Exurbs

Posted by Bob on July 26, 2004

In Reply to: Exurbs posted by Bob on July 26, 2004

: : : There appears to be a new word in the lexicon and I don't know exactly what it means: exburb. I haven't felt so out-of-touch with modern culture since I witnessed an entire nightclub jump-up and do the Macarena. We never learned the Macarena in Montana. Google has 57 sightings of the word, but no definition. Does it mean extreme-suburb? I picture sprawling suburbs spotted with huge box-stores and food courts. Is this the realm of uber-soccer-moms and double-decaf-soy-milk-lattes?

: : Move out of town, past the suburbs. A slightly different spelling but the same idea:

: : EXURBS -- "The trend in Alabama, like the rest of country, has been to move out of the city and into the suburbs. Well, now we are moving out past the suburbs and into what urban planners have taken to calling the 'exurbs.' Exurbs. Out where there were once small town and farms. Now you find Wal-Mart Supercenters, fast-food restaurants and strip malls. And you find people. Just released Census estimates show that since 2002 towns like Calera and Millbrook are the fastest growing in the state, with little Calera growing nearly three times as fast as its closest competitor." Editorial in The Anniston Star, Anniston, AL: "Moving on out," In our opinion, July 19, 2004. Accessed July 2004/as-editorials-0719-editorial-4g16r1612.htm

: I'm willing to bet there are references older than that. I remember it from at least 15 years ago. One synonym was "edge cities," from the 1991 book of that title, describing the rapid rise of dreary places like Schaumberg, IL and Irvine, CA.

By the way, anyone interested in why American suburbs have become such architectural disasters should read Suburban Nation, a very readable and informative book.

• Exurbs Brian from Shawnee 26/July/04