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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Is Silver Spring a city or suburb? If that’s a suburb but upper NW is in a city, these distinctions are difficult around here. [/quote]

[i]Three definitions of suburbs

The first method, which the authors call “census convenient,” defines suburbs as anything outside of the principal city of a metropolitan area. As the name suggests, this method simplifies data gathering and analysis. That quality makes it popular among pundits looking to broadly characterize cities and suburbs without going into the details. This definition relies on political boundaries—one city stands for everything urban in a particular metro, while many jurisdictions and counties stand for everything suburban.

This method leaves a lot to be desired. Beyond the central city, suburbs are diverse. They include smaller historic cities and towns, and denser, more connected, “inner ring” suburbs. They also include the vast sprawling outer ring, in addition to places that are reforming and becoming more walkable and mixed-use. Central cities, also, vary significantly. Many have expanded over the years, incorporating broad suburban areas—while other cities retain historical boundaries. The “census convenient” method is too coarse-grained to clearly highlight the diversity in the built environment—and therefore is of limited use in devising strategies to make the suburbs more sustainable.

A second definition deals with markers of lifestyle, specifically single-family dwelling occupancy, homeownership, automobile commuting, and middle-class status. Dubbed “suburbanisms” by Airgood-Obrycki and Rieger, this method employs a stereotype of suburban living. Focusing on “suburbanisms” fails to acknowledge the diversity of lifestyles and neighborhoods, and how they change over time, in both suburbs and cities. Many historic cities include large areas of single-family houses and a high rate of homeownership. Both suburbs and cities are changing demographically—the former growing less wealthy and the latter less poor. CSD does generate a high rate of automobile commuting, but conflating these characteristics yields a muddy view that is too close to the tone of the dated 1960s protest song, “Little Boxes.”

Finally, the authors describe a method based on development eras, which they call the “typology” definition. Areas built prior to 1950, whether inside or outside the principal city, are defined as “urban.” Places built roughly between 1950 through 1969 are defined as “inner ring” suburbs. Developments from 1970 onward are called “outer suburbs.” These three eras strongly correlate with walkable, traditional neighborhoods (pre-1950), denser, more connected suburbs (1950-1969), and the most sprawling areas (1970-present).

While the typology method has merit, the definition is rooted in a static view of place—yet cities and suburbs are changing all of the time. There was a time, not long ago, when planners and developers were busy tearing down historic neighborhoods to build parking lots and wider roads, making them more like conventional suburbs. Now the reverse is happening in many suburbs. [/i]

https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2019/09/25/fix-suburbs-first-define-them[/quote]

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