Suburban life in America is so common: 52% of us live in suburban developments. Many of us would recognize the cookie-cutter houses and neatly maintained lawns as “home”, but what many don’t know is how they came to be. Suburban areas were a response to an objection of urban life.
Many people didn’t like how crowded the city was. One single park in the middle of a metropolis wouldn’t change the unhealthy living conditions children were growing up in. It was decided that the city was no place to raise a family, especially with the crammed living space, economic struggle, and the mentally taxing nature of the two combined. The suburbs would be characterized by being a commuter county (still reliant on city), with a rich residential life featuring houses with ample space in between and lots of green space for outdoor life.
One suburban community worth mentioning is Riverside, Illinois. It was designed by the famous Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect of Central Park, and Calvert Vaux, a British architect and landscape planner. The amoeba-like shape of the neighborhood juxtaposes the straight railway connected it to the city in order to emphasize the informality of the suburbs compared to the city. Such organic shape also allows curved roads that give a sense of ease rather than business. To diminish the presence of roads, houses are set back, roads are sunken, and there are no sidewalks, as everything must be clean. Lastly, public green spaces are stretched out to accommodate increased outdoor life.
Another interesting suburban development is Radburn, New Jersey. The goals of this project were to #savethebabies from the automobile usage that increased greatly in the industrial revolution. This community was also the spawn of a failed Garden City (read my last post on City Reform); there was not enough space for an agriculture belt and therefore crashed the stock market due to lack of industry base. The Radburn prototype featured cul-de-sacs that consisted of houses facing inwards towards a common green space in order to provide easy access to verdure, and shifted focus from roads and cars to home and green. In essence, this design promoted a green community through interstitial spaces.
Both of these developments strive to improve the well-being of citizens through community-oriented outdoor life. As someone who grew up in the suburbs, I can attest that suburban life definitely has advantages over city life. I am a 5-minute walk from two beautiful parks, and we are close with neighbors who also frequent the surrounding green spaces .
2 thoughts on “American Suburbs”
The early suburbs seem so picturesque! When parents searched for houses, they didn’t want a house that looked like other houses in the neighborhood (going against the early designs of suburbia). The suburbs are a great place to get outside and avoid the hustle and bustle of the city. I’m sure the earliest architects assumed the suburbs were an escape from city-life, however, it’s turn into its own lifestyle!
Alex Koehl
In my neighborhood, all of the houses are pretty cookie cutter, but most of the streets are curvy and it switches from diagonal rows of houses to grid like. I had always thought this was kinda silly because then peoples lawns are shaped weirdly but I had never though about how much more beautiful the curvy streets make it. I actually really love driving down my alley and taking a lap around in my neighborhood is one of the most calming things for me to do.
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