Why The Suburbs Are No Longer Home To Th

Why The Suburbs Are No Longer Home To The American Dream

by Justin Craco

In 2010, the indie-rock band Arcade Fire released their third studio album entitled The Suburbs. The inspiration behind the album goes back to bandmembers Win and William Butler’s upbringing in The Woodlands, a Houston suburb. References to suburban life can be found in many of the lyrics. In the song “Rococo” Butler sings, “They build it up just to burn it back down”, commenting on how every year the media hypes up music and movies. We attach ourselves to these things until the next year comes and we abandon them. This is just one of the many references to suburban culture found in the band’s 16 track album. Yes, the suburbs hold a very distinct culture but they are much more than that. They are home to a large portion of Americans, communities that shape the lives of people. Following World War II, these communities were viewed by most as home to the American dream. Today, however, this may not be the case.

Suburbs can be characterized as living communities often found on the outskirts of cities where houses are more spread out and the residents commute to work. In cities, buildings can be very old, tightly packed together, and home to a mix of people with different ethnicities and income. Initially, suburbs seem like the more desirable living community but dig deeper and understand their flaws. The suburbs bring about a particular stereotype, are constructed inefficiently, and in recent years have seen dramatic increases in poverty. The suburbs evolving complexion must be considered when examining this popular living community.

Let us begin with a quick history lesson. As early as the beginning of the 1800’s, suburbs could be found in the outskirts of many major world cities. It’s growth really began after the electric railway was introduced in the later end of the 19th century. This cheap form of transportation allowed Americans to live in areas farther away for cities where most work was found. Henry Ford can also be credited for the spread of suburbanism. His innovative ideas for manufacturing cars resulted in more affordable motor vehicles. More families began driving and as a result could live further away from cities. The government was another player that encouraged movement out of urban areas. Federal legislation made it less expensive for someone to construct a new home outside the city than to improve upon an already existing structure. During the Great Depression poverty struck hard and organizations like the Federal Housing Administration helped to ease the burden and stimulate growth, pushing americans to suburban communities. In addition, other factors such as the economic boom following World War II, the need for housing because of the baby boomers, and intolerant whites fleeing the growing African American communities in cities all contributed to this monumental housing shift.

This suburban sprawl resulted in a many significant changes in the lives of the new residents. As years passed, suburbs gradually broke their ties with nearby cities and became a reality of their own. With the division we can observe new cultural complications. The suburbs, isolated single-class communities, lacked any sort of local history or cultural amenities. The building are new and landmarks and monuments are nowhere to be found. Visiting a typical suburb you will not find museums but rather miles and miles of Walmarts and Applebee's. Most residents are part of the same class of society and come from similar backgrounds. Consequently, they fall into this stereotype that comes with living in such a community. All the children play in soccer leagues, mothers read People Magazine, and fathers go golfing on the weekends. I can attest to this as I grew up in a small rural area myself. I remember all the trends that kids my age would fall into. Take clothing for example. Through elementary and junior high, all my friends and I would wear Nike athletic clothes and Air Jordan sneakers. This progressed to high school where preppy clothes such as J.Crew or Polo Ralph Lauren became the new fad. By senior year every kid I was friends list owned a pair of boat shoes. We claimed to be different from one another but looking back we were all suckers for conformity. Although none of these trends are necesarily unhealthy, citizens feel restricted to live as their neighbors and it can be hard for residents to express themselves. “These are the negative qualities so often highlighted in popular culture, in TV shows like Desperate Housewives, Weeds and Suburgatory, to name just a few” (Gallagher). Again, I am not indicating that this suburban stereotype is harmful but do worry that it may segregate people from today’s society.

“Without a car one is detached from society, practically trapped in suburbia"

One immediate flaw of suburbs were their design. Cities were built with a very simple block by block layout. This made it efficient for the mass transit of trains and busses without the worry of winding neighborhoods and dead end cul de sacs. Almost all conveniences can be purchased within a walking distance for urban residents. In contrast to cities, the suburbs are inefficient to say the least. A car is relied upon by unanimously every suburban family to carry out life. Having supermarkets, shopping centers, and restaurants spread out miles apart, without a set of wheels a resident is essentially trapped. Nathaniel Smith, the founder of Partnership for Southern Equity can confirm this matter. “As we talk about issues of suburban poverty in metro Atlanta and income equality, access is a key component to lifting people out of poverty," Smith said. "If you can’t have access to something, you’re stuck” (Semuels). Suburbs also lack sufficient public transportation systems which can be a barrier for low-income residents seeking job opportunities as well as supportive services. It is easily overlooked how vital having a car can be in carrying out everyday tasks. With all this car travel comes the emission of hazardous gases into the environment, another negative effect to come with the suburban sprawl. One would probably assume cities are more at blame for air pollution but that is actually false. Urban residents can walk everywhere they need to go, or hop on the train so they save the potential car pollution whereas in the suburbs everyone drives a car. Also consider how unnecessarily massive suburban houses can be. Single family homes are guilty of bearing unutilized space that pulls energy to clean, temper, and light throughout the year. According to the 2009 release of the Buildings Energy Data Book, published every year by the Department of Energy, on average an American single family home uses over 44% more energy per person than a multifamily dwelling (42.6 million BTUs per year vs. 29.5 million). Suburban homes also account for the vast majority of our national residential energy usage at 80.5%. These numbers are astounding and hint that our current system of creating living communities must be rethought. Suburban life does provide many desirable features. Homes are much more private and closely connected to nature. The trend of “new urbanism” is working to embrace this dilemma. It’s goal is to build sustainable living communities where commodities are all in a close proximity. This would be accomplished by introducing “walkable” streets and mixing up shops, offices, and homes on site. In doing so there would be less dependence on cars and walking would be the dominant form of transportation. New Urbanism could be the future. Regardless change will only occur when more people see the impracticality of the suburbs.

