Suburbia and the Sunbelt

Abstract

In my mind, the concepts “Sunbelt city” and “suburb” are nearly synonymous. This idea became real to me several years ago when I was teaching at Arizona State University West, located in the northwest reaches of Phoenix. Driving down those boulevards, where the asphalt seemed to melt beneath my tires on hot days, I passed mile after mile after mile of tract housing, mini-malls, dividing walls, broken up only by the occasional big box store or freeway onramp. All of the trappings of the suburbs seemed to define this metropolitan landscape. In Phoenix, the city was one continuous stretch of suburbia. Sunbelt cities, in fact, have had a particularly close relationship to suburbia, partly a result of timing. Many Sunbelt cities came of age when the suburbs were reaching their heyday in America. As a result, Sunbelt cities have come to resemble suburban metropolises, cities that are defined spatially by suburban sprawl and that have taken on many of the cultural, social, and political characteristics of suburbia as well.