The
suburban colonization process is observed in larger cities that have suffered population and political power loss to
suburbSuburbs are defined in various different ways around the world. They can be the residential areas of a large city, or separate residential communities within commuting distance of a city. Some suburbs have a degree of political autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city...
s. Other
colonialismColonialism is the building and maintaining of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. Sovereignty over the colony is claimed by the metropole...
is often studied for the effects upon those already inhabiting the colonized area, but students of suburban colonization tend to take greater interest in the effects upon the
metropoleThe metropole, from the Greek Metropolis 'mother city' was the name given to the British metropolitan center of the British Empire, i.e. the United Kingdom itself...
.
As hinterlands acquire more population and more power then, according to the one man one vote principle, they get more votes in representative bodies, notably
metropolitan regionA metropolis is a big city, in most cases with over half a million inhabitants in the city proper, and with a population of at least one million living in its urban agglomeration. Big cities belonging to a larger urban agglomeration, but which are not the core of that agglomeration, are not...
s or
greater urban areas such as the
Greater Toronto AreaThe Greater Toronto Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Canada. The GTA is a provincial planning area in Southern Ontario with a population of 5,555,912 at the 2006 Canadian Census...
or
Greater LondonGreater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. The administrative area was officially created in 1965 and covers the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and thirty two London boroughs...
.
The
suburban colonization process is observed in larger cities that have suffered population and political power loss to
suburbSuburbs are defined in various different ways around the world. They can be the residential areas of a large city, or separate residential communities within commuting distance of a city. Some suburbs have a degree of political autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city...
s. Other
colonialismColonialism is the building and maintaining of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. Sovereignty over the colony is claimed by the metropole...
is often studied for the effects upon those already inhabiting the colonized area, but students of suburban colonization tend to take greater interest in the effects upon the
metropoleThe metropole, from the Greek Metropolis 'mother city' was the name given to the British metropolitan center of the British Empire, i.e. the United Kingdom itself...
.
Services and taxes favour suburbs
As hinterlands acquire more population and more power then, according to the one man one vote principle, they get more votes in representative bodies, notably
metropolitan regionA metropolis is a big city, in most cases with over half a million inhabitants in the city proper, and with a population of at least one million living in its urban agglomeration. Big cities belonging to a larger urban agglomeration, but which are not the core of that agglomeration, are not...
s or
greater urban areas such as the
Greater Toronto AreaThe Greater Toronto Area is the most populous metropolitan area in Canada. The GTA is a provincial planning area in Southern Ontario with a population of 5,555,912 at the 2006 Canadian Census...
or
Greater LondonGreater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. The administrative area was officially created in 1965 and covers the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and thirty two London boroughs...
. Suburban votes then come to outweigh
inner cityThe inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the poorer parts of the city centre and is sometimes used as a euphemism with the connotation of being an area, perhaps a ghetto or slum, where...
votes, just as, a century earlier,
urbanizationUrbanization is the physical growth of urban areas from rural areas as a result of population immigration to an existing urban area. Effects include change in density and administration services. While the exact definition and population size of urbanized areas varies amongdifferent countries,...
or urban colonialization diminished the power of rural voters.
Decisions of these bodies accordingly begin to favour people who live in suburbs, providing more car-oriented and commuter services and more favourable
property taxProperty tax, or millage tax, is an ad valorem tax that an owner is required to pay on the value of the property being taxed. Property tax can be defined as "generally, tax imposed by municipalities upon owners of property within their jurisdiction based on the value of such property."There are...
rates for single family homes as
tenantsA leasehold estate is an ownership interest in land in which a lessee or a tenant holds real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord....
in downtown
apartment buildingA regular house, Apartment house, Apartment block, Block of flats, or Tenement, is a multi-unit dwelling made up of several apartments , or flats...
s pay higher rates. In urban areas that are growing rapidly, services may be developed that favour
urban sprawlUrban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs over rural land and to its outskirts. The problem of urban sprawl is that it is costly to initiate the development of new infrastructure adequate enough to support its residents...
