Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of The United States - Suburbs As Substandard

Suburbs As Substandard

From ancient times, the city's primary function was as a central meeting place to conduct business. Jackson argues that before 1815 and the industrial revolution, every major city was a "point" on a map that could be walked from edge to center in two or three hours. Cities had five characteristics:

1. High population density or "congestion", comparable to New York City in the 1980s: 35,000-75,000 residents per square mile.
2. Sharp distinction between country and city. In Europe the demarcation was a literal wall of defense (nowadays city walls may have replaced by a Ringstraße or business boulevard).
3. Mixture of functions with neighborhoods: without industrial factories, neighborhoods mixed commercial and residential activities.
4. Short distances between work and residence; most people had to walk to work, and often lived and worked in the same building.
5. Centrality of culture and elite residences. The upper classes lived within walking distance of work and cultural activities, while the poor laborers lived on the periphery of the urban areas along with the undesirable smells of trades like animal skin tanning and soap-making.

“Suburbs, then, were socially and economically inferior to cities when wind, muscle, and water were the prime movers of civilization…Even the word suburb suggested inferior manners, narrowness of view, and physical squalor.”