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Is there a clear and universal definition of a suburb? I'm struggling because of this.
Why not Cambridge? Fort Worth? St Paul? At what point does a "suburb's" downtown grow to the point that it's no longer a suburb itself...like Bellevue and Evanston from the above suggestions, which have fully functioning downtown environments (Bellevue obviously much larger than Evanston) I know Ft Worth posters on here who dislike the "suburb" term immensely. So are we talking about anything outside the primary CBD of an MSA?
And then how far out from the CBD to be considered a suburb? Arlington used to be part of Washington DC. It is essentially built as an extension from DC and although not adjacent to downtown, pretty much is. If it counts as a suburb then what about Uptown in Dallas? Many seem to agree that Midtown and Downtown Atlanta are not all that well connected...so is Midtown acceptable? Seems absurd. How about NYC...where does it transition to suburb exactly?
Personally, I just don't know. I wouldn't ever consider Uptown Dallas or Midtown Atlanta as suburbs, but I also don't really see Arlington that way either. At least not the downtown parts of Arlington (Rosslyn/Courthouse).
As for twin-like separate cities, I guess it depends on the context. For this question, I wouldn't really consider DT Ft Worth, St Paul, Cambridge, etc to be suburbs, and so I am not sure where the scale ends or where I would put Bellevue.
Aw Santa Monica was already stolen, I would go with Coral Gables in Miami, Pasadena, and Glendale in LA are great contenders as well.
These all strike me as pretty solid answers. They at least pass the smell test for suburbs. But they wouldn't hold a candle to most of the "suburban" downtowns being suggested so far.
Is there a clear and universal definition of a suburb? I'm struggling because of this.
Why not Cambridge? Fort Worth? St Paul? At what point does a "suburb's" downtown grow to the point that it's no longer a suburb itself...like Bellevue and Evanston from the above suggestions, which have fully functioning downtown environments (Bellevue obviously much larger than Evanston) I know Ft Worth posters on here who dislike the "suburb" term immensely. So are we talking about anything outside the primary CBD of an MSA?
And then how far out from the CBD to be considered a suburb? Arlington used to be part of Washington DC. It is essentially built as an extension from DC and although not adjacent to downtown, pretty much is. If it counts as a suburb then what about Uptown in Dallas? Many seem to agree that Midtown and Downtown Atlanta are not all that well connected...so is Midtown acceptable? Seems absurd. How about NYC...where does it transition to suburb exactly?
Personally, I just don't know. I wouldn't ever consider Uptown Dallas or Midtown Atlanta as suburbs, but I also don't really see Arlington that way either. At least not the downtown parts of Arlington (Rosslyn/Courthouse).
As for twin-like separate cities, I guess it depends on the context. For this question, I wouldn't really consider DT Ft Worth, St Paul, Cambridge, etc to be suburbs, and so I am not sure where the scale ends or where I would put Bellevue.
For the purposes of this thread an urban "suburb" is a town/city outside of the central city. not too far outside. it could even be a a very urban city outside the central city like Hoboken, NJ.
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
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Certainly parts of Long Island, be it “western Nassau County” or town specific such as Great Neck, Manhasset, Garden City, Mineola, Rockville Centre, some of the Five Towns, etc. Some of these towns felt as urban or more urban than some cities I have lived in.
Last edited by elchevere; 10-18-2018 at 12:06 PM..
Location: Watching half my country turn into Gilead
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In order to keep this a fair discussion, I think an urban "suburb" of a neighboring major city should have no more than 25% of the adjacent major city's population. This will get rid of cities like St Paul, Fort Worth, etc which rightfully have enough pull on their own.
Upper Darby, PA; Towson, MD; Miami Beach, FL; Alexandria, VA or Silver Spring, MD; Hoboken, NJ (Jersey City technically qualifies, if we want to scale it because of how massive NYC is--Newark is too established); Cambridge, MA; Bellevue, WA; Evanston, IL; Santa Monica, CA (or Long Beach, given LA's size); Arlington, TX
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