, such as large trunk
sewerA sanitary sewer is a type of underground carriage system, , for transporting sewage from houses or industry to treatment or disposal...
s, express
highwayA highway is a main road for travel by the public between important destinations, such as cities and states. Highway designs vary widely and can range from a two-lane road without margins to a multi-lane, grade separated motorway. In English and U.S...
s or
shopping mallA shopping mall, shopping centre or shopping center is a building or multiple buildings consisting of a complex of shops representing leading merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a convenient parking area – a modern,...
s, as other services such as youth recreation disappear from downtown areas. This increases population drain to the suburbs as
quality of lifeThe term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and political science. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of...
drops, but the increased population may then drive more people further out to the hinterlands which increases the political rewards (especially political donations from real estate developers building
greenfieldGreenfield land is a term used to describe a piece of previously undeveloped land, in a city or rural area, either currently used for agriculture or landscape design, or just left to nature. In contrast, brownfield land is an area that has previously been developed, such as the site of a gas...
developments) for sprawl.
Urban bankruptcy requires outside aid
In very extreme cases, where cities are unable to recover costs of serving a vast suburban hinterland and are politically controlled by a larger
jurisdictionJurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility.Alternatively, jurisdiction is the authority given...
, such as
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
within New York state, cities may go bankrupt as
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
in fact did in the 1970s. This had been predicted by urbanists including
Jane JacobsJane Jacobs, OC, O.Ont was an American-born Canadian urbanist, writer and activist. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities , a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States...
who had fought
Robert MosesRobert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of urban planning in...
and his plan for the
Cross-Manhattan ExpresswayThe Cross-Manhattan Expressway can refer to:*The Trans-Manhattan Expressway, part of I-95*The unbuilt Lower Manhattan Expressway*The unbuilt Mid-Manhattan Expressway*The unbuilt Cross Harlem Expressway...
system which was eventually defeated. The City only recovered with federal aid and urban autonomy rights including the right to levy its own
income taxAn income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or business . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate tax,...
which it still has.
Suburban flight polarizes communities
Cities with impoverished downtown services can suffer
riotA riot is a form of civil disorder characterized by disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against people or property. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are typically chaotic and exhibit herd behavior.Riots often occur in reaction to a...
s or major unrest, as
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
and
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
did in the 1960s to 1980s. Such incidents speed the flight of
middle classThe middle class are any class in the middle of a social schema. In Weberian socio-economic terms they are the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socioeconomically between the working class and upper class. In Marxist terms, middle class commonly refers to either the...
residents to the suburbs and sometimes to
gated communityIn its modern form, a gated community is a form of residential community containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and sometimes characterised by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. Gated communities usually consist of small residential streets and...
developments where they are insulated from urban problems, and consume a very different range of services than downtown residents, which again are favoured strongly by political representatives.
Forced mergers further reduce downtown power
In some cases, notably
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
and
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
in the 1990s, a larger political unit will force smaller urban units to merge against the will of residents, and this further increases the hold of the outer suburban regions as they hold a majority of seats in the new aggregated
city councilA city council is the legislative body that governs a city, municipality or local government area.-Australia:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council may vary slightly...
. Where a strong mayor system applies, the larger number of suburban residents will likely also control that post, and the need to campaign over a larger urban area will tend to exclude
grassroots candidatesGrassroots democracy is a tendency towards designing political processes where as much decision-making authority as practical is shifted to the organization's lowest geographic level of organization: principle of subsidiarity....
or anti-poverty activist candidates not funded nor supported by wealthier suburban voters or real estate developers. Those who speak for the city may live on its outer edges. Mayors may be former mayors of former suburban cities such as
Mel LastmanMelvin Douglas "Mel" Lastman , nicknamed "Mayor Mel", is a former businessman and politician. He served as the mayor of the former city of North York, Ontario, Canada from 1972 until 1997. At the end of 1997, North York, along with four other municipalities, was amalgamated with the city of Toronto...
, former mayor of North York who became Mayor of Toronto once those cities (and three others) were merged in 1998.
