by Royce Radcliffe

Created on: May 02, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

People these days accept suburbs as commonplace but there was a time when the concept was revolutionary. The advent of the suburbs resulted in a changing of the social landscape of America that can still be felt to this day.

Suburbs are defined by most as residential areas that are either intertwined with or on the outside of a city. These residents usually live in single-family homes and suburbs have political independence from the city.

This development was caused by the implementation of zoning laws and the development of the automobile. This allowed for people to travel further from their place of employment. Before this manufacturing and industrial parts of the city were segregated and people had to live in those areas if they worked there.

Suburbs allowed people to move away from the pollution of the city while still retaining its economic strong points. The zoning laws widened and allowed people to move out further from the city while still being considered a part of it. Federal subsidies to accelerate and encourage suburb development sped the process along with great speed.

This development allowed people to live in rural comfort while having a city job. Before these two ways of life were seen as completely separate. Now there was a happy medium, and the country has not been the same ever since.

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