Suburbia can be Diverse

I really enjoyed reading Margaret Crawford’s ‘Little Boxes’ Room One Thousand which began to describe how suburbia in Daly City and Silicon Valley began to take on different characteristics after the 1960’s. When I think of suburbia, I do think of a neighborhood with cookie-cutter homes with the same class of people living within each home.  However, this article spoke about how the type of economy and companies attracted to the San Francisco area actually created a diverse suburban city of Asians, Indians, and Mexicans. Crawford argues that “the flexible, network-based structure of Silicon Valley life and work found its physical analog in flexible, connected suburban space, with its freeway network and cheap easily adaptable buildings”. The ‘little boxes’ of homes, garages, and commercial buildings allowed for the flexible environment that the economy and startups needed to eventually build a successful industry. 

Without taking into account how expensive it is to live in San Francisco, this article allowed me to see that suburbia doesn’t have to be a monotony of homes. With the right mix of people and a growing industry, suburbia can become a healthy, thriving, and diverse city.