Suburban ways of living and the geography of income: How homeownership, single-family dwellings and automobile use define the metropolitan social space

Abstract

Current research depicts suburbs as becoming more heterogeneous in terms of socio-economic status. Providing a novel analysis, this paper engages with that research by operationalising suburban ways of living (homeownership, single-family dwelling occupancy and automobile use) and relating them to the geography of income across 26 Canadian metropolitan areas. We find that suburban ways of living exist in new areas and remain associated with higher incomes even as older suburbs, as places, have become more diverse. In the largest cities the relationship between income and suburban ways of living is weaker due to the growth of condominiums in downtowns that allow higher income earners to live urban lifestyles. Homeownership is overwhelmingly more important than other variables in explaining the geography of income across 26 metropolitan areas.

Suburban studies: State of the field and unsolved knots

“…Across North‐America, suburbs have been historically understood according to three specific characteristics: a series of low‐density, automobile‐dependent areas surrounding a city core (Moos & Mendez, ). Richard Harris () sees “density,” “newness,” and “peripheral location” as the three defining qualities of a suburb, whereas Anne Forsyth () considers the latter two—peripheral location and newness—as common key features.…”

“…Across North-America, suburbs have been historically understood according to three specific characteristics: a series of low-density, automobile-dependent areas surrounding a city core (Moos & Mendez, 2015). Richard Harris (2010) sees "density," "newness," and "peripheral location" as the three defining qualities of a suburb, whereas Anne Forsyth (2014) housing types (at a first glance, low single-family dwellings are certainly considered the most common); social segregation (mainly class or ethnic); and cultural formations (utopian traditional models versus dystopian naturedevouring sprawl).…”

Inner-City Suburbanization – no Contradiction in Terms. Middle-Class Family Enclaves are Spreading in the Cities

“…Their continuing expansion will be interpreted as an expression and catalyst of ongoing processes of inner-city suburbanization. When speaking of suburbanization, I refer to "the process of spreading of suburban ways of living to new geographic areas" (Moos/Mendez 2015: 1865. It is thus asserted that in Germany, as in many other Western urban regions, suburbanism has not only made its mark on the outskirts of the cities but is increasingly conquering growing parts of the inner cities as well.…”

“…With regard to the confusing picture she paints, Forsyth claims that we must either abandon the term or use it with greater precision (Forsyth 2012: 278 f.). Similarly, other researchers "consider the term 'suburb' to be obsolete or simply inadequate due to its inability to capture the diversity of neighborhoods contained within suburbs" (Moos/ Mendez 2015: 1868cf. also Murphy 2007;Florida 2014).…”

The Australian Good Life: The Fraying of a Suburban Template

“…As Amin claims in respect of cities as a whole, '[they] are hardly discernible entities with distinct identities. They have become an endless inhabited sprawl without clear boundaries' (Amin, 2006), while a recent study of Canadian metropolitan areas by Moos and Mendez (2014) found that although there is a positive relationship between higher incomes and suburban ways of living, these suburban spaces are becoming more diverse. As Florida (2014) observes, 'Not only are cities looking more like suburbs, suburbs are looking more like cities'.…”