The Complexities of Suburbia

The discussion on suburbia sparked memories from Andreea's class last year, when we did a group project on Levittown and learning from Las Vegas. Although I agree with my peers that the extreme cases of cookie cutter boxes like Levittown leave no room for individuality, this topic is a more complex issue. I grew up in suburbs in many different cities, but they were medium sized, non-cookie cutter houses, and had plenty of personality separating them from the hustle and bustle of cities nearby. However, I do think the more successful suburban neighborhoods come with both privilege and a price, and are rarely affordable for anyone lower than middle-class. This creates other problems, driving people into either the cheap monotone box neighborhoods, or dangerous inner-city areas. Honestly, this topic has no real solution or ending in sight, but leaves me with a couple questions... how can architects convince developers to re-design suburbs as they should be, rather than as a cheap money-making mechanism? And is the ideal suburban neighborhood more of a social justice issue that architecture alone will never be able to rectify?