While both urban and rural studies have long thrived, the suburbs have remained curiously neglected, and the inherent needs and problems of suburban living remain unaddressed. Suburban space has traditionally been understood as a formless remnant of physical city expansion, without a dynamic or logic of its own. This book challenges this view by offering a definition of the suburb as a fluid, dynamic entity with an interdependent geography, situated within the context of wider urban systems. Through a genuine interdisciplinary approach it examines the patterns of city growth in cases spanning Europe and around the Mediterranean. Situating the suburbs within these empirical settings offers a more comprehensive understanding of spatial change, the history of the suburb and its current development challenges. Studies of the high street as a centre for social, economic and cultural exchange, provide evidence for its critical role in sustaining local adaptability over time. By making the link between large scale city mapping together with urban design scale expositions of high street activity alongside anthropological interpretations of the local, the book underscores the need to consider suburban space on its own terms as a specific and complex field of social practice.
