Suburbia in the 21st Century

'Though urban studies has long been preoccupied with the inner city, suburbanisation continues to be the dominant form of urban development, with COVID accelerating the demand for suburbs regarded as more spacious and salubrious than their inner city counterparts. Recognising this, Suburbia in the 21st Century questions the privileging of suburbia, and explores the underside of the suburban dream, taking us into a non-place realm that is often debt-ridden, alienating and environmentally damaging. The wide range of international case studies in this collection nonetheless highlights the diversity of suburban forms, and deftly avoids dystopian stereotypes to provide a more nuanced and balanced analysis. An important and timely book that represents the state-of-the-art in critical urban scholarship.'

Phil Hubbard, Professor of Urban Studies, King’s College London, UK

'This definitive collection provides a rich compendium of research and writing on the suburbs by leading scholars in the field. Challenging reductionist views of the suburb as subordinate to the city, the contributions in this book present suburbia as diverse, complex and dynamic. Theoretically informed but empirically detailed, the chapters offer broad ranging insights into the nature, character and transformations taking place within suburban environments across the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada as well as a number of European nations. An essential reference for urban geographers, planners, and sociologists, Suburbia in the 21stCentury: From Dreamscape to Nightmare? is an important and timely volume which demands to be widely read.'

Nicole Gurran, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning and Director of the Henry Halloran Trust, The University of Sydney, Australia

'The edges of our cities have become central to discussions about how and where we will live in the future. Suburbia in the 21st Century assembles a cutting-edge collection that injects evidence to these deliberations. In a series of critical essays leading analysts take the pulse of these new urban heartlands, variously diagnosing spaces of opportunity and despair, spotting signs of policy failure and social utopia. These investigations help to correct popular ideas of the suburbs as simply sterile or affluent spaces, highlighting instead their variability of form, myriad lifestyles, resident groups, problems and potential. This exciting and timely collection brings insight, energy and critique to a subject that concerns us all. In the post-pandemic context and as these centres of increasing urban gravity continue to grow this collection helps us to understand the problems and possibilities of our new (sub)urban condition.'

Rowland Atkinson, Chair in Inclusive Societies, University of Sheffield, UK

'A remarkable book that makes a compelling case for urban studies and planning to reconsider the suburbs. This outstanding edited collection is accessible reading for scholars, students, and practitioners alike. Its contributors mount clear and persuasive arguments about why we ought to take the suburbs seriously, exploring myriad issues including suburban diversity and disadvantage. The book demolishes a longstanding fallacy that the suburbs are banal 'blandscapes'. Using international case examples, its contributors convincingly illustrate how the suburbs are places characterised by ethno-racial, sexual and socio-economic diversity. Overturning the cartoonish caricatures of low-density housing, golf courses and shopping malls that occupy the imaginary of some urban theorists, this book shows how suburbs are heterogeneous spaces of social (re)production. The book masterfully redresses a longstanding asymmetry in (sub)urban writing, research, and theorising.'

Jason Byrne, Professor of Human Geography and Planning, University of Tasmania, Australia

‘This fine collection presents a wide-ranging assessment of Suburbia in the 21st Century. In the wake of recent economic, ecological and social disruptions, most recently the Covid pandemic, this re-evaluation of the ‘suburban project’ is timely and challenging. Long considered a haven from the rigours of city life, the suburb has not escaped the many injuries visited on the wider global patterns of urbanisation in recent years. It bears witness to human dreams and nightmares. This book brings together analyses from leading contributors to suburban scholarship who make sense of these harms, as well as the continuing meaning and gratification that many people find in the suburban setting. The editors are to be congratulated for the wide international sweep of the book which takes us beyond the more familiar urban terrains of the anglosphere.’

Brendan Gleeson FASSA, Professor of Urban Policy Studies and Director of the Sustainable Society Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia

‘Maginn and Anacker provide us with a fascinating contribution to the burgeoning and much-needed scholarly work on suburbs across the globe. With chapters from leading suburban scholars, this volume takes us to countries such as Australia, Finland, Ireland and France, to name a few, to demonstrate the varied and dynamic processes of suburbanization and the suburban experience. Engaging theory and undergoing empirical analyses of the dreamscape and discord that is suburbia, Maginn and Anacker achieve their goal of rightly placing these places at metaphorical center of urban scholarship. This book is a necessary read for real engagement beyond the current city focus of urban studies.’

Bernadette Hanlon, Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning, Ohio State University, USA