Suburbanisation, Suburbia and “Zwischenstadt”: Perspectives of Research and Policy

Theoretic discourses and empirical findings related to the process of suburbanisation and the resulting spatial category of suburbia have long been dominated by critical assessments of metropolitan growth, the decline of inner cities and associated problems (with regard to land use, transport, tax distribution). More recently, following the rising significance of sub- and exurban development in North America as well as in Europe, research and planning attitudes towards suburbia have become more pluralistic. It is now more acknowledged that edge urban developments represent a legitimate component of the urban fabric.