The political consequences of both mergers were severe. In
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, the
Parti QuébécoisThe Parti Québécois is a left-wing political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Québec and secession from Canada. It is a social democratic party and has traditionally had support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social democratic parties, its ties with the...
government was defeated by
Jean CharestJohn James Charest, PC, MNA , a Canadian lawyer and politician, is the 29th and current Premier of Quebec...
who permitted
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
to hold a
referendumA referendum , ballot question, or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal...
in which it was permitted to de-amalgamate politically and regain the separate pre-merger urban identities. In Toronto no such relief occurred but a
Province of TorontoThe term Province of Toronto has two senses: one political, the other ecclesiastical.-Proposed province of Canada:Some politicians and urban affairs commentators have proposed that the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada secede from the province of Ontario to become the Province of Toronto, the...
movement emerged under Jane Jacobs (who had moved to Toronto in the 1960s and again fought expressways penetrating the downtown there, notably the
Spadina ExpresswayThe Spadina Expressway was proposed in the mid-1960s as part of a network of freeways in Metropolitan Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally to run from north of Highway 401 into the downtown area via the Cedarvale and Nordheimer Ravines and Spadina Road, it was only partially built before being...
and Front Street Extension), 2000 Lastman opponent
Tooker GombergTooker Gomberg was a Canadian politician and environmental activist.A native of Montreal, Quebec and a liberal-arts graduate of Hampshire College , Gomberg founded one of Canada's first curbside recycling programs in Montreal, and later moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where he created educational...
and Mayor in 2003 (after Lastman) David Miller.
Theoretical analyses
Joel GarreauJoel Garreau is an American journalist and author. Currently he works as the editor in charge of "cultural revolution" reporting at The Washington Post, as senior fellow at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University, and principal of The Garreau Group, which is "dedicated to the...
in
Edge CityEdge city is an American term for a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional urban area in what had recently been a residential suburb or semi-rural community...
described the growth of cities on the edge of major urban areas, which became population and power centres in themselves.
Dale JohnstonF. Dale Johnston is a former Canadian politician. He began his career in politics in 1986 as a councillor in Ponoka, and he then became reeve in 1989. In Canadian federal election, 1993, he was elected into the Canadian House of Commons. He was elected as a member of the Reform Party of Canada in...
in
Lost in the Suburbs described a cultural and political gap that occurred in
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, and to the east by the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill, Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and...
and
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
in the early 1990s when suburban voters began to outnumber urban or rural voters, and began to perceive that they were paying taxes to provide urban areas with services that were not duplicated in their community. Meanwhile, suburban communities would export problems to the cities, typically in the form of drug addicts,
homelessnessHomelessness is the condition and social category of people who don't have a regular house or dwelling because they cannot afford, pay for, or are otherwise unable to maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or they lack "fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence" The actual legal...
,
smogSmog is a kind of air pollution; the word "smog" is a portmanteau of smoke and fog. Classic smog results from large amounts of coal burning in an area caused by a mixture of smoke and sulfur dioxide...
,
prostitutionProstitution is the act or practice of engaging in sex acts for hire. In most cultures, prostitution is viewed by many as a deviant profession, either illegal or socially discouraged...
and other crimes serving suburban residents, and the need to accommodate a large number of commuters and their
sewageSewage is water-carried wastes, in either solution or suspension, that flow away from a community. Also known as wastewater flows, sewage is the used water supply of the community. It is more than 99.9% pure water and is characterized by its volume or rate of flow, its physical condition, its...
and
parkingthumb|Top floor of a multi-floor parking deck at [[Rutgers University]] in [[New Brunswick]], [[New Jersey]], [[USA]].Parking is the act of stopping a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied for more than a brief time. Parking on one or both sides of a road is commonly permitted, though often with...
requirements. As downtown residents and suburban voters became estranged, each perceived themselves subsidizing the other, and accordingly a common solution, called in both New Jersey and Ontario the
Common Sense RevolutionThe phrase Common Sense Revolution has been used as a political slogan to describe common sense conservative platforms in Australia and the U.S. state of New Jersey in the 1990s. Based on the Singapore Model of economics, its main goal is to reduce taxes while balancing the budget by reducing the...
, transferred funds from urban needs to suburban sprawl, triggering a decline in urban quality of life in both places, as population further spread out and downtowns became more hostile to suburban visitors.