Spatially Differentiated, Temporally Variegated: The Study of Life Cycles for a Better Understanding of Suburbia in German City Regions

Markus Hesse,Jan Polívka,Christa Reicher

doi:10.1007/s13147-017-0511-2

Abstract

This paper takes a spatially differentiated and temporally variegated perspective on suburban areas. It proposes a conceptual framework for studying the temporal variation and related trajectories of the subject matter, with suburban lifecycles being the key to our analysis. In empirical terms, the paper summarises the findings of research undertaken in 12 selected locales of four major metropolitan regions in Germany. Against the background of assessing the broader socioeconomic development of these regions, detailed local case studies have been conducted in order to reconstruct past and current development trajectories. Our analyses detected particular life cycles (and related segments) in the study areas, based on age and social composition, the physical conditions of the built environment and broader developments in the real-estate market. The different cycles include, in most cases, growth, maturity, transition and resilience, and they are also discussed in terms of their relevance for strategies responding to recent changes.

Highlights

In contrast to earlier periods of suburbanisation, recent dynamics of urban and metropolitan development are characterised by changing social, economic and political framework conditions
Taking international developments into account, it seems obvious that ageing, stagnation and abandonment can be observed both in urban cores and in suburban areas, with the full range of cities’ trajectories including both patterns of resurgence (Cheshire 2006) and divergence (Clarke/Martin/Tyler 2016)
Besides spatial differentiation, this study focuses on investigating the temporal variation in the development trajectory of suburbia, taking up a claim made by McManus and Ethington (2007: 327) who emphasised that “every suburb, once planted, eventually evolves in a way that incorporates both continuity and change, in terms of the built and social fabric”

Summary

Introduction

In contrast to earlier periods of suburbanisation, recent dynamics of urban and metropolitan development are characterised by changing social, economic and political framework conditions. Taking international developments into account, it seems obvious that ageing, stagnation and abandonment can be observed both in urban cores and in suburban areas, with the full range of cities’ trajectories including both patterns of resurgence (Cheshire 2006) and divergence (Clarke/Martin/Tyler 2016) This means that the relation between core and fringe is becoming more variegated, depending on the general framework conditions that provide economic and/or demographic growth or decline, and on the very capacity of these areas to adapt to such changes. Key issues that have been emphasised by new suburban studies include the disadvantageous locality of suburbs and their demographic and physical ageing, a change in the preferences of major groups that determine the demand for housing, and changing patterns of governance in cities and suburbs This recent suburban discourse is welcome as it adds to urban debates that have been unbalanced given their strong emphasis on inner cities and re-urbanisation. The new suburban discourse appears selective as yet, as it mostly focuses on suburban housing and, quite substantially, on single-family homes (see e.g. WüstenrotStiftung 2012; Lauster 2016), the perspective of suburban industrial and commercial areas remains under-assessed

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Conclusion