The Dictionary of Human Geography

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bycommuting. These are comprised of diverse

suburbs with a variety of social, economic and

landscape characteristics and have, as a result,

been interpreted in a variety of ways. In terms

of their culture and design, they have fre-

quently been criticized for their blandness, lack

ofcommunityandsegregation. These cri-

tiques are paralleled by concerns about the

environmental impact of suburban landscape

forms and ways of life (see edge city;

exopolis;ribbon development;sprawl).

Low-density, automobile-oriented suburbs

are increasingly common features of urban

regions across the globe and certain elements

of the suburban form, such asgated com-

munities, are springing up in numerous

countries (Webster, Glasze and Frantz,

2002). The process of suburbanization is

differentiated somewhat by the local or

national conditions in which it operates.

Lemansky (2006), for instance, describes

the character of suburbanization and the

creation of master-planned gated communi-

ties in post-apartheid South Africa and

notes the complex patterns of proximity,

social exclusionand connection that exist

betweenwealthyandpoorresidentsofsub-

urban Cape Town. Zhou and Ma (2000), for

their part, emphasize the importance of sub-

urbanization in a number of Chinese cities.

Theyarguethatitisatamuchlessdevel-

oped stage (with suburbs still dominated by

central cities) than in the ‘classic’ case of the

USA. They also suggest that the role of the

strong Chinesestatein shaping suburban-

ization has a great deal to do with the dis-

tinctiveness of this case.

Yet, the US case is worth considering as a

specific and by no means easily generalizable

example of thepolitical economyof subur-

banization. The US suburbanization process

accelerated in the 1920s with the explosion of

automobile ownership in the 1920s.

‘Automobile suburbs’ such as the low-density

Country Club District in Kansas City,

Missouri, which included the first car-oriented

shopping mall, emerged in the 1920s as pri-

vate developers sought to profit from

increased automobility. The Depression of

the early 1930s dampened the housing mar-

ket, making it an unattractiveinvestmentfor

private developers. The state’s subsequent

intervention sought to stimulate and regulate

the development industry while bolstering the

ideological pre-eminence of the privateprop-

erty system (Walker, 1981). By the early

1960s, half the country’s urban population

lived in suburbs. This trend in residential

suburbanization has been paralleled by

manufacturing, commerce and retail, which

have all suburbanized. Contemporary authors

emphasize the increasing autonomy of US

suburbs from traditional central cities, and

speak of a ‘postsuburban’ situation (cf. Zhou

and Ma, 2000).

Suburbanization is, then, a process that

both reflects and constitutes the political

and economic geographies of contemporary

cities. It is also a focus of those interested in

social and cultural questions, particularly

aroundraceandgender. Ethnic suburban-

ization is raising important questions about

the validity of arguments about the social

homogeneity of suburbs and is also empha-

sizing the global connectedness of these

places (Li, 1998). Nonetheless, suburban

geographies are still marked by significant

discrimination (seeredlining;urban man-

agers and gatekeepers). The shaping of

gender roles and relations in and through

suburban space is also a major focus of geo-

graphical enquiry. In the postwar period,

suburbandomesticitybecame ahegemonic

idea through which to reinforce traditional

gender relations and connections between

women and waged work. Analysis of con-

temporary relationships between gender,

suburbia and work has entailed, among other

things, a focus on gender differentiation

in travel patterns and accessibility to

waged work and public facilities (England,

1993). em

Suggested reading

Bourne (1996); Walker (1981).

sunbelt/snowbelt A popular term describ-

ing the polarization of the USspace-economy

from the 1960s on: it contrasts areas of relative

economic decline (especially in manufacturing

industry) concentrated in the country’s north-

east (the ‘snowbelt’, or ‘frostbelt’: cf.rust-

belt) with those, largely in the south and west,

experiencing rapid economic and population

growth. This change in the inter-regionaldiv-

ision of labour reflects the comparative

advantage and competitive advantages

enjoyed by sunbelt states through relatively

cheap and non-unionized labour, their attract-

ive physical environments, and substantial

federal government investment there – as in

the aerospace and other defence industries.

The term is now frequently applied in other

countries: the M4 motorway corridor extend-

ing west from London through Swindon to

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