Considered to be sub-ordinated and sub-prime to the city sub-urban areas receive little
attention by researchers and designers. However it s the rapidly growing areas outside the
central cities that pose the biggest questions of the urban millennium: How can the scattered
patchwork of urban areas and social spaces linked by networks of highways and public
transportation function as a sustainable and livable urban environment? Answering this question
requires understanding suburban spaces as heterogeneous urban areas with distinct local
characteristics qualities and problems. Following this path Variations of Suburbanism
explores formation characteristics and trends of suburban areas all over the world. It
provides insights on common features and differences of suburban governance design and
infrastructure and discusses strategies to understand and design suburban areas in an
increasingly sub-urbanizing world.
