Description
Book SynopsisThis book chronicles and explains the role of suburbs in North American cities since the mid-twentieth century. Examining fifteen case studies from New York to Vancouver, Atlanta to Chicago, Montreal to Phoenix, The Life of North American Suburbs traces the insightful connection between the evolution of suburbs and the cultural dynamics of modern society. Suburbs are uniquely significant spaces: their creation and evolution reflect the shifting demographics, race relations, modes of production, cultural fabric, and class structures of society at large. The case studies investigate the place of suburbs within their wider metropolitan constellations: the crucial role they play in the cultural, economic, political, and spatial organization of the city. Together, the chapters paint a compelling portrait of North American cities and their dynamic suburban landscapes.
Trade Review"Drawing on major metropoles and smaller cities across the US and Canada, and the rather outlying case of Mexico City, the authors (primarily geographers) map varied suburban forms and beliefs from Vancouver to Miami, while looking closely at issues of race and political-economic struggles that focus on the dynamics of suburbs and central cities in the late-20th and early-21st centuries. Each essay's argument is comprehensive, compelling, and valuable for classroom us." -- G. W. McDonogh, Bryn Mawr College *
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Table of ContentsList of Figures, Maps, and Tables Preface 1. Introduction: Elusive Suburbia Jan Nijman Part 1: Questioning North American Suburbia 2. Using Toronto to Explore Three Suburban Stereotypes, and Vice Versa Richard Harris 3. Mexico City: Elusive Suburbs, Ubiquitous Peripheries Liette Gilbert 4. Searching for Suburbia in Metropolitan Miami Jan Nijman and Tom Clery 5. Spatial Transformations in the Suburbs of the North Carolina Piedmont Region Fang Wei and Paul Knox Part 2: Changing Political Economies of Suburbanization 6. The Strange Case of the Bay Area Richard Walker and Alex Schafran 7. Vancouverism as Suburbanism Elliot Siemiatycki, Jamie Peck, and Elvin Wyly 8. Montreal: An Ordinary North American Metropolis? Claire Poitras and Pierre Hamel 9. New York’s Suburbs in a Globalized Metropolitan Region James Defilippis and Christopher Niedt Part 3: Race, Ethnicity, and the Remaking of Suburbia 10. Diverging Racial Geographies in Phoenix’s Postwar and Post–Civil Rights Suburbs Deirdre Pfeiffer 11. Suburbanization and the Making of Atlanta as the “Black Mecca” Katherine Hankins and Steve Holloway 12. Edmonton, Mill Woods, Amiskwaciy Waskahikan Rob Shields, Dianne Gillespie, and Kieran Moran 13. Economic Development and the New Immigrant Segregationist Politics in Suburban Chicago David Wilson Part 4: Contested Suburbs 14. Governance, Politics, and Suburbanization in Los Angeles Roger Keil and Derek Brunelle 15. Reaching Suburbia: Towards a Socially Just Transit System for Ottawa Caroline Andrew and Angela Franovic 16. Contested Spaces: Suburban Development in Halifax and Other Midsized Canadian Cities Jill L. Grant 17. Epilogue: Suburbs as Transitional Spaces Jan Nijman Contributors Index
