendered useless until the blockage is cleared. The traditional "grown" grid, in turn, allows for a larger number of choices and alternate routes.

Suburban systems of the sprawl type are also quite inefficient for cyclists or pedestrians, as the direct route is usually not available for them either. This encourages car trips even for distances as low as several hundreds of meters (which may have become up to several kilometres due to the road network). Improved sprawl systems, though retaining the car detours, possess cycle paths and footpath connecting across the arms of the sprawl system, allowing a more direct route while still keeping the cars out of the residential and side streets.

What can be done against suburbs?

Promote mix used projects. Move out of suburban neighborhoods and back to urban living. Reinvest in our urban centers.

What can be done for suburbs?