Arguably one of the most desirable perks of living in a suburban community has been the reduction of poverty and crime. When the suburbs were first introduced following World War II, they represented upper-middle class communities both crime and poverty free. Time passed and these houses built prior to 1970 are still standing today...barely. They are now home to many low income families that migrated out of the city in search of less expensive housing. This shift of poverty out of urban areas has grown exponentially. Take the city of Atlanta for example. A surprising 88 percent of Atlanta’s poor live in the suburbs according to Confronting Suburban Poverty in America by Elizabeth Kneebone and Alan Berube of the Brooking Institution. And while suburban poverty grows urban poverty is experiencing stagnation. “From 2000 to 2011, Atlanta's suburban poor population grew 159 percent while the urban population remained essentially flat” (Semuels). Kneebone goes on by stating, “Many of these communities lack the infrastructure, safety-net supports, and resources to address the needs of a growing poor population, which can make it that much harder for poor residents to connect to the kinds of opportunities that can help them get out of poverty in the long run.” This problem has a much larger implication. The American dream of moving out of the city is becoming less desirable. Now the suburbs are beginning to parallel cities in poverty and crime rates as neighborhoods deteriorate over time and lose value. Besides affordable housing being located in rural areas, there are other reasons poverty is becoming so concentrated in the suburbs. The job market is a fundamental cause of this poverty shift. In general, jobs have increasingly moved to the suburbs. Travel to any suburban community and you will undoubtedly find countless fast food restaurants, hotels, and beauty salons. The pay of these jobs has remained inconsistent with the cost of living, so the suburban residents working these positions cannot escape poverty and live the “suburban lifestyle”. Ellen Gerstein, the executive director of the Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services accurately states, “We have an underclass of people who are the working poor, there’s a lot of retail jobs because we have more shopping here than you could ever imagine” (Semuels) . With the growing poverty rates in suburban areas comes the need for social programs. These programs, despite the growing demand, are primarily located in urban centers, making it hard for suburban residents to receive aid. Philanthropies and nonprofits are concentrated in cities as well. “In Washington D.C there are 277 nonprofit, social-service organizations, providing $1,834 in human-services funding per person according to a study by Scott Allard and Benjamin Roth” (Semuels). In the neighboring areas of Prince George’s County where suburban poverty is common are “just 82 nonprofit, social-service organizations providing $189 in human-services funding per person.” What is so scary about this new poverty is how it is trapping more and more families. “Nearly three-quarters of suburban nonprofits said they are seeing more clients with no previous connection to safety-net programs.” Suburban poverty is not only very much existent, but continues to grow.

The suburbs became popular for their perceived image as home to the American dream, though with time brought cultural conformity as well as increases in poverty. Without a car one is detached from society, trapped in a maze of neighborhoods. All criticism aside, these communities do provide many desirable features such as the privacy and open space urban communities lack. So what steps must be taken to fix the downward progression of suburbia? Perhaps stronger commitment to public transit, better use of social services, and increased practice of sustainable energy. Decades from now “New Urbanism” may become the dominant trend in living communities. All I can say is when taking the time to consider the evolution of the suburbs, much larger ideas begin to unravel. Looking at suburbia provides a criterion for examination of both social and cultural progression in America.

Works Cited

Gallagher, Leigh. "The End of the Suburbs." TIME Magazine. TIME Inc., 31 July 2013. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.

Semuels, Alana. "Suburbs and the New American Poverty." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 07 Jan. 2015. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.

Stief, Colin. "How Suburbs Became Popular in the US." About.com Education. About.com, n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2015.

"Struggling in the Suburbs." The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 July 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.

"Suburbs Not Most Popular, But Suburbanites Most Content." Pew Research Centers Social Demographic Trends Project RSS. Pew Research Center, 25 Feb. 2009. Web. 28 Nov. 2015.

Williams, Win. “Rococo” Lyrics. The Suburbs. Merge (US) Mercury, (UK), 2010