Suburb

Suburbs are less-densely populated sections located outside of the central district of a city. Originally a shortened form of the term "sub-urban."

In the U.S.A. suburbs traditionally were residential areas with single family homes located near to shopping areas and schools. Now, due to increased populations in many greater metropolitan areas, suburbs can be densely populated and contain apartment buildings, townhomes, in addition to office complexes and light manufacturing facilities.

The growth of U.S. suburbs was intially facilitated by the development of zoning laws and better transportation systems. In the older cities of the northeast U.S., suburbs originally developed along train or trolley lines that could shuttle workers into and out of city centers where the jobs were located. This practice gave rise to the term "bedroom community" or dormatory, meaning that most daytime business activity took place in the city, with the working population leaving the city at night for the purpose of going home to sleep. The growth in the use of automobiles and highway construction increased the ease with which workers could have a job in the city while commuting in from the suburbs. In the United Kingdom railways stimulated the first mass exodus to the suburbs, which were described as "Metroland" around London, and were mostly characterised by semi-detached houses. As car ownership rose and wider roads were built, the commuting trend accelerated as in the north America. This trend towards living away from the center of towns and cities has been termed the Urban Exodus.

Zoning laws also contributed to the location of residential areas outside of the city center by creating wide areas or "zones" where the only permitted buildings were residential in nature. Manufacturing and commerical buildings were segregated in other areas of the city.

Increasingly, due to the congestion and pollution experienced in many city centers (accentuated by the commuters' vehicles), more people moved out to the suburbs. Along with the population, many companies also located their offices and other facilities in the outer areas of the cities. This has resulted in increased density in older suburbs and, often, the growth of lower density suburbs even further from city centers. An alternative strategy is the deliberate design of "new towns" and the protection of [Green Belt]s around cities. Some social reformers attempted to combine the best of both concepts in the Garden City movement.

A socio-political movement, called New Urbanism or Smart Growth, is currently in vogue in the U.S.A., Canada and northern Europe. This movement among city planners, builders, and architects, holds that denser, more city-like communities with less rigid zoning laws and mixed-use buildings are desirable. Such communities ease traffic since people do not need to commute as far and may foster a better sense of community among residents. Some of these communities seek to reduce car-dependency (i.e. the use of personal automobiles) wherever possible. This movement has resulted in both the construction of new developments that embody these principles, as well as renovation of areas in existing city centers for new residential and commercial activities. Whether any society succeeds in reducing the average distance travelled by each citizen by means of such "Smart Growth" planning strategies, remains to be